We recently caught up for a chat with Ed Lay from British indie rock sensation EDITORS.
Releasing their album In This Light and On This Evening last month, Editors have branched from their traditional records that heavily featured dark guitar work, and have moved to a new electronic sound that is bound to match their previously successful chart toppers.
Currently touring around Europe, Editors are already enjoying the success of their new album. However they are set to return to our shores early next year for The Falls festival and Sunset Sounds, plus some sideshows in Melbourne and Sydney.
Rachael talked to Ed about their new album, touring Australia, buying cheap pants and Twilight.
Hey there, did you get up to any crazy shenanigans last night?
(Laughs) Yeah, really nuts. I was cleaning my kitchen and, um, the problem is with being at home a really short period of time is that it means theres lots of things to do around the house. So no, it was very much downtime last night.
Well, kitchen cleaning can get pretty intense. Yeah, it’s insane.
Firstly, congrats on the new album! I listened and I really liked it. Are you pleased with the results of it?
Of course, yeah! Well thank you very much, that’s very kind. We’re really proud actually. It seems like the easiest album for us to put together. I don’t mean to sound lame but it felt so natural in the way it was all going. The sounds we were discovering, the way we’d play different songs together, picking up with [Producer] Flood, who is kind of spirit of it all I guess. We really, really enjoyed working on it.
Excellent. So, after the huge successes of your previous two albums, was there much pressure to create another chart topper?
I dunno, it’s funny because you don’t want to do worse then what you’ve done before, so there’s a little bit of internal pressure on you. But from the record label, absolutely not. They were very supportive in the way that we wanted to produce our records. They realise that we’re not necessarily a pop band, and we write songs that interest us. We like pop music, but we go about it in a slightly different, non-mainstream way. So we weren’t worried about trying to emulate success from what we’ve done previously, you know?
Yeah. Why did you decide to branch from what you’re typically known to play as “dark indie guitar rock” to something more electronic?
We didn’t want to repeat ourselves. Early on, when we started to write some tunes for this record we felt like we were going down very much a similar path as the last record and I honestly don’t believe we would’ve had a record out this year if we had kept going that way. It would have felt like we were letting ourselves down and ripping up. So we decided we’d try and change the way we wrote, and use different instruments as starting points. And we were surprised and really excited about the direction it took.
I’ve read that for this new album you were determined to “give machines a human feel”. If you could, what machine or device would you give emotions to and why?
(Laughs) Um, fridges? I think? I think refrigerators because they kind of annoy me, you always misplace things that you really want to find. It’d be nice if the fridge went “Hey, hey, your forgetting that the chutney is at the back of the fridge”.
But then again, it could turn out disastrous.
Yeah, but then fridges could take care of their own cleanliness and that sort of thing.
Very true. But we wouldn’t want anymore depressed robots like in Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy.
Exactly, exactly! What’s his name? Marvin, isn’t it?
Yeah!
Very depressed, that was it.
So last time you were in Australia, it was 2007.
It was winter! I thought that Australia was always hot. We have a very bland view on the world, coming from such a small very English part of the world. We always kind of think it boiling all the time, people wearing swimming costumes and all that sort of shit. But, it’s not like that. (Laughs) Bit miserable.
Well, it’s November and it’s 38 degrees now, so Australian weather is crazy. It doesn’t make up it’s mind. So how did you find the Australian crowds last time?
Really good, yeah! We didn’t spend a lot of time there, as it was a fairly quick visit, but Australia is really nice and I think the last time we were in Sydney we met some cool little people there. I think you can appreciate it when you make such a long journey to go out and see people, you know. And the response we had led us to believe that we ‘d have a really great time again.
Who would be your dream lineup?
I dunno, Yeah Yeah Yeahs? Thought they’d be good, they’re a cool band. And to finish it off let’s go for Sneaky Sound System.
What have been your best and worst onstage experiences?
Well, the worst one’s are always pretty boring, you know, when you’ve got angry band members because things get lost and stuff breaks or we’re just not having a very good one. But that doesn’t happen too often, we’re kind of lucky in that way, we’re pretty on it (and I feel awful for saying this in such a way) but we’re pretty well liked. We played our biggest ever headline show last year in Birmingham, which is our kind of hometown, and that was amazing. I was just kind of so into it, even though it was such a big venue, it was a big arena. And usually I like more intimate settings where you can see faces and clouds, but I loved it. I loved having so many people come out to see us. It was a real moment for me.
Do you guys have any band rituals (no matter how weird or cult-like they may be) before going onstage or recording?
