Sunday, 30 November 2025

The Archive Index

"Don't let it get lost..."

Welcome 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)

 
 




 

 

Notifications and updates 


The Lemming Archive (main blog)
 

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

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Monday, 1 January 2024

Tom plays Rock Werchter - 2nd July 2026



This is the first professionally recorded version of one of Tom's solo gigs that we have, and it's in a very special place. Even though we don't get the full, extended set lists that he was able to play on the road with Nic last year and earlier in this one, what we do have is a perfect summary. 

Werchter has been the venue where some magical Editors memories have been manifested throughout the years. There was the most obvious one in 2010, where Jason got became lost in a crowd during No Sound but the Wind. There was an equally important one 2 years later when they played what could have been their final show ever. The run through of Two Hearted Spider there remains to this day one of the most emotional renditions of any of their songs. This time in 2026, we came full circle and once again No Sound but the Wind stole the show. The song that ended up in demo form on a teen vampire movie, which has had so many rebirths over the years still manages to show something new.  

What I admire most about this set is the utter simplicity of it all. Two guys, some instruments and the ability to reach across a room full of people and make some of them cry. Literally cry. Just with music, passion and intent. It was impossible not to compare this to last week's Pinkpop set, but that was communication with decibels and pace. This was everything slowed, focused and issued as a direct entreaty for connection. Luckily for them, the crowd were perceptive and receptive. After all, it takes a certain skill to be able to take a songs that they've played thousands of times, like An End Has a Start, and still make it sound vital. Also, watch how Papillon goes over just as effectively quietly, as when 6 people are playing it at full volume from a festival stage. 

Lately, I have some questions that I've been pondering (I always do). What would Tom's solo record have sounded like with Nic as a co-writer? I'll take that a step further. What would Editors have sounded like if Nic had been involved earlier as a member of the group? It would have been interesting to see him in the band when they did In This Light and on This Evening, when they were first  starting to experiment. They would regularly swap instruments on stage, and Nic would have been perfect for that given his talents as a multi-instrumentalist.

Tom playing his "own songs" like this is going to be a thing of the past shortly, as Editors gain their tour-cycle momentum and take flight promoting Surface, Echo and Sound. We wondered for years what it would look like if he went solo, and having seen it and gotten used to it, it'll be sad to let it go.

Enjoy the artefacts ;)     

Video available to download via covert shares

MP3s
Life is for Living - download here
Munich - download here
An End Has a Start - download here
The Phone Book - download here
Deep Dive - download here
The Lights of NYC - download here
Smokers - download here
The Rush - download here
Northern Line - download here
Papillon - download here
No Sound but the Wind - download here

All in a Zip - download here


Bonus Materials - Studio Brussel Secret Session 

Studio Brussel have a great history with doing right by Editors, and this continues that trend. On the day of Tom and Nic playing Rock Werchter they were invited to play a small, intimate set to a tiny crowd as part of their "Secret Sessions". It took place adjacent to where Studio Brussel were doing their live festival coverage and if you look closely at various points, you'll see Eva De Roo doing her thing next door. I would love to know how the audience were selected. Was this a radio contest thing? 

What we get is a brief acoustic set which crucially contains the two most recent Editors releases as part of the show. I was struck by how, of all the songs played here, The Rush is the one that gets the biggest reaction. Considering it's relative novelty as a composition, it seems to have an undeniable immediacy. The energy in the room visibly changes. You can see it most clearly if you watch the gentleman to Tom's left, who even knows some of the words. Some songs just have that "thing" where repeated listens aren't required to fully connect, and The Rush has it. Or maybe it's the mystical power of the mandolin in full effect?

Also worth noting is that Broken Time, a song that didn't make it onto the Klub C set list later that day is also present here. 


MP3s
Life is for Living - download here
Call it In - download here
Broken Time - download here
The Rush - download here

All in a Zip - download here

brought to you with lemming-love ;)
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Jasper Leijdens interviews Tom on 3FM 17th June 2026

 


Passed my way by Hannah (thank you!), here's Jasper Leijdens briefly chatting with Tom about songwriting, the new album and playing Pinkpop for a seventh time. It was originally broadcast on 3FM Radio, 17th June 2026, and it's not the first time he's talked with Jasper. Here's another example from 2022 as part of an acoustic session he did for KinkNL.

Enjoy the words ;)


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

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Pinkpop 20th June 2026


And then they were back.

The initial impression of the show, having watched Idles and Franz Ferdinand prior to this, was that the heat there was pretty oppressive. The sight of the festival staff squeezing out sponges into the hands of the audience to keep them cool... yikes! Not my scene at all. The shade is not overrated, people.   


This was an impressive return to wider public view from the wilderness for Editors. I say "wider" public view because they did a sold-out warm up gig in Roubaix this week, but this was the first time back on a larger stage. Having been away for two years, but with Tom and Nic having been in motion for the There is Nothing in the Dark tour, you'd think they never actually left on this evidence. But they did, and they brought back two new songs for the show. Call it In you've definitely heard, The Rush you probably haven't. Both tracks are upbeat but you get the feeling that their pop veneer is hiding something a little darker. This, is not a problem for me at all. 

