This reporting life
Gloomy English newcomers Editors traffic in brittle post-punk angst. With four acclaimed singles under their belts, could they be this year’s Killers?
Craig Fitzsimons, 24 Jan 2006
Of the multitude of bands to have surfaced in the last couple of years to pay sincere, un-ironic homage to the early ‘80s, Editors are possibly the proposition with the most long-term promise.
As exciting at their best as The Killers or Kaiser Chiefs and more musically accomplished than either, the band fuse their youthful adoration for Joy Division and Echo and the Bunnymen into a dense, disciplined, searingly powerful sound that’s both broadly evocative and distinctly their own.
Not as gloomy as the Curtis/Echo references might imply, it’s a sound that also carries vague echoes of the martial-sounding stadium-rock favoured by U2 circa War: huge, ringing, anthemic, passionate, full of soaring choruses, as if acid house had never happened.
Nonetheless, they’re understandably keen not to get trapped in a 1983 tribute timewarp. A foursome from various corners of England, refugees from a previous life studying music technology at Stafford University, the band have oddly elected to base in Birmingham (most prominent exports: UB40, Black Sabbath and, eh, Musical Youth).
The strategy seems to be working. Over the course of 2005, their profile soared, mainly down to the release of four killer singles, of which ‘Blood’ and ‘Bullets’ received most attention.
Determined to avoid the terminal Britpop syndrome of instant front-cover fame which lasts the full 15 minutes at best, Editors have largely absented themselves from the meet-and-greet, work-the-room, I-like-your-album-mate circuit in the capital, aware that their fate will stand or fall on the quality of their output rather than the whims of the rock press.
As frontman Tom Smith confirms: “We’ve been conscious of building this thing slowly, playing the long-term game.”
Guitarist Chris Urbanowicz – whose mop-top, Bambi eyes and mild pallor make him resemble a pre-wastage Pete Doherty – concurs, observing: “It’s a myth that Birmingham’s any impediment to success; there’s nothing provincial about it. At the end of the day the industry will go anywhere to see you if you’re worth it. It’s fair to say, historically, that the city isn’t associated with very credible acts. But I think people are less hung up on the ‘all roads through London’ attitude than they used to be. It’s a smaller world.”
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