Editors

The English quartet prove sunnier in person than their dark debut The Back Room would suggest

L to r: Ed Lay, Chris Urbanowicz, Tom Smith and Russell Leetch Courtesy of BMG

“You don’t need this disease,” intones singer Tom Smith relentlessly on Editors’ debut single, “Bullets.” Rising above insistent guitars and surging rhythms, it’s a potent, angst-ridden chorus that brings to mind something horrible and incurable.

“Yes, my mum died!” Smith mock-shouts from across a table at Japanese distributor BMG after being asked if the song was based on a personal experience. In fact, it turns out the seed of the song is optimism. “I know it sounds kind of dark, but the key line is ‘if something has to change, then it always does.’ If you’re in a bad situation or relationship, then it will change.”

Principal songwriter Smith sounds a bit tired of answering questions about the band’s moody sound, which has been compared to bands like Joy Division and Interpol. “The tone of the record is dark in places, but I don’t think it’s all dark. We’re not very good at making happy music. It’s not melodious, but there is optimism as well.”

Yet it’s the tone of menace, expertly coaxed out of a post-punk palette of slicing guitars, unrelenting rhythms and Smith’s brooding voice, that recently earned the Editors a gold record for The Back Room. With the album just out in Japan, the band is here for their first, three-city tour, which paves the way for an appearance a few months on at Summer Sonic.

Although not quite as young as recent Japan visitors the Arctic Monkeys, the Editors seem to be another UK band that has emerged from obscurity perfectly formed. In fact the four—Smith, guitarist Chris Urbanowitcz, bassist Russell Leetch and drummer Ed Lay—met in 2002 as music technology students at Britain’s Stafford University.

“I used to live in a residence with Ed, and I didn’t like him the first few hours, but then we went to a pub and bonded over beers and music,” recalls Urbanowicz. “At university it was quite clear from day one who was going to be friends and who wasn’t. We were the only people like us there. It was a process of elimination.”

By Christmas of their first semester, they were playing Radiohead covers together, and it wasn’t long before they began to write their own material. Some of those early songs—including, it turns out, “Bullets”—made it onto The Back Room.

It was a one-song demo that got the Editors signed. “It was quite an organic process,” explains Smith. “We sent out a demo CD with one track on it and people came out to see us. It took a while until we found the right label, which was Kitchenware. A lot of labels called us and took us out to dinner and pretended to be our best friend, and then didn’t return our phone call. We didn’t use the internet like some bands do now. We did it in an old fashioned sense.”

From the start, the band tried to retain a sense of mystique about themselves. “Putting everything out on the internet can ruin that,” believes Urbanowicz. “We try to hold something back. It’s nice to surprise people.”

This extends to their name and the mysterious, faceless album cover. “We’ve always thought that the name our music goes out under shouldn’t have any particular connotations, and we try and back it up with the artwork,” says Lay. “We try not to plaster our image everywhere.”
As to the many comparisons with Joy Divison and Interpol, the band are sanguine. “Everyone compares new bands to existing bands. I’m as guilty of it as anyone else,” Urbanowicz says dismissively. “Tom has a deep voice and the music has dark undertones so I can see the comparison [to Joy Division]. The only time it bothers us is when people get cynical and say we’re ripping someone else off.”

With a year of touring under their belts, the Editors seem as experienced at working the press as they prove in working the crowd at their Tokyo gigs. And with the gold album in the bag, they can also look forward to a much larger budget as they set about recording a follow-up later in the year, after they finish doing the summer festival circuit.

“We’re in an amazing position now, we can work with anyone and have more time in the studio,” says Smith. “The first time, we had a small budget and not much time in the studio, which worked. But this time we’ll have more time to experiment and work ideas through. I think in terms of instrumentation, it will be much bigger in scope.”

Is a string section in the works? “If we need to do it to make it sound good, then we will,” Urbanowicz answers. “If we want to do something, it’s fun to experiment in the studio. It will be interesting to see when we go out on tour next year what’s changed in the instrumentation, if we have an orchestra with us.”

With the four clearly enjoying the spotlight (and looking good in it), one thing a second Editors album won’t be is depressing. “On the first record, people said how dark it is,” says Smith. “And there were elements of isolation and frustration in our lives, stemming from where we were living and our lives at the time.”

“We’re in a different place now. I don’t think there will be as much darkness on the next one. It’s not going to be ‘Shiny Happy People,’ but there will be more light there.”

Summer Sonic, Aug 12. See concert listings (popular) for details.

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