Editors chat about "scary" live show (From The Bolton News)

Editors chat about "scary" live show

10:17am Thursday 11th March 2010

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THEY’RE one of Britain’s biggest bands, yet they hardly ever appear in the music press. You can almost certainly hum one of their songs, but probably know nothing about the actual band members.

Who are we talking about? Editors, of course, the band named not so long ago as the second biggest in the country, and whose largely sold-out UK tour started this week.

A few tickets for their Manchester gig at the Apollo on Tuesday were still available at the time of going to press, and lead guitarist Chris Urbanowicz says fans of a nervous disposition might be in for a scare.

“We’ve got quite a few concepts,” he says. “It’s a bit abstract and a bit industrial-looking, like we’re in a factory from the future. It’s a bit scary.”

The perfect match for Editors’ own brand of industrially-dark indie-disco, then.

Formed in 2002 after Chris, singer Tom Smith, bassist Russell Leech and drummer Ed Lay met while studying music technology at Staffordshire University, Editors went through three name changes before releasing their debut album, The Back Room.

The million-selling album was nominated for the Mercury Music Prize, but Chris says the foursome’s path has not been smoothed out by support from the music press, unlike some other bands.

“We’re often misconstrued as being popular in the music press, but no one magazine has really championed us,” he says. “I think the only magazine who has always been positive about us is Artrocker, and there’s not a lot of bands that can say that.

“It’s a good thing, I think it means that people look more at the music than at our private lives. We like to keep some of the mystique of being in a band.”

Chris says that this attitude has helped them to avoid fizzling out like many bands who find themselves overexposed at the start of their careers.

“There’s a thing, especially in this country, that if people see too much of you they get bored,” he says.

“People want albums to last 20 seconds. It annoys me that people can’t set aside 40 minutes to listen to an album start to finish. They listed for five minutes then they have to get back to their playstations.”

Editors’ latest album, In This Light and On This Evening saw them ditch the guitars in favour of synths and drum machines and team up with producer Flood, aka Mark Ellis. It garnered mixed reactions from reviewers expecting a follow-up to 2007’s chart-topping The End Has A Start.

“I’m glad it split opinions.” says Chris. “I love the fact that people either love it or hate it. It is a bit strange sounding, but it’s still the same four minds behind the songs. We could have recorded them differently, but they still would have been our songs.”

The band are, he tells me, never happier than when they’re in the studio, and have already started work on album number four. They have recorded two new songs already, at least one of which will be unveilied on the tour, and they are keen to get back to working on the new material as soon as possible.

“We’re not very professional in the studio. We mess about a lot. But when it comes to touring, youtour to support your album so it will do well and the record company will give you money to make another one. That’s what we want to keep on doing because at the end of the day that’s what it’s all about.”

• Editors play the Apollo, in Manchester, on Tuesday.