Entertainment
‘We’re having fun making our miserable music,’ says Editors’ Tom Smith-Jen Thomas-Entertainment – Metro
‘We enjoy the over-the-top nature of this darkness in our music.’
Editors are going on a UK tour from next week (Picture: Sergione Infuso/Corbis via Getty)
Editors singer Tom Smith is excited about the band’s new sound, he tells Jen Thomas.
‘We enjoy the over-the-top nature of this darkness in our music’
Is it all over for Editors? We don’t think so, and we’re pretty sure their legion of fans don’t either, but stuck at home over the pandemic, frontman Tom Smith found himself with more time to reflect than is healthy. He had even begun to wonder if there was a place for the band any more, or if they had reached their peak, certainly in the UK.
‘Over the years, it felt like there’s slightly more hunger from a European audience to see our band,’ he confesses. ‘There’s been a gradual shift over the years. I’m not negative about it, it’s just that’s the way it’s gone. The UK audience is great, but it feels slightly different in those rooms now. I’m intrigued to see how it goes down with this new record, and with a new member on stage,’
The band, which has been reinvigorated by the addition of Ivor Novello-winning songwriter and composer Benjamin John Power, (Blanck Mass), is back with a new sound and a new album, EBM.
To a degree, Tom’s analysis isn’t wrong. Certainly the band’s super-powered rise up the UK charts – their second and third studio albums both hit the Number One slot in the UK – has slowed in recent years. But they are still reaching the top of the charts in Europe, notably the Netherlands and Belgium. It is a refreshingly candid take on the band’s trajectory.
Tom admits the band’s sound has changed on their new album (Picture: Mairo Cinquetti/SOPA Images via Zuma Press Wire)
‘To start with, we know our success kind of burned very bright at the beginning in the UK, and then it got overtaken by Europe. Having said that, some of those Best Of shows we did were great in the UK. So, we’ll see.’
They won’t need to wait long to see how their latest incarnation goes down, as their tour starts this coming Wednesday in Nottingham. New member Ben is having quite the impact, according to Tom – helping to revamp some of the older Editors songs as well as writing newer tunes.
‘It was a lot of fun and really interesting to go back over some of those songs. Certain things were really natural and felt like they’d always been there, with songs like Papillon and other things from the third record, and some of the more electronic newer records, it was just handy,’ explains Tom.
‘With some of the older material Ben now plays piano or keyboard to add an additional layer. It has provided a darker edge to the band, too, adds Tom.
‘We certainly enjoy the dramatics and the over-the-top nature of this darkness in our music, the world that it lives in. We’re having quite a lot of fun making our miserable music,’ he grins.
Tom is looking forward to touring with a new band member (Picture: Mairo Cinquetti/SOPA Images via Zuma Press Wire)
He is all too aware that their change in sound might not be well-received by everyone. ‘I think you can go mad second-guessing, but I’ve never been that scared of clichés to be honest. What’s a cliché to one person, someone else thinks is wicked.’
And so with new songs, and Ben on board, Tom has cast off his Covid gloom. ‘We’re still excited about making music together. What comes next is as interesting a question for us as it is for our fans. The process of making the songs come to life, collaborating on them, it’s the most fun we have.
More: New music
‘It’s addictive, that feeling of achieving something collectively you couldn’t get to on your own,’ he enthuses. ‘To have that function, and to feel healthy is kind of amazing, and I don’t take that for granted.’ Tom is looking forward to taking the new record out on the road, but also for festival season. ‘I’m excited about playing them at festivals with that hedonistic kind of environment so that’s going to be a lot of fun.
‘Songs like Strawberry Lemonade are wicked live, there’s a kind of confrontational nature to a lot of the tracks on this record, but songs like that and Picturesque and Strange Intimacy are just exploding on stage, so people should look out for them.’
Editors play Nottingham Rock City on Monday, and touring
Entertainment – MetroRead More
