Sunday 7 January 2024

The Archive Index

"Don't forget where your vibe comes from..."

Weclome to the Lemming Archive.

What you'll find here is everything that I have ferociously, and often indiscriminately collected by the UK band Editors since I first became a fan in 2006. There's no officially released material here as it's not my intention to take money out of anybody's pocket. What it does contain are live shows, interviews, television appearances and some other memorabilia that isn't quite as easy to categorise (Editors condom tin, anyone?). The whole idea in setting this blog up was to assemble everything in one place so that other Editors fans would be able to delve into the band's history, as well as catching up with their current activities. The links below will help you do that.

Whether you've been an Editors fan for a while or you've only just discovered them, I'm really glad you're here. Have a look around and take whatever you want, support the band and most importantly of all enjoy the music ;)

The Lemming Archive - Table of Contents
For hidden extras, scroll down to "Covert Shares"

Editors in 2003 (as Snowfield)

 
 

 
 

 

The Lemming Archive (main blog)
 

The Archive on Twitter (for updates and news)
 

The Archive on YouTube (for all hosted videos)

 

Editors' online message board

 

The Lemming Archive's email address
 

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

Sunday 31 December 2023

Rahi's Teaser Trailer for Brixton Academy 2nd May 2024

 

 
More delicious psychological manipulation from the man who has been in charge of Editors' image for almost the last decade or so. If you wanted to distill the excitement and passion of an Editors show into a very short clip, while simultaneously making the band look super cool, you would go talk to Rahi. We knew he'd been present during their recent mini-tour, and it looks like he was working. 
 
If you're going to buy tickets for the May gig at Brixton Academy, this is the kind of thing you're in for. Enjoy the hype ;)
 
 
brought to you with lots and lots of lemming-love ;) x

The Forum - Bath 1st March 2024 (Petrock2000 recording)

 

 
Here's an amazing documentation of an Editors gig from previous Archive contributor, Petrock2000, who's very kindly given me permission to share this new recording here. Many thanks to you for this, it's appreciated ;)

There are two versions of the set available, both from different sources including the in-ear monitors. It means you get the best possible representations of the music and are able to really appreciate the nuances.

The sold-out gig at the Bath Forum was the first show in March of 2024, and stop number four on their mini-tour of the UK and Europe. For whatever reason, Ben was not a participant in this part of the EBM campaign cycle and as I've said before, I hope he's OK (and still an Editor, obviously).

It's true that different tracks will resonate with us for different reasons, depending on what we bring to them when we listen. I confess that I've always had a soft spot for At All Cost, primarily because of the theme of interpersonal tension between those closest to us. That and the way Tom sounds so weary when he delivers the lyrics "I've got nothing to say to my oldest friends". It's a sentiment acting as a weird echo to some earlier words from the song This House is Full of Noise, released during the ITLAOTE era; "Don't let your friends know you can't pay your debts". It's almost like there's been a progression, or a gradual deterioration across the years from paranoid secrecy to paralysed indifference.

Aside from the solo version Tom played as part of the Slow Motion Soundtrack, I never expected to hear it in this kind of a setting but I'm glad I did, and especially given the quality of the recording. Even in a room full of people it still feels like an exhausted, quiet confession.

Enjoy the music ;) 
 
Version 1

01 - Two Hearted Spider - download here
02 - Sugar - download here
03 - Karma Climb - download here
04 - A Ton of Love - download here
05 - Bullets - download here
06 - Heart Attack - download here
07 - Blood - download here
08 - Strawberry Lemonade - download here
09 - Picturesque - download here
10 - Killer (Adamski cover) - download here
11 - No Harm - download here
12 - Lights - download here
13 - Bones - download here
14 - Munich - download here
15 - Strange Intimacy - download here
16 - Papillon - download here
17 - An End Has a Start - download here
18 - The Racing Rats - download here
19 - Nothing (full band version) - download here
20 - At All Cost (first half without Ed Lay) - download here
21 - The Phone Book - download here
22 - Smokers Outside the Hospital Doors - download here
 
Version 2

01 - Two Hearted Spider - download here
02 - Sugar - download here
03 - Karma Climb - download here
04 - A Ton of Love - download here
05 - Bullets - download here
06 - Heart Attack - download here
07 - Blood - download here
08 - Strawberry Lemonade - download here
09 - Picturesque - download here
10 - Killer (Adamski cover) - download here
11 - No Harm - download here
12 - Lights - download here
13 - Bones - download here
14 - Munich - download here
15 - Strange Intimacy - download here
16 - Papillon - download here
17 - An End Has a Start - download here
18 - The Racing Rats - download here
19 - Nothing (full band version) - download here
20 - At All Cost (first half without Ed Lay) - download here
21 - The Phone Book - download here
22 - Smokers Outside the Hospital Doors - download here 

All in a Zip - download here 

All other files (taper info, photos and checksum)

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

Justin and Felicity Hall on the Mental Health Podcast 6th March 2024

 


I'm sharing this to increase its reach, in the hope that it starts a conversation somewhere.

