An interview that originally aired on Juice 107.2 back on March 13th 2018. Seasoned junkies of these Q&A sessions will spot an element of weirdness straight away. It sounds like Tom is in a studio and Ben Noble is calling in his questions via telephone. Isn't this usually the other way around? Sketchy sound quality for the guest but smooth, caramel-in-your-ear-holes velvety tones for the DJ? My imagination has me seeing Mr Smith patiently waiting inside the cosy confines of Juice 107.2 studio while a forlorn Ben is sitting outside on his mobile phone, conducting proceedings from a rain-soaked car park having been refused entry because he's wearing he wrong kind of shoes. There's a strict dress code at Juice 107.2. You better come with flip-flops or you'll be unceremoniously sent on your way.
It's fascinating to hear that Tom had a specific lyrical connection and themes for each album from E4 onwards. The Weight of Your Love was him trying to write love songs while In Dream was about...dreams (surprisingly enough). VI OLENCE was people escaping the bombardment of the outside world through human connection. Is this a new thing? I wonder if there was one theme that connected the songs on The Back Room, An End Has a Start and In This Light and on This Evening? As he's developed his skills as a songwriter from E4 to E6, maybe Tom has become more able to approach albums as a collective expression of a singular idea, rather than it just being a mixture of songs about a variety of subjects?
I've also noticed lately that the subject of fan alienation keeps appearing in the interviews on the VI OLENCE campaign. There's been a few mentions of losing people along the way as they've experimented with their sound. Sometimes it's been with the attitude of "If you don't like it, too bad" but often it's acknowledgement of people perhaps not being able to get a handle on what the band is doing when they try new musical styles. It's a dichotomy because we know that Mr Smith doesn't like to dwell on the past, but he seems to be unusually reflective on this mater of late. But then, it could just appear that way purely because he's being asked more questions related to that topic than usual. It's like saying "Golly, he sure is doing a lot of explaining about what VI OLENCE means as an album title, isn't he?", and it's correct but only because folks keep asking.
We do learn that ITLAOTE is one of his favourite Editors records, even though it's the one that he admits may have caused the biggest fan hemorrhage due to the dreaded "electronics". Oh no, grab the children and run to the hills because these keyboards and samplers will surely enslave us all!
Or something like that. Enjoy the chatter ;)
brought to you with lots and lots of lemming-love :) x