All we do is do a really lame little fist bump…that’s all. It’s so pathetic! But it kind of feels like if we didn’t do it…it’d be pretty awful. Superstitions are funny aren’t they? You often seem to find a reason why something’s bad like that.
Exactly. Now, what are the perks you’ve taken advantage of with, I guess your fame?
Oh, well I wouldn’t say we’re famous.
Or, with knowing the right people?
With my job, I get to see a lot of stuff, and I get to travel the world, which is really awesome. And have a wonderful time pretty much doing whatever. I can’t describe what a privileged position we’re in, and nobody knows me! So I can go into like, Marcs & Spencer and buy my pants, and nobodies looking at me going “Ohh, he’s buying cheap pants”. You know it’s cool, I’m totally faceless. So I get all the good perks of being in a band, without the crappy bullshit.
Yeah, totally. Now, this is a bit of a controversial one, but do you believe Michael Jackson faked his own death?
(Laughs) Um… I don’t think that he could ever transform himself so fast. No wait, he’s done that once before.
Well, he went from being a black man to a white woman?
(Laughs) Well yeah, that’s true. I think, the people he hangs around with….well I was going to say they’re too stupid to keep there mouth shut but they’re probably very well paid.
If you throw enough money at someone they’ll definitely be able to keep their mouth shut.
Well yeah, exactly. I’m going to sit on the fence with this one. I’m going to say it’s definitely possible.
Alright, it’s time for some “would you rathers”. Would you rather: Whoopi Goldberg, or a whoopi cushion? Whoopi Goldberg.
Dumbledore or Aslan? Aslan, no question.
Team Jacob or Team Edward?
(Silence)
Team what?
You know, the Twilight series?
I’ve never watched it, no. I tell you what, one of our tracks is on the New Moon soundtrack but (laughs) other then that I don’t know anything about it.
That’s probably a good thing. Freddie Mercury or Freddie Krugar?
I’ve got a jumper that’s very similar to Freddy Krugar’s, so I’ll pick him.
Alchemy or alcohol? Alchemy.
What do you guys want to achieve in the future? For example, world domination or knighthood?
I reckon we just wanna record again. That’s all we wanna do. We just want to record another album as soon as possible. Especially because it’s always tricky to get your touring scheduled, we tour a lot, I mean it’s obviously the best way to promote yourself, but we do tour an awful lot.
Finally, what would you say to all the schoolyard bullies/non believers/doubters about your success?
(Laughs) Fuck you! (laughs some more) Everybody remembers hanging around with idiots in school or whatever, with people being so ignorant about everything when you’re at a certain age. But you know I probably was too, I was an ass. So I’d totally take it on the chin if some one came back to me and said “go eff off” or whatever.
Editors will be playing at The Falls festival and at Sunset Sounds.
We have one double pass to giveaway to the Sunset Sounds festival for both days.
Excellent. So, after the huge successes of your previous two albums, was there much pressure to create another chart topper?
I dunno, it’s funny because you don’t want to do worse then what you’ve done before, so there’s a little bit of internal pressure on you. But from the record label, absolutely not. They were very supportive in the way that we wanted to produce our records. They realise that we’re not necessarily a pop band, and we write songs that interest us. We like pop music, but we go about it in a slightly different, non-mainstream way. So we weren’t worried about trying to emulate success from what we’ve done previously, you know?
Yeah. Why did you decide to branch from what you’re typically known to play as “dark indie guitar rock” to something more electronic?
We didn’t want to repeat ourselves. Early on, when we started to write some tunes for this record we felt like we were going down very much a similar path as the last record and I honestly don’t believe we would’ve had a record out this year if we had kept going that way. It would have felt like we were letting ourselves down and ripping up. So we decided we’d try and change the way we wrote, and use different instruments as starting points. And we were surprised and really excited about the direction it took.
I’ve read that for this new album you were determined to “give machines a human feel”. If you could, what machine or device would you give emotions to and why?
(Laughs) Um, fridges? I think? I think refrigerators because they kind of annoy me, you always misplace things that you really want to find. It’d be nice if the fridge went “Hey, hey, your forgetting that the chutney is at the back of the fridge”.
But then again, it could turn out disastrous.
Yeah, but then fridges could take care of their own cleanliness and that sort of thing.
Very true. But we wouldn’t want anymore depressed robots like in Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy.
Exactly, exactly! What’s his name? Marvin, isn’t it?
Yeah!
Very depressed, that was it.
So last time you were in Australia, it was 2007.
