Grape Festival 15th August 2014 (video/audio)

Next on the agenda is Editors' slot at Grape Festival in 2014. First thing to mention is that there were some serious onstage technical problems which led to a delay between the end of Sugar and Munich. It happens just as Mr Lockey is unleashing one of his riffs, and the effect is that it's so powerful it knocks out the voltage for the entire stage. Can you imagine what would have happened if the song Hallelujah (So Low) had been on the setlist in 2014? The tastiness of the riff in that one would have led to a countrywide blackout for sure. There was a 20 minute gap in the live stream as the band left the stage,  allowing the crew to rectify the issues. That section of the broadcast has been removed here to make everything run a little smoother.

At the time of this show Editors' summer campaign was winding down, yet however fatigued the band may have been feeling you probably wouldn't guess judging by the energy they were still able to conjure up on command. The audience here are sensational, given that they spend most of the set being rained on by a truly unforgiving Slovakian sky. If you look during Honesty you can see it falling across the front of the stage. This was another appointment that Elliott wasn't a part of, as he was exploring his own creative impulses in the guise of Y.O.U. during this time. That's not to say that there was a gap in the lineup because Nic Willes, the man who proudly transgresses the no tattoo rule in Editors was present on guitar, keys and backing vocals.  Enjoy the music, folks :)

Photo of Justin borrowed from Tom's Twitter Account

Video
stream it here

MP3s
Sugar (technical problems, cuts out) - download here
Munich - download here
An End Has a Start - download here
Formaldehyde - download here
All Sparks - download here
A Life as a Ghost - download here
ERM=BD - download here
Bullets - download here
The Racing Rats - download here
Honesty - download here
Smokers - download here
Nothing - download here
Bricks and Mortar - download here
A Ton of Love - download here
Papillon - download here

brought to you with lots of lemming-love :) x

Serengeti Festival Highlights August 17th 2014 (video)

The video you're watching was ripped from the WDR website, and unfortunately doesn't contain the full set. The five songs presented, however, are a more than appropriate summary of the gig and of the Editors festival experience in general. Of note is the fact that Elliott was not technically an Editor at this time, with his onstage duties being filled by the very able Mr Nicholas M Willes. Mr Williams was at that time writing and recording under the pseudonym Y.O.U. but would return in October of 2014. Photographs appeared online recently of Nic playing with the band during February 2019, possibly in a rehearsal setting and leading to all kinds of specualtion about his involvement in future endeavours. Hmmm... Enjoy the show ;)

Broadcast Setlist
Racing Rats
Honesty
Smokers
Nothing
Bricks and Mortar
A Ton of Love
Papillon

stream it here

Bonus Material - Interview

Here's another chance to listen in on a backstage chat with Mr Smith and Mr Leetch. The recurring thread in interviews at that time was "So where's the next record?", much the same as the obligatory questions when they returned to promote TWOYL were "So, where's Chris?" or "Why have you been away so long?". I can only imagine the difficulty in maintaining a cheery disposition when you experience the same topics of conversation on such a regular basis. 

The subject matter is actually pretty varied here, including their favourite past-time backstage and, of course, In Dream.  The reference to them reconvening as a 5 piece in October was welcome, confirming as it did that Elliott would be a part of the process again. He was away pursuing his own pop dreams as Y.O.U. at the time of this show, hence the onstage appearance by the owner of the skinniest legs in Editors, Mr Nicholas M Willes.

stream it here

brought to you with lots and lots of lemming-love :) x

Pukkelpop August 14th 2014

"Is everybody having a good day? I'm having a good day." - Tom prior to All Sparks

First thing to point out is that this proved to be a difficult video to "liberate" when I originally ripped it. As such, you'll notice that the picture quality isn't as smooth as you're used to, but if you can live with that then you have a great gig just waiting to be appreciated.

