Up next is a home video shot by the band showing some footage of their visit to Australia. I'm almost certain that what you're seeing was shot at the beginning of August 2007, because they played an afternoon slot in horrible, horrible daylight on the 4th of that month at Splendour in the Grass Festival. What I love most about this is that it doesn't look "of its time". I don't know what it was shot on but it possesses an excellent, grimy super 8 video look and feel which makes it difficult to contextualise as being from the late 2000s. Highlights from the 4 minute snapshot include thieving seagulls, table tennis outdoors, scarily huge bats and Mr Urbanowicz in a hammock. Watch out for King Leetch taking his role as bassist in "the gloomiest band in the world" very seriously, visiting an Australian beach dressed entirely in black. Hardcore, sir.
The soundtrack to the moving images is what makes this such a special bit of Editors memorabilia. It sounds like a live demo performance of Smokers Outside the Hospital Doors, possibly recorded during a rehearsal at some stage? The reason I'm leaning towards that as a guess is because it still feels as though it had yet to be finalised as a track, with the flow it of the AEHAS album take not quite present. All the parts are available, they just haven't succumbed to that last bit of settling into place. If you haven't heard this recording before, and you've played Smokers several thousand times already in your Editors fan lifetime as I have, then you'll be able to spot the changes immediately. Enjoy the movie ;)
brought to you with lots and lots of lemming-love :) x
