Editors set for Birmingham gig

Frontman Tom Smith has used the word ‘brutal’ to describe the album. Editors are six albums into their career, having broken through in 2005 with The Back Room before hitting the number one spot with their second and third albums; An End Has A Start and In This Light And On This Evening.

They have undergone a number of line-up changes, most notably with the departure in 2012 of guitarist Chris Urbanowicz, but Tom says they still find ways to reinvent.

“When you’re doing something creative, if you feel like you’re repeating yourself, that’s the enemy, ya know what I mean? That’s the opposite of what you’re trying to do. And I’m not saying we’re sitting around saying, “God, no one has ever made a song like this before.” That’s not the feeling at all but if you feel like you’re just rehashing old ideas, it gets stale. It’s the complete opposite of what being creative should be – surprising and spontaneous.

“Equally, you have to take a step back and not just think that you’re the only people that know the right way to go. With every record we try to do things slightly differently, whether it’s the people we work with, the way we work with them or like In Dream where we didn’t work with anybody. But with this record we were like, “We’ve done that. Let’s get some people in to help us.” You do need other people.” The band’s new record contains the euphoria and sense of redemption.

“People often comment on the darkness or bleakness of our band. But for the people that like the band, there are chinks of light and hope in these songs. Maybe our shows are group therapy sessions but people aren’t crying, there’s a lot of smiles.”