Radiohead: 'We pretended to be Kula Shaker'

Radiohead have said that although they gave their new album away for free - they went to unusual lengths to stop it leaking unofficially.

Because every album of theirs since 'Kid A' has leaked online, this time around they were determined to take control of the release of 'In Rainbows' themselves.

They even went as far as making up different band names when recording the tracks onto early CDs so nobody knew what was contained on the discs.

Bassist Colin Greenwood revealed: "It felt like a gigantic risk. Like Mission Impossible, almost. We destroyed all CDs after every day of recording. And on the master we'd always write a name which probably nobody would listen to if we had lost it; 'Eagles: Greatest Hits', 'Kula Shaker demos', 'Phill Collins hip-hop covers'."

According to Belgian publication Focus Knack, when it came to the download of 'In Rainbows' in October, Italian fans paid the most for the album, while German fans paid the least.

Radiohead are the cover stars of this week's NME, which is out now. Inside there is an exclusive interview with singer Thom Yorke, where he discusses 'In Rainbows', in-depth, for the first time.