Newsbeat

by Kev Geoghegan Radio 1 music reporter

Scroobius Pip wrote Letter From God To Man from the perspective of God

Dan le Sac and Scroobius Pip have revealed the lengths they have gone to, to use a Radiohead sample on their new single.

Letter from God To Man uses the hook on the track Planet Telex, taken from Radiohead's second album, The Bends.

As Newsbeat revealed in April, the band were given permission to use the sample. But at what cost?

Dan le Sac said: "I had to give them my soul. They keep it in a glass jar and Thom Yorke sits and looks at it."

Permission

He continued: "We were quite devious and used everyone we knew.

"We knew Rob da Bank was seeing one of their producers so we made sure he had a copy.

"Then we got this message saying they're going to have a listen to it."

Radiohead give few artists permission to use their music.

Dan le Sac claims he has 'sold his soul' to Radiohead

Mark Ronson got the go ahead to rewrite and release the horns version of their track, Just, from the same album.

Scroobius Pip said: "Because it had taken so long, we'd almost thrown in the towel on it.

"What we didn't know was that they were about to turn the industry on its head by letting people pay what they wanted for their album."

He added that he and Dan still have no idea what the band think of their track.

He said: "It was brief, like 'You have band approval for this', but that was enough for me.

Dan le Sac added: "They gave us guest list for their gig at Victoria Park though, so they must love us.

"That's got to be good feedback."

Dinosaur suit

The video for the track, which is written in the form of a letter from the almighty to mankind, sees a little kid dressed in a dinosaur suit wandering around London.

Scroobius Pip said: "They were actually twins. Because we're still really low-budget, we just had one day to shoot and there are restrictions on kids of that age working.

A Letter from God to Man video features a child in a dinosaur suit

"The director was panicking and tearing his hair out and then remembered that he had a mate with twins who were the right age."

He said the images of the kid being befriended by homeless people and prostitutes while being generally ignored by everyone else is in keeping with the song's musings on where mankind has gone wrong.

"But, it's also just a kid in a dinosaur suit, which is the level I watch it on", he added.

Letter from God to Man is released on 28 July.

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