Was Radiohead's new album recorded at Drew Barrymore's house? That's the speculation after news that the Oxford quintet have thanked Barrymore in The King of Limbs sleeve notes, while omitting any mention of a recording studio.
"A big thank you very much indeed to Drew Barrymore," Radiohead wrote in the CD booklet, according to fansite At Ease. It's not the sort of acknowledgment you'd expect from England's mopiest band. And, with no information forthcoming about where the album was recorded, many are speculating that the debt to Barrymore is more geographical than personal. The actor has a home in Los Angeles, and Radiohead are understood to have spent part of early 2010 recording at just such a site.
"[Engineer] Bryan [Cook] helped transform a house in the Hollywood Hills into a recording studio and spent the last three weeks there recording Radiohead with Nigel Godrich," a blogger claimed in February 2010. The post described a mysterious, star-studded wrap party: "I was giddy seeing Beck, Salma Hayek and Danger Mouse chatting around the same pool where Dean Martin and the Rat Pack used to hang out." Even at the time, there were rumours it was Barrymore's mansion; a month before, the actor was spotted at a Radiohead charity gig.
This wouldn't be the first time Radiohead have set up camp in a grand old house. Much of In Rainbows was recorded at Tottenham Court House, in Marlborough, Wiltshire, while parts of OK Computer were set down at Bath's St Catherine's Court, a manor which is owned by actor Jane Seymour. Perhaps they could record their next album at Charlie Sheen's place; we hear it's nice.