The Smile are an English rock band formed by Radiohead members Thom Yorke and Jonny Greenwood and Sons of Kemet drummer Tom Skinner, in collaboration with Radiohead producer Nigel Godrich. They made their surprise debut in a performance streamed by Glastonbury Festival in May 2021, and released their debut single, “You Will Never Work in Television Again”, in January 2022.
Singer Thom Yorke and guitarist Jonny Greenwood are members of the English rock band Radiohead, which formed in 1985. Since 1994, Radiohead have worked with producer Nigel Godrich. Drummer Tom Skinner has played with acts including the jazz band Sons of Kemet.
Greenwood said the Smile came from his desire to work with Yorke during the COVID-19 lockdown. He said: “We didn’t have much time, but we just wanted to finish some songs together. It’s been very stop-start, but it’s felt a happy way to make music.” The Smile take their name from the title of a poem by Ted Hughes. Yorke said it was “not the smile as in ‘ahh’, more the smile of the guy who lies to you every day”.
The Smile made their debut in a surprise performance for Live at Worthy Farm, produced by Glastonbury Festival and streamed on May 22, 2021. The performance was recorded in secret earlier that week and announced on the day of the stream.The band performed eight songs, including a new version of the unreleased song “Skating on the Surface”,[a] originally performed by Yorke in 2009 and by Radiohead in 2012. Yorke and Greenwood played guitar, bass, Moog synthesiser and Rhodes piano.
In July, Godrich said that the Smile had recorded an album. He described it as “an interesting juxtaposition of things, but it does make sense”. In September, Greenwood said the group were still deciding what to include on the album and that it was “just about finished”. Yorke performed a song by the Smile, “Free in the Knowledge”, at the Letters Live event at the Royal Albert Hall, London, in October. In December, the Smile streamed rehearsal sessions on Instagram. On January 5, 2022, the Smile released their debut single, “You Will Never Work in Television Again”, on streaming platforms. They also announced three shows to be held in London later that month, which will be livestreamed.
Following the Glastonbury performance, Consequence wrote that the Smile incorporate elements of post-punk, proto-punk and math rock. Pitchfork likened them to Radiohead’s “vintage rock sensibilities”, with a “slight bounce to Skinner’s drums” and “unfamiliar aggression from Greenwood in the bassline”. Guardian critic Alexis Petridis said the Smile “sound like a simultaneously more skeletal and knottier version of Radiohead”, exploring progressive rock influences with unusual time signatures, complex riffs and “hard-driving” motorik psychedelia. Reviewing “You Will Never Work in Television Again”, Pitchfork critic Jayson Greene described it as a “raw-boned rock number” reminiscent of Radiohead’s 1995 album The Bends.