Editors - Part 3
It is the balancing of the often mournful subject matter with music that ascends to levels of euphoric epiphany that distinguishes Editors. It is an art they have finessed with ‘An End Has A Start’.
“Garret talked about giving the songs almost religious moments - moments of spiritual ecstasy at the culmination of the track. It made us think about how the songs should be constructed, how they should lead towards that point. It gives the big moments even more impact.”
Editors have made a sizeable impact to date, steadily building fanbase and record sales alike. According to the band this incremental rise in profile and popularity is just how they like it.
“I’m happy with the level of success we’ve had,” Urbanowicz admits. “It’s been an upward scale of success we’re comfortable with. We’ve achieved what we have through effort rather than by latching onto celebrity. It means we can still go to bars or clubs and blend in. Image isn’t a thing for us; we’re quite kind of faceless in that regard. We let the music do the talking. The whole celebrity thing isn’t something we find attractive.”
The hard work and disdain for celebrity has allowed the band to develop their music surely and discreetly. Editors’ guitarist doubts they would be the same band had they made the instantaneous, quantum leap from unsigned nowhere to music’s high table.
“If we had hit platinum too early we wouldn’t be who we are today. Struggle is good, playing the shitty, toilet tours, in front of thirty people and a parakeet helps you find out who you are as a band. We owe it to ourselves and the songs to push them as far as they’ll go. We’re going to tour the shit out of this record. Scary as the schedule looks we’ve just got to get out there.”
‘Out there’ includes America, somewhere the band has, to date, enjoyed only modest success in. However, the grand flourishes of ‘An End Has A Start’ might prove tailor-made to satisfy the American public’s more bombastic tendencies.
“We’ve always thought America might like us,” suggests Urbanowicz, “Certainly there is a history of bands like ourselves: Radiohead, Depeche Mode etc, who have done well over there. However, we’re not obsessed with conquering America. If it’s going to happen it’ll probably happen three or four albums down the line. In a way, that would make more sense to us. The world’s a big place.”
Like a vast musical game of Risk, Editors are planning to take the world ‘one step at a time’. They are, Urbanowicz reassures, in this for the long term. A career band in the very best sense they’ll keep chipping away, like Andy DuFresne in ‘The Shawshank Redemption’, until they see light at the end of the tunnel.
“When you’re 14 you imagine the music business to be about instant hype, about being part of some magical scene. When you grow up you realise that’s actually quite a dangerous thing, you need to avoid that and just work hard. I suppose the music world is much as the youthful me imagined it would be except with more dull bits! At the moment we’ve got this new record. It’s something we’re extremely proud of. Now we just want to get out there and play to people. It’s all Editors have ever wanted.”
This feature first appeared in AU Issue 37
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