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In a new video interview for Tavi Gevinson‘s Rookie Magazine, Radiohead frontman Thom Yorke and producer Nigel Godrich, who perform together in Atoms For Peace, offer relationship and love advice to teen girls. The 17-minute clip, part of the site’s “Ask a Grown Man” series, features the pair responding to fan-submitted queries about topics like crushes and first dates.
The duo’s responses are sincere and notably useful. “How do you tell a boy you have a crush on him if you’re really, really, really shy?” one fan asks. “My only advice would be to seize an opportunity,” Godrich says. “And not waste time by being shy. Because you realize after a while that all that does is it doesn’t really get you anywhere, actually. And the worst thing that could happen in that situation is that you were thinking something was happening that isn’t happening — and it’s better to know sooner rather than later.”
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“If you have a crush on him,” Yorke adds, “if you’re really, really, really, really shy, which is what I was at that age — also, I was at a boys’ school so it was impossible to meet girls anyway — how about just write him a note? Or if you can’t bear it just throw him against a wall sometime.”
The musicians, who notoriously do very little press, also muse about how you know if you like someone, acting on mutual attraction and first date nerves. The highlight is when a fan from Brisbane asks, “Is it okay to break up with someone because they’re boring you?” Says Godrich: “Yeah, of course it’s okay to break up with them. But maybe you can not just say ‘Hey you’re boring me so I’m going to break up with you.’ You can be a lot more politic about it.” Yorke disagrees, noting, “I’d go with that, actually.”
VIDEO: Tavi Gevinson on Her Rookie Magazine and Year One Book
Yorke also discusses dealing his lazy eye as a youth and how teens can learn to accept their own physical imperfections. “I worked in this pub and this old woman — she was so funny — she used to come in all the time,” Yorke says. “And she was the first person who really said to me, ‘It’s the nicest thing about you.’ She was pissed at the time but I went with it.”
Atoms For Peace released their debut album, Amok, in February via XL Recordings. The group plans to tour in support of the disc later this year.
Watch the Rookie video below:
Twitter: @THRMusic
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