Philip Selway of Radiohead

Photo by Phil Sharp

Listen On

Philip Selway, Radiohead's drummer, says that his best writing happens when "I'm looking the other way. My songs come along when they choose." But while Selway may prefer to wait for the muse, there are a few things he does to stimulate the songwriting process:

Selway likes to write on his drum stool, not a traditional chair. "It grounds me in my wider life," he told me.
Selway draws a mind map using a blue pen, a black pen, and a pencil. His lyrics are spread all over the paper with little sense of order. He likes pens and pencils because, he says, "I feel more connected to what's going down on the paper." When the ideas start running dry, Selway switches to one of the other utensils.
He finds dance a boon to his creative process. Watching, not doing, that is. "I get profoundly affected by watching interpretive dance," Selways says.

Philip Selway's latest solo album Strange Dance (Bella Union) is out February 24.