Some Enchanted Evening

Never mind crack cocaine or heroin, Editors’ new In This Light And On This Evening album was recorded under one of the most potent influences known to man – a baby!

“Yeh, there were definitely times writing and recording this album when my head was in a totally different place to where it’s been before,” admits proud dad Tom Smith who welcomed his little lad Rudy Brae Bowman Smith into the world on June 10th 2008. “I don’t think I’ll know whether it impacted on to any of the songs until a couple of years’ time when I’ve caught up on my sleep! There’s nothing consciously on the record about being a father, but I’m sure as a parent you look at the world through different, perhaps slightly less selfish eyes. I can’t quantify it, to be honest.”
Apologies if you’re tucking in to your dinner as you read this, but did anyone warn Tom about the colour of baby’s poo?
“Yeah, though it was still a shock to the system the first time I saw it – and a shock every time after that because it’s always changing!” laughs the super-svelte 28-year-old. “My only piece of advice for prospective fathers – actually, it’s more of a warning – is no matter how many books you read or pre-natal classes you attend, you haven’t a clue what it’s like until the baby’s actually there in front of you.”
Also affecting the dynamic of this record is Editors lead guitarist Chris Urbanowicz and bass-player Russell Leetch both relocating to Brooklyn. Are the streets there really lined with hip new bands?
“The streets are lined with really poor concrete paving, which for a man with delicate shoes is tricky,” Urbanowicz deadpans. “It is the case that bands from arsehole of nowhere parts of America flock there because of the ‘Brooklyn scene’, which is actually pretty fragmented. Apart from the guy living upstairs from me with a massive, scary dog who works for a punk label and Dev from Lightspeed Champion and Keith from We Are Scientists who are both living nearby, my neighborhood isn’t particularly rock ‘n’ roll.
“To be honest, I just wanted to get out of the UK. Where I’m living in Williamsburg has a real community feel, and is far less uptight and dangerous than most English cities. I still love England and will be cheering madly for our boys next summer when they win the World Cup, but I’m enjoying having a breather from it.”
Was Chris there the night that Barack Obama’s Presidential victory was confirmed?
“I was and what an amazing fucking party it turned out to be!” he enthuses. “It was great seeing young people on the streets who for the first time in their lives felt they’d made a difference. I was dancing with policemen while drivers honked their horns and fire engines blared past with their sirens on. It was a real carnival atmosphere.”
When not bumping booties with members of the NYPD, Urbanowicz was to be found trading MP3s with Tom Smith who was on nappy changing duties back in Birmingham.
“We waited until we had nine or ten bits of songs stockpiled, and then we got together in a room and played,” Tom recalls. “It’s actually a very productive way of working ‘cause if you hit a brick wall with one idea, you just skip to the next.”
Would I be right in thinking that previous Editors albums weren’t quite so efficiently time managed?
“You would be right, yes!” Russell Leetch grins. “I don’t know how other bands operate, but we’re forever starting work on a song and realising after five minutes that we’ve totally different ideas of where it’s going to go. There’s a silence followed by withering looks and then somebody plucks up the courage to say, ‘That’s rubbish!’ This time, instead of going ‘Fuck it!’ and heading to the pub we calmly moved on to the next song... and had a row about that!”
While not quite the complete reinvention that had been mooted – perhaps they’ll go dubstep next time, eh? – In This Light And On This Evening finds Editors abandoning the all-out guitar attack of old and replacing it with a synth-laden sound that references everyone from Kraftwerk and New Order to Ultravox and Depeche Mode.
“It’s quite minimal compared to An End Has A Start, which was layers and layers of... everything, really!” Tom Smith resumes. “As long as the big bits are really big, you don’t need every song to be a wall of noise.”
Helping Editors come to that realisation was Flood, the veteran producer responsible for the Depeche boys’ Songs Of Faith And Devotion masterpiece, along with equally landmark albums by the likes of Nine Inch Nails, P.J. Harvey, Smashing Pumpkins and U2.
“We did the In This Light And On This Evening title-track ourselves in a studio in Battersea, so we’d sort of pinpointed the direction we wanted to take before Flood came on board,” Tom continues. “Which isn’t to say that he didn’t then come in and move things even further along.”
What do Editors need most in the studio – a mum to put an arm round them or a headmaster to smack their bums when they’re slacking?
“Definitely a mum!” proffers drummer Ed Lay. “There was a really good flow making this record. You’d do a backing-track in one take, and then move on to the next song. Once they were all done, you’d repeat the process taking the song to the next stage and so on. We never got bored, which was another excuse for us buggering off to the pub in the past!”
What’s this I hear about Flood and his Prussian soldier’s helmet?
“Oh yeah, that came out towards the end,” Tom Smith chuckles. “It’s a gift from Bono – what the significance is I don’t know – which he lets you put on if the tune’s rocking. You have a preconceived idea of what Flood’s going to be like because of all these amazing records he’s made, but he’s a really normal guy. He wears nice cords and trainers and only shouts at you when you deserve it!”
The last time your humble correspondent met Tom, he was anxiously waiting to hear what R.E.M. thought of Editors’ cover of ‘Orange Crush’. He got his answer a few weeks later when Michael Stipe & Co. performed their breakthrough hit ‘Munich’ on Jo Whiley’s radio show, and then invited Editors to support them in Europe.
“We got to play ‘Orange Crush’ on stage with R.E.M. in Helsinki, which was a bit of a moment!” Chris Urbanowicz beams.
Did they alternate verses?
“No, he sang and we strummed along! My amp was on but not mic’ed up, so I’m not even sure if we could be heard out front. Russell definitely could because he picked up Michael Stipe’s megaphone, which he’d put down for a moment and started yelling through it. There’s a photo of Michael looking at him with a mixture of disbelief, enjoyment and slight disgust! He can’t have been too pissed off because we were invited to sing and play percussion on ‘It’s The End Of The World’ while he jumped into the pit and danced with the crowd. That was probably even more scary than doing ‘Orange Crush’ ‘cause we didn’t know any of the notes.
“It was just an amazing experience to tour with a band that, without being clinical, were perfect every night and looked like they were having a great time. They always finish their set by saying, ‘We are R.E.M. and this is what we do’, which is the perfect summary really!”
How was it for Tom?
“It was a masterclass in how to be a big band and not disappear up your own arse,” he volunteers. “They’re able to reach out to Row Z, which you’ve got to do if you’re playing somewhere like Twickenham, without losing the sense of intimacy. The highlight for me was playing in the Roman colliseum in Verona where they still had all the opera scenery up. There was this overwhelming sense of ‘How the fuck did I end up here?’”
Finally, Ipswich Town fan Ed Lay, will Roy Keane still be in charge at Portman Road come Christmas?
“He’ll be there ‘till the end of the season, and beyond if they go on a Sunderland-style run and make the play-offs,” he says displaying a level of self-delusion that’s not necessarily healthy in a drummer. “Being a football supporter is like being in a band – even if the odds are totally stacked against you you’ve got to keep believing!”