The great thing about any Editors interview with John Kennedy is that he takes his time, the band are used to being around him and it leads to an altogether more relaxed experience. Plus, Mr Kennedy has a habit of getting better answers through better questions. This time the talk is all about VI OLENCE, and it's becoming more obvious that this album was built rather than simply written-polished-released.
I like the story about Belong being just the band playing, without the reconstructive techniques of Blanck Mass. It's almost as though the album was a step away from the In Dream methodology of being locked away out in the sticks, with them getting other people in to help shape the sound and direction of the recording. By the time they reach Belong, however, they've come all the way back around to it just being about the 5 of them in a room trying to find the musical sweet spot.
While a lot has been made about the obvious creative talents and abilities of Justin within this band, and how they've come to the fore this time around, I think that you can also hear the pop sensibilities of Elliott at work all over it. Tom talks about times in the past where he's written something of a more melodic pop nature and they've just buried it in darkness as a reaction. As the second lineup of the band has developed as a unit it sounds like both Justin and Elliott have been able to exert their own personalities more, leading to a situation where the opportunity to just write a pop song is something that is actual viable and probably encouraged, whereas it may have been abandoned previously for fear of losing some kind of credibility. Knowing what we know about Elliott's tastes in music, I think you can hear it the clearest on this record.
To cite an example, I remember when The Cure were preparing the Wish album, they did a secret show as the 5 Imaginary Boys at the Town and Country Club in London. They debuted some new tracks there (Cut, The Big Hand and A Letter to Elise) and they sounded great. But in between that gig and the final recording, Perry Bamonte who was a new member of the group at that time having been a roadie for the band, suggested speeding things up and playing louder. Robert mentioned this in interviews at that time, and if you compare the live versions of those songs and the finished studio takes there is so much more energy on the recorded version of Cut. The songs were given a new look and more life as a result. I submit that this is what's happening with Editors right now. Justin and Elliott have brought with them increased musical freedom that is allowing the band to try things they wouldn't ordinarily do, which is how it should be.
As is always the case, officially released material was played and removed so that nobody is getting ripped off here at the Archive. Plus, the interview was spaced out across the entire show in sections, so I've pulled it all together into one handy clip for you all. Enjoy the chatter ;)
brought to you with lots and lots of lemming-love :) x
