insiderblmA demo featuring unheard tracks from the band that went on to become Radiohead is to be auctioned.
The five members met at school in Abingdon, Oxfordshire, and initially formed On A Friday, before going on to achieve global success with albums including OK Computer and The Bends.
The cassette demo, which had been given to a friend of the band in the 1990s, is going on sale online.
It includes handwritten notes and a label design by frontman Thom Yorke.
The members of the band, which also included brothers Jonny and Colin Greenwood, Ed O’Brien, and Philip Selway, attended Abingdon School in the 1980s and took their original name from the day of the week when they rehearsed.
The demo, which is expected to fetch £2,000, features six tracks, three of which have not been heard before, Omega Auctions said.
The unheard tracks, which suggest the band’s “potential”, are Promise Me, Boy In A Box and These Chains.
The seller, who wants to remain anonymous, knew the band in the early 1990s and was given the tape by a member of the group.
It is thought the tracks were recorded after the band left school but before they signed to EMI Records and changed their name to Radiohead in 1991.
They later became acclaimed for tracks such as Paranoid Android, Creep and Karma Police.
Auctioneer Paul Fairweather said: “The tracks are raw but certainly suggest something of the fantastic potential that the band would realise in a few years’ time.”
The cassette is part of the online Punk and Indie Auction on January 26 at Omega Auctions.
