In “Theater het Kruispunt” in Barendrecht I experienced a fantastic tribute to Radiohead by Chicago-based formation Android Paranoid. The group of five played two intense and packed sets of each apx 75 minutes. The tidbits shared between the songs are condensed, witty and to the point, barely long enough for the excellent musicians to change instruments. Android Paranoid really captures the Radiohead vibe with the quirky stagedesign, behaviour of the musicians, the unbelievable voice of the lead-singer and the matching (not so easy, so hats off to the technical team) light show.
Thinking about you
It was somewhere in the early 90’s when I heard a Radiohead-song for the first time. Internet wasn’t there yet, so we relied on radio, and promodiscs that came with magazines. Back then radioshows were still mostly about music, programmed by people (not by computers). A good DJ made you forget about time as he/she took you on a journey through uncharted worlds. One of my hero’s was Rob Stenders who ran a nightly show at Radio Veronica focussing on new music. He played two songs from newly released “Drill” and it was “Thinking about you” that made them live rent free in my heart.
Stenders helped me through the night
Back in those days I ran a security firm with guys and dogs, guarding construction sites and factories. We had an emergency-number that directed to our offices and that we picked up 24/7. You never knew who needed assistance or which customer might call our emergency-number. By working the weekend-nights myself I saved a lot of money as I didn’t have to hire people for the most expensive hours of the week. Music of Radiohead (and DIO, Iron Maiden and Van halen) and DJ’s like Stenders helped me through the dark hours.
Avoiding the funnel of mediocrity
It was the conversation with my daughter (15) during the nightly drive home, that made me think of that past of being alone in that big office-building, while listening to the radio and discovering new music. How different things are these days.
Life has become a matter of swiping and scrolling, of barely tolerable endlessly duplicated content for quick likes. Internet and smartphones keep you connected for 24×7, while algorithms force-feed you realtime everything “the system” thinks you might like, or they want you to like. And before you know it you are caught in a funnel of mediocrity.
Something real
Maybe that’s why I liked Android Paranoid so much. It was real journey guided by a great connoisseur, played by fantastic and hardworking artists. I greatly enjoyed those unique moments with my daughter. Android Paranoid is a close to Radiohead as it gets. Go see ‘m!
