Guitar wizards Rodrigo y Gabriela have taken on challenge most musicians struggle to succeed at: covering Radiohead. Furthermore, they chose to add their own touch to a song that was as close to perfect as it could be. What makes their version of “Weird Fishes/Arpeggi” compelling despite the high expectations it demands is that they’re not trying to fix it in any way, but instead make it their own while acknowledging the brilliance of the original’s structure.
This is the duo’s first release since their cover of Metallica’s “The Struggle Within,” which was nominated for a Grammy Award last year. More new music is expected from them later this year.
“When I was young, I never took a close look into Radiohead’s music,” Rodrigo said about the new track. “I was the typical metal head and the typical metal head in the 80s and 90s was pretty much a closed-minded character who rarely took a risk listening to alternative bands. It was not until we met John Leckie, who produced our first album in 2006 and Radiohead’s first 2 albums in the early 90s, that they got my attention.
“They evolved from being an Alt band, to being a cool band, to being a really interesting band – until last year while having a coffee in one of my restaurants I have in Mexico, ‘Weird Fishes’ started playing in the background. I knew it was them, but I didn’t know the song, and after I left I immediately looked it up on Spotify. As soon as I listened to it loud and clear I knew we had to make a Rodrigo y Gabriela version of it. A day or two after, I showed it to Gab and she was as hooked as I was. It’s such an intricate song if you want to play it the way they do. We were happy with the results though.”
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