This show is an example of what happens when you get a group of musicians who are on-point; a vocalist with a ridiculous amount of passion for the songs he's singing and a crowd that are definitely in the mood for a good night out. But then again, Belgium was the venue for this gathering of the glum and there's whispers on the street that this is a country that may be a little bit fond of Editors. Just a little, mind you. There's actually fairly good odds that if you were in attendance on the night, you'll be flashing up onscreen at some point during one of the many crowd shots.

Pukkelpop was another Editors live event that featured the talents of Mr Nicholas Willes, as they trekked the TWOYL album around the summer festival circuit in 2014. At this juncture Mr Smith was still operating his twitter account (where I nabbed the photo below from) having been online for 2 years, but like his legendary touring boots, it is no more unfortunately. Ahhhh, those boots. They will be missed. Luckily for us the magnetic pull of social media dragged him back but onto a different platform. This show has Tom performing The Weight acoustically on guitar but also No Sound But the Wind, a song of multiple versions with one usually preferred by fans over all others. My own personal favourite is still the full electric version with Chris (studio-recorded first then live), but I do love the weird journey that track endured:-

A track on the Twilight soundtrack, appreciated by teen girls who dig vampires
Tom's solo piano take
Tom's solo acoustic guitar rendition
The full band version
The recorded full band version with a different arrangement of Chris' guitars
The final take on the VI OLENCE album

As I said, weird.

This tour saw the band using film projected behind them while they played at certain points, including skateboarders doing their thing during Formaldehyde. I'd forgotten how striking the image of the martial artist in the karate gi is when he appears at the beginning of A Life as a Ghost. He looks huge! Also, knowing what we know about Mr Smith's once rock solid mountain-goat climbing skills being absent recently, I actually got a bit nervy when he clambered up on the piano during ERM=BD. I kept waiting for that horrible moment when gravity took it upon itself to remind him just who is in charge but both the paino stool and his footing remained sure and steadfast. Enjoy the music, everyone ;)

Photo borrowed from Tom's Twitter Feed (R.I.P.)

Video - stream it here

MP3s
Sugar - download here
Munich - download here 
An End Has a Start - download here 
Formaldehyde - download here 
All Sparks - download here 
A Life as a Ghost - download here 
ERM=BD - download here
Bullets - download here 
Bones - download here 
Honesty - download here 
The Racing Rats - download here 
Smokers - download here 
Nothing - download here 
The Weight (Acoustic) - download here
No Sound but the Wind (Tom solo) - download here
Bricks and Mortar - download here 
A Ton of Love - download here 
Papillon - download here 

Bonus Material - Interview 1
stream it here

Bonus Material - Interview 2

JimBe interview Mr Lay and Mr Lockey backstage at Pukkelpop, and among other things they discuss the site of what was their 900th show. 900 shows. That's craziness. There's also a lovely compliment to Chris' guitar writing skills from Justin. It's quick and it's subtle, but it's there. He also talks about a possible application for some of his wonderful airport documents that he still shares when touring to this day. I wonder if the idea is still a possibility down the line sometime? Enjoy the chat ;)

stream it here

Bonus Material - Photoset by Danny van Schendel
view pics here

being brought to you with lots of lemming-love :) x

Interview with The Guardian 8th November 2005 (txt)

click on the thumbnails for the full-sized pics

Here's an interview that was published online at the Guardian newspaper's website way back in 2005. It primarily features Mr Smith, although other member of the band pop in briefly (including everyone's favourite drummer, Mr Ed Lays). Chris' contribution to this interview is pure gold, but it would be irresponsible of me to warn you why that is before you have a chance to read it.   You want Editors' history? You got it!

brought to you with lots of lemming-love :) x

Low Cost Festival 2014 Spanish Radio Broadcast

Alrighty then. Bad news first? This is an incomplete recording. A Ton of Love cuts out towards the end as the allotted broadcast slot of exactly, precisely one hour is completed. You'll even hear the beeps that radio stations play to signify a new hour is about to start, a sound that's usually followed by a news summary or something.  This means that the long, festival-friendly version of Papillon that rounded off the set is missing. Additionally, it also suffers from a problem that will be familiar to you if you listen to the radio on a regular basis; the DJ talks far too much and often over the top of the music.They even talk over the ending of Nothing, which is unforgiveable.

