25 years. Jericho. Friday. Woods. Saturday. Living. Project. Phil’s harmonica. Ago. Carrots&sticks. Bluebook. Mobile Devices & Birds Chirp.

Sep 8, 2011:

@ChieftanMews: 25 years. Jericho. Friday. Woods. Saturday. Living. Project. Phil’s harmonica. Ago. Carrots&sticks. Bluebook. Mobile Devices & Birds Chirp.

Unscrambled you could read it as ’25 Years. Ago. (this?) Saturday. (On a) Friday. Jericho (Tavern with) Phil’s harmonica.’ in rather a Cluedo who/where/how style.

2011 marks the 25th anniversary of On a Friday’s first gig at the Jericho Tavern a pub and music venue in Oxford. Jonny Greenwood originally joined the band on harmonica before playing keyboard and ending up as the lead guitarist.

On a Friday is of course the name Radiohead used until 1991 when they signed to EMI.

September 8, 1986 is not a Saturday it’s a Monday, nor is September 8, 2011. This suggests that Radiohead’s first gig must have been on Wednesday September 10th, 1986 however finding any source to confirm has been difficult as most sites only say the band performed in the 2nd half of that year (well except some that insist it was 1987 pft).

The rest of the tweet is more modern.

Carrots&sticks. is of course a idiom for the idea of combining a reward and punishment in order for a certain behaviour.

It appears on a Kid-A era tour poster titled ‘Fear Stalks the Land’ along with the line ‘Mobiles Chirping’ from Idioteque, Abbatoir noises and ‘Our Name is Legion’ a which Mew’s has also tweeted.

(Source: Rockfeedback.com)

it also appears in artwork from the additional hidden art booklet as “CHECKS AND BALANCES CARROTS AND STICKS” in 1st edition Kid-A cds reprinted on a T-shirt as SEX WORK DEATH in 2000 and in Dead Children Playing a picture book by Stanley Donwood & Dr. Tchock (Thom Yorke) featuring artwork from OK Computer though to Hail To the Thief.

(Source: Dead Children Playing)

Bluebook is of course a nod towards Facebook’s logo.

Birds Chirps is another way of saying Birds Tweet ala Twitter.

and Mobile Devices.. all three ways to keep in touch.

Woods relates to Bad Woods and Twisted Woods which are both sets of prints by Stanley Donwood, the first forms part of the artwork for The King of Limbs with the second being the artwork for These Are My Twisted Words.

Bad Woods I (Source: Creativereview.co.ok )

Twisted Woods (Source: Highstreet Blog)

On Facebook Mews got himself into a bit of a conversation when a fan replied to his question with the answer “25 years ago at the jericho tavern… on a friday?”, he accused them of being a bot for replying so quickly.

Mew's conversation on Facebook

Italo Rossi ‎25 years ago at the jericho tavern… on a friday?
8 September 2011 at 15:08 · Like · 4

Chieftan Mews Italo Rossi is a bot.
8 September 2011 at 15:10 · Like · 13

Italo Rossi absolutely not, sir. I’m a living human being. prove me wrong.
8 September 2011 at 15:11 · Like · 2

YFAN ‎”I’ll see you in 25 years.” – Laura Palmer, Twin Peaks. David Lynch is reviving Twin Peaks and Radiohead will be providing the score?
8 September 2011 at 15:11 · Like · 5

Chieftan Mews Meanwhile. Farewell and be alert or not.
8 September 2011 at 15:12 · Like · 9

ZFAN I choose death before more bad mews.
8 September 2011 at 15:12 · Like

Chieftan Mews When I cry, lightning strikes. Reality has now become a fantasy. I have proof. Meanwhile. Wham chose life. Farewell and be alert or not.
8 September 2011 at 15:18 · Like · 9

Bot’s are a name for software that runs a automated set of tasks usually at high speed. Such tasks may be to analyse websites such as the ‘web crawlers’ utilized by search engines like Google, for fraud/crime or to perform some level of basic AI such as ‘Chatbots’ which aim to mimic the experience of talking to a real person.

Later he responds to another fan with “When I cry, lightning strikes. Reality has now become a fantasy. I have proof. Meanwhile. Wham chose life. Farewell and be alert or not.”

The line ‘When I cry, Lighting strikes’ may be a nod towards Lightning Crashes by Live from Throwing Copper, it was released in the UK in 1996.

‘Wham chose life’ refers to the ‘CHOOSE LIFE’ t-shirts worn by WHAM when performing ‘Wake Me Up Before You Go Go’ on BBC’s Top of the Pops in 1984.

Finally each of the Facebook messages is signed off with ‘be alert or not.’ suggesting that Mew’s may, or may not be active again soon.