THE Easy Star All-Stars bring 10 years of Radiodread to the The Brook in Southampton on Wednesday.

The New York collective were hailed by Thom Yorke & Co. and the critics in 2006 when they dared to transform Radiohead’s seminal 'OK Computer’ end-to-end with a bold Reggae and Dub overhaul. 10 years on the band return to the UK to perform the acclaimed album live.

Lem Oppenheimer, the man behind the record, tells us how it's stood the test of time...

Q: Tell us about the anniversary plans and how the album came about in the first place?

A: "Radiodread is one of the finest moments in the history of Easy Star All-Stars, so it is really exciting and fun to be celebrating ten years of its existence. We had had such a breakthrough with Dub Side of the Moon and were still riding that success, when we started thinking about doing a follow up. It took the band and the franchise a bit more indie and into stranger territory, while at the same time, Radiohead made good sense following Pink Floyd, as I think the bands have a lot in common in their prog rock, their fanbase, and so on. The release really allowed us to show that the ESA story would continue and be as compelling as Dub Side was, while also attracting a lot of new fans.

Q: How you think it stands in the Easy Stars back catalogue today?

A: "Personally for me, I think Dub Side is a stronger overall record mainly because the music itself was so translatable and thematic. But I think Radiodread is more of an actual accomplishment because we took a much trickier set of songs, with much stranger time signatures, lyrics, and so on, and turned it into an incredible reggae album. It also was received fantastically by fans and press right off the bat, which was different from Dub Side, which had a slower build and more word of mouth to propel it eventually."

Q: What can audiences expect from the Radiodread live shows?

A: "We will be playing a large number of selections from the album each night, along with many of the band’s other best known tunes from the other tribute albums: Dub Side of the Moon, Lonely Hearts Dub Band and Thrillah. They’ll also hit some original tunes as that has also been a part of this band’s history since the first tour. There are a number of songs from Radiodread that we haven’t played in a while that we’ll be dusting off."

Q: What are your memorable moments of playing in the UK?

A: "The UK is this band’s second home. We’ve been playing here since 2004 and have had so many different experiences along the way. We’ve done so many different great festivals from our three stage/three day triumph at Glastonbury in 2009 to Bestival to Beautiful Days and everything in between. The band has been through floods in Wales and riots in Birmingham and is always ready for more exploration of the kingdom. What’s been nice is the last few summer runs we’ve done, we’ve been able to mix up festivals with club and theatre shows during the weeks, which is a nice mix.

Q: Have Radiohead heard the album and what did they make of it?

A: "They did hear the album when it first came out. We had begun recording the record, kind of assuming that we would get the clearance from the band. It was pretty stupid on our part – we had just gotten Pink Floyd – a band notoriously tough to get to agree to anything – to give us permission on Dub Side, so we foolishly assumed that a reggae loving, indie supporting band like Radiohead would be no problem. But midway through recording we got a note from their publisher that Radiohead didn’t want anyone doing OK Computer, because it was their sacred cow. Which we could understand, but we were in a bind. So we mixed two tracks – Lucky and Electioneering – and sent a two page letter explaining what we were doing and hoped for the best. We got a note back from them saying that if it all sounded this good we’d have a great record and they approved us going ahead. Then when the record came out, a friend of ours who worked with them played them the record backstage at a show in Philly and apparently they were impressed. Thom told people about the Toots track (Let Down) from the stage that night. It’s a thrill whenever the artists we cover pay us respect, because we tackle these projects with nothing but respect for the source material and the artists who created it."

Tickets: the-brook.com or 023 8055 5366