Still with me?

The good news is that the sound is excellent for a streaming broadcast which means that what we have is still worth your time. The only changes I made were to remove the long bit of DJ chatter that went on before the broadcast actually started, and to fade in as the creepy string intro to Sugar starts up.

If you'd forgotten the power of A Life as a Ghost, the way it's played here will bring it all back again. This was from a time when the setlist also contained Honesty, which I view as a truly underrated Editors song. It always felt very anthemic and seemed to bring out the best in the band when they played it, but it's existence as a regular in the running order has diminished over the years. Also, Nothing here is the full version that had the extended intro and dual drumming from Ed and a shadowy member of Team Editors' backstage crew. Enjoy the music ;)

The Setlist
Sugar
Munich
Smokers Outside the Hospital Doors
An End Has a Start
Formaldehyde
All Sparks
A Life as a Ghost
Bullets
Eat Raw Meat = Blood Drool
Honesty
The Racing Rats
Nothing
A Ton of Love
Papillon *unbroadcast*

stream it here or download here

brought to you with lots of lemming-love :) x

Russell interviewed for Record Store Day April 21st 2014

King Leetch goes live! From the BBC's Midlands Today show in 2014, here's your favourite bass-slinger answering some questions about all things vinyl. This was part of the promotion for Record Store Day, which is a campaign to bring attention to smaller independent music retailers around the country.

stream it here

Editors were actually first part of this event in 2010, when they released the track Last Day as a 7 inch single. This year, Tom did some work for the cause by performing a solo set in a very small venue indeed. You can check out the footage and sounds from that show by visiting this post here at the Archive:-

Banquet records March 2014

brought to you with lots of lemming-love :) x  

Tom and Russell Backstage at "One Night in Cape Town" 7th August 2014 (video)

Jennifer Sanasie has a chat with Mr Smith and Mr Leetch in a room that looks a little bit like a gentlemen's toilet, as they prepare for their debut appearance in South Africa. The topics covered are fairly varied, including what songs they really love to play, strange things that have happened on tour etc etc.

The meat on the bones during this particular interview is of course related to the impending, but at this point unwritten 5th album. They're recording in October at an undisclosed location, and a sketchy time of release for the new album could be the end of next year...but then you have to allow for any number of glitches and pot-holes they'll undoubtedly experience on the way. So it's all speculative, hypothetical and as yet, unknown. Which pretty much sums up the state of mind of all us die-hard Editors fan in between their record releases.  We wouldn't have it any other way :)

stream here

Another brief interview from Editors' brief adventure in South Africa here for you now, as Mr Smith and Mr Leetch chat about a variety of subject matter backstage at Oppikoppi 2014. 

download here

brought to you with lemming-love :) x

Chris Urbanowicz "Essentials" List 2006 (?)

Now here's a thing. I'm a regular reader of Chris' Twitter account, and something he posted recently felt strangely familiar.  He wrote that a little known fact about him was that he'd written a 13k word essay on The Beach Boys' Pet Sounds album at University, but for some reason I felt like I knew that already. 

Here's why. 

Buried on a hard drive was this from 2006 (I think), although I cannot for the life of me remember which website I ripped this from. I confess that I forgot I even had this at all.  It's a list of 10 things that Chris listed as essential in his life at that time, and the Pet Sounds essay is mentioned.  As dry as that might sound for the subject of a dissertation, that album is pretty legendary for the insanity that surrounded its inception.  Which I would suspect made it a really interesting topic to dig into and discuss.

What's on offer here is a zip file containing pictures of all 10 items he listed and a small explanation from the man himself as to why he chose them. Check it out:-

download here

brought to you with lots of lemming-love :) x