It was winter! I thought that Australia was always hot. We have a very bland view on the world, coming from such a small very English part of the world. We always kind of think it boiling all the time, people wearing swimming costumes and all that sort of shit. But, it’s not like that. (Laughs) Bit miserable.
Well, it’s November and it’s 38 degrees now, so Australian weather is crazy. It doesn’t make up it’s mind. So how did you find the Australian crowds last time?
Really good, yeah! We didn’t spend a lot of time there, as it was a fairly quick visit, but Australia is really nice and I think the last time we were in Sydney we met some cool little people there. I think you can appreciate it when you make such a long journey to go out and see people, you know. And the response we had led us to believe that we ‘d have a really great time again.
Who would be your dream lineup?
I dunno, Yeah Yeah Yeahs? Thought they’d be good, they’re a cool band. And to finish it off let’s go for Sneaky Sound System.
What have been your best and worst onstage experiences?
Well, the worst one’s are always pretty boring, you know, when you’ve got angry band members because things get lost and stuff breaks or we’re just not having a very good one. But that doesn’t happen too often, we’re kind of lucky in that way, we’re pretty on it (and I feel awful for saying this in such a way) but we’re pretty well liked. We played our biggest ever headline show last year in Birmingham, which is our kind of hometown, and that was amazing. I was just kind of so into it, even though it was such a big venue, it was a big arena. And usually I like more intimate settings where you can see faces and clouds, but I loved it. I loved having so many people come out to see us. It was a real moment for me.
Do you guys have any band rituals (no matter how weird or cult-like they may be) before going onstage or recording?
All we do is do a really lame little fist bump…that’s all. It’s so pathetic! But it kind of feels like if we didn’t do it…it’d be pretty awful. Superstitions are funny aren’t they? You often seem to find a reason why something’s bad like that.
Exactly. Now, what are the perks you’ve taken advantage of with, I guess your fame?
Oh, well I wouldn’t say we’re famous.
Or, with knowing the right people?
With my job, I get to see a lot of stuff, and I get to travel the world, which is really awesome. And have a wonderful time pretty much doing whatever. I can’t describe what a privileged position we’re in, and nobody knows me! So I can go into like, Marcs & Spencer and buy my pants, and nobodies looking at me going “Ohh, he’s buying cheap pants”. You know it’s cool, I’m totally faceless. So I get all the good perks of being in a band, without the crappy bullshit.
Yeah, totally. Now, this is a bit of a controversial one, but do you believe Michael Jackson faked his own death?
(Laughs) Um… I don’t think that he could ever transform himself so fast. No wait, he’s done that once before.
Well, he went from being a black man to a white woman?
(Laughs) Well yeah, that’s true. I think, the people he hangs around with….well I was going to say they’re too stupid to keep there mouth shut but they’re probably very well paid.
If you throw enough money at someone they’ll definitely be able to keep their mouth shut.
Well yeah, exactly. I’m going to sit on the fence with this one. I’m going to say it’s definitely possible.
Alright, it’s time for some “would you rathers”. Would you rather: Whoopi Goldberg, or a whoopi cushion? Whoopi Goldberg.
Dumbledore or Aslan? Aslan, no question.
Team Jacob or Team Edward?
(Silence)
Team what?
You know, the Twilight series?
I’ve never watched it, no. I tell you what, one of our tracks is on the New Moon soundtrack but (laughs) other then that I don’t know anything about it.
That’s probably a good thing. Freddie Mercury or Freddie Krugar?
I’ve got a jumper that’s very similar to Freddy Krugar’s, so I’ll pick him.
Alchemy or alcohol? Alchemy.
What do you guys want to achieve in the future? For example, world domination or knighthood?
I reckon we just wanna record again. That’s all we wanna do. We just want to record another album as soon as possible. Especially because it’s always tricky to get your touring scheduled, we tour a lot, I mean it’s obviously the best way to promote yourself, but we do tour an awful lot.
Finally, what would you say to all the schoolyard bullies/non believers/doubters about your success?
(Laughs) Fuck you! (laughs some more) Everybody remembers hanging around with idiots in school or whatever, with people being so ignorant about everything when you’re at a certain age. But you know I probably was too, I was an ass. So I’d totally take it on the chin if some one came back to me and said “go eff off” or whatever.
Editors will be playing at The Falls festival and at Sunset Sounds.
We have one double pass to giveaway to the Sunset Sounds festival for both days.
But we are going to make you work for it.
Come to our next BATS party dressed in costume - best dressed wins the pass
details here
Come to our next BATS party dressed in costume - best dressed wins the pass
details here