A lot of the bands I love, and probably that you do too, have had personnel undergoing some serious mental health problems at one time or another. It's often a fact that the parts of your favourite artiste's personality which produce transcendent moments of artistic joy for both you and them (you hope), can occasionally be accompanied by those which have the capacity for causing immeasurable personal damage. Often, you just can't have one without the other. The popular idyllic myth, and it's something I confess that I bought into for years, is that all touring bands are the absolute best of friends who are having the time of their lives while travelling the world playing music. If you're of a similar mindset, this podcast will help to dispel that myth. 

On the 6th March 2024, and in mid-tour, Justin appeared on the Mental Health Podcast NL along with Editors' tour manager and professional life-arranging ninja, Felicty Hall. If you know your Editors history, then you'll be aware that Justin has always been candid about his struggles with touring, but this extended chat really gets into the finer details of what it's like. It's a fascinating podcast, because not only do we get to better understand the realities of what a professional musician is expected to contend with day to day, we learn exactly what a tour manager does (I had no idea it was this involved!). The degree of honesty here results in an extremely illuminating conversation. It's like hearing the answers to a series of question you may have had, but felt would be tactless to raise. Well done to everyone involved, and thank you for the insight.

Enjoy the education ;)


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

Tuesday 12 December 2023

Editors - Our Shadows Fuse - Antwerp 8th March 2024

  


First things first. What you're listening to here is a compilation of audio taken from various fan footage videos posted for the show.  I initially assembled it purely to quell my own addictions because, as I'm sure you've worked out, I absolutely love this band. I'm also acutely aware that there are Editors fans who live a long, long way from where these concerts are taking place but would still love to hear how it went. With that in mind, this is also for you.

From the cavernous Sportpaleis in Antwerp, this is Editors performing as part of their first quarter of 2024 mini-tour. Even though the band is officially a six-piece outfit at present,  Blanck Mass is not here and has been absent for the entire string of dates during the last month.  So you can imagine that Elliott was working overtime in the engine room of the band tonight! Lots of buttons to push and synth-drums to bother. 

Given Ben's  role is shaping and creating the EBM album, I feel wholly sorry for him right now because he earned his place as a part of this celebratory event. They all did. This night was something to be proud of, and reflect upon down the line somewhere. Even though the circumstances surrounding him being away are none of my business,  I hope that he's OK.  

As I've said here before, Editors are able to enjoy the success they have because of evolution and a reputation acquired through the hard work they put in to build a solid foundation of fans. EBM is a year and a half old, there are currently no singles in the charts, the promotion for this tour has been pretty minimalist and yet they can fill a venue that's 20,000 + in capacity. People are there because they are assured of a good time.  Plus...you know...Belgium loves them some Editors.  Or so it's been said.

If you're a repeated listener to the material, you'll spot the differences here and there. One that I picked up was during The Phone Book, where it sounds like Ed is playing it with sticks rather than brushes. It transforms the song from a being a more gentle, soft composition to something akin to a chugging train. It makes it feel less like the quiet, author-read diary entry by Mr Smith of a very dark time in his life (if indeed that was what it's about) than the studio version does. Then again, that's exactly what live takes are for isn't it? Evolution again. Yes, these are total nerd details but hey, that's just me. 

Enjoy the music everyone ;)

Full show (audio) - Stream it Here

MP3s
Two Hearted Spider - download here
Sugar - download here
Karma Climb - download here
A Ton of Love - download here
Bullets - download here
Heart Attack - download here
Blood - download here
All Sparks - download here
Strange Intimacy - download here
Picturesque - download here
Killer - download here
No Harm - download here
Lights  - download here
The Racing Rats - download here
Bones - download here
Munich - download here
An End Has a Start - download here
Strawberry Lemonade - download here
Papillon - download here
No Sound but the Wind - download here
The Phone Book - download here
Nothing - download here
Smokers Outside the Hospital Doors - download here

All in a Zip - download here

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

Editors Instagram - February 2024

 

Ed has broken the Editors No Tattoo Code that all original members used to abide by...by having a tattoo! Heresy!
 
Before we begin, shout-out of the month goes to Mr Nic Willes,  who took to the drum stool mid-tour for Slowdive after Simon had a loss in the family. You look up "versatility" in the dictionary, there's a link to Nic's Instagram profile. What a guy.  Sadly, it put an end to any speculation that Editors were going to be moving closer to becoming a 7-piece goth version of Earth Wind and Fire on this tour with him on guitar again. On the plus side, he did fulfil my long held dream of an Editors/Slowdive crossover.  

When you're addressing a band's current era of development the word "established" can often be used in a pejorative way, as if somehow all the hard work to achieve success is done and only the certainty of future irrelevance is now assured. They made it! There is, however,  another kind of "established" that has far more positive inferences, a kind that Editors are experiencing as they make their way across the country.

Their UK mini-tour began on the 26th of February in Newcastle, and as all you amateur historians will remember, this was the city where their first label Kitchenware was based. There are only 6 nights on this run of engagements, and a number of them are sold out. Considering how long they've been doing this, you would think that's going to be a given, but it's actually happened in spite of a drought of publicity surrounding these dates. If you knew where to look, then you knew they were coming. Instead of billboards and posters on the underground, this latest success has been through fan-loyalty, word of mouth and most importantly the one thing you can't buy but have to earn; reputation.  It's taken 20 years of very hard work to craft it, but we are now in a time where they can announce a tour in their home country, albeit quietly, and people will still show up to see them play. 

I remember Elliott saying in a 2022 interview that Editors are a band with a identity crisis, and the way different countries react when they tour only seems to reinforce that assessment. In the UK they appear to have been allocated the status of "cult band", carving out their own piece of longevity contrary to the fleeting nature of music business attention.  Move across the North Sea to mainland Europe, however, and Editors are a band that sell out large venues and have fostered a ferociously dedicated fan base. They seem to become a different group depending on the location they're in at any given time, suggesting that their identity is in fact a fluid, changeable commodity.  

"Every little piece of your life, it means something to someone..."

One thing I've noticed from various footage and photos posted is that Blanck Mass isn't present. There's been no official announcement that he's left so I guess we can assume for now that he's still an Editor? There was also an curious quote from Russell in an interview with Stereoboard published last month:-

I don’t know where we’ll go next, though, because we haven’t started writing or anything, so next year is the time to do that. Once you get the desire, once you get the hunger for it, then things start rolling. 

This illustrates the malleable nature of being in Editors in 2024. I say that because as recently as 2022, Russell mentioned impending plans to return to Mexico and that the band already had some demos floating around. The current published tour schedule (which you can always view at the band's reliably excellent online forum run by Hannah), coupled with the above statement from Stereoboard, seems to indicate that neither of those things are in play any more. On face value, it would also seem to imply that 2024 is going to be about winding down the EBM promotional cycle in preparation for album 8?

For now, get on out there and see the band play as they continue to make their way towards the festival season 2024.  


Editors Instagram - February 2024

For all of Editors' previous Instagram posts, go here.
 
brought to you with lots and lots of lemming-love :) x

Tuesday 5 December 2023

Editors Instagram - January 2024

 

 
As we eagerly inhabit the space where the band quietly build towards their live return in February, we got an announcement on the 16th of January about a booking at Warm Up festival in May. The conventions of music business best-practices would usually dictate that the early part of 2024 would be the time that Editors disappear into creative hibernation, given that their most recent album  EBM has been public domain for almost a year and a half. Yet it feels like there's something else going on. I keep coming back to this but it may be simply due to their much more structured way of operating their civilian lives adjacent to Editors' promotional commitments?
 
There are twin demands in play here, and not necessarily possessing equal strength, of fulfilling the needs of those you love and care about at home, and  meeting the demands of people who admire what you do creatively and want to experience it live. It is, of course, obvious that in most cases one of those obligations is always going to outweigh the other, but in a world where creativity allows you to earn a living I imagine the ratio changes. Even if it's only slightly. The reality is that the dominant area of focus will always takes away from the one less pursued, and a lean too hard in one direction can have an adverse effect on the other.  
 
Spending extended amounts of time at home and away from the road, could result in you being publicly forgotten. A reverse scenario of prolonged stays out in the world hitting cities too quickly to be able to fully appreciate your surroundings, all the while unintentionally nurturing the seeds of darkness caused by extended separation, could cause problems in your civilian life. If there is a middle ground between the poles, of following their muse to invent while simultaneously enjoying life away from the band, it could be that after 20 years of trial and error, Editors are finding it. Not necessarily a merger, but an alliance between opposing ideals. I suppose it will be evident when they come back. 2024 may be about revelations, or it could just be a protracted farewell to EBM

As well as his usual photography, I was really excited to see Justin release three short films in January with what appears to be original music on his Instagram profile. I have assembled them all into one clip that runs at about 6 minutes long, and you can watch it on the Archive's YouTube channel. It's a collection of different footage but all with a single unified theme. In terms of sound it's got a really smooth ambient kind of mood going on, and I really liked it. Check it out.


Editors Instagram - January 2024

For all of Editors' previous Instagram posts, go here.
 
brought to you with lots and lots of lemming-love :) x