Along with new material there are new versions of old favourites. The challenge of finding tasks for six people to occupy themselves with while playing, has resulted in some novel sonic reshaping. Sugar finishes slightly differently, and All the Kings is almost a brand new song. The Phone Book is no longer the only song Ed plays with brushes, and has added some muscle to its delicate frame. I can only imagine how a song like Nothing would sound now with that many personnel attacking it on stage. Their past isn't being left behind, it's evolving with them as they go.

I wonder if the ripped canvas behind them is in any way connected with the new album's artwork?

There's a very intense moment at the end of Papillon where Tom is just staring out into the crowd, seemingly in a trance-like state. Just looking, probably taking it all in that all these people are really enjoying his band's music. That, or he was a part of what I'm sure what was a collective mild case of band dehydration, and they're all watching giant pink elephants floating above the audience. This was not quite on par with when Editors played the cauldron that was Summersonic Japan in 2007, but hot nonetheless. 

I'm paraphrasing here but Justin said in an interview recently that, as a group, there's always a fear that nobody will be interested in you coming back once you've been away. This show dispelled that pretty convincingly. 

Watch out for Mr Rahi Rezvani stalking the band at various intervals, wearing a coat that must surely have caused him to perspire the equivalent of a small lake over the course of Editors' one hour set. 

Enjoy the music ;)

Live Stream Broadcast Setlist
Racing Rats 
Munich 
Call It In 
Sugar 
A Ton of Love
Karma Climb 
An And Has a Start 
The Rush
Smokers
The Phone Book 
All the Kings 
Papillon 


Full Set Streaming (Official 3Voor12)

MP3s
Racing Rats - download here
Munich - download here
Call It In - download here
Sugar - download here
A Ton of Love- download here
Karma Climb - download here
An And Has a Start - download here
The Rush - download here
Smokers - download here
The Phone Book - download here
All the Kings - download here
Papillon - download here

All in a Zip - download here

Bonus Materials 
Here's a short film containing behind the scenes footage shot by Justin at Roubaix and Pinkpop respectively. 



Backstage Interview with Tom and Justin


brought to you with lots and lots of lemming-love ;) x
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Editors Instagram - May 2026


Rehearsals have been continuing for Editors' imminent tour dates, which officially begin on the 18th of June in Roubaix. A date, we should note, which has already sold out. The question at the forefront of my thinking, and probably yours too,  is how the new songs will sound live. We've already had some solo and  two-person acoustic versions of The Hills We Died Upon and Call It In respectively, that have been shared online from Tom's recent tour. As we know, however, that's not how they will sound when six people are playing them. For instance, the studio take of You Are Fading is wildly different when compared to its live renditions, and that was when it was being handled by a quartet back in the day. More personnel means a louder more beautiful noise.   

As for other new compositions to look forward to, we have a clip featuring a brand new one called Life is a Joke in Candlelight which you can watch here. The video is short but had the potential to reveal a lot more than it actually did. The band were filmed in their rehearsal space and if you look you can see a whiteboard in the room with them. Traditionally, they have the proposed set list on that board. It's how we were able to discern some of the the song selection for the EBM tour back in May of 2022, as this post details. Unfortunately I think they got wise to our obsessive sleuth tactics and the new video gives us nothing, and believe me I've looked! 

There will be an interesting overlap of duties, with Tom appearing as an Editor in June before he returns as a solo player for Werchter at the beginning of next month.  Then after the 11th of July, at No Borders Festival, the chapter titled "Tom's Solo Adventures" will be closed. Not forever, not necessarily, but certainly for the time being. I wonder if the set lists currently being formulated will include any solo-interludes, or if it will be meticulously compartmentalised to keep both eras separated?  

In other news, Elliott took a trip to Berlin and there was also evidence of him possibly working on a soundtrack of some description. All while watching an old Richard Gere movie. 

Before I go, take note of this man's name for reference later on:- 

Antony Szmierek

He may be a friend of the band, he may be a contributor on the new record or he could be a future support act. It's also possible that it's a combination of one or more of those options. We shall see...


Editors Instagram - May 2026
download here

For all of Editors' previous Instagram posts, go here.

brought to you with lots and lots of lemming-love :) x
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Life is a joke in candlelight (detail)

 


From a rehearsal room in the middle of a heatwave, here's about 40 seconds of a brand new Editors song. The caption that accompanies this burst of almost ambient joy reads "Life's a joke in candlelight". It's unclear if this is in fact an actual title, or just another grumpy proclamation  from a band with a certain notoriety for being a little...sad at times. 

What we do know from watching and listening to this is that, along with the recently released Call It In, at least two songs on the new Editors record are going to be faster numbers. We can also see that Nic Willes is taking an active role in the rehearsals, which you would assume to mean that he is once again a touring Editor. 

As I mentioned above, these was a heatwave in the UK when this was filmed as evidenced by a barefoot and fancy-free Mr Smith. I guarantee you that if he set up an OnlyFans account called "Forlorn Feet" and posted nothing but his trotters all day long, he could manifest generational wealth. With, of course, 50% of the profits coming my way (it was my idea, after all). 

Enjoy the tease ;)  

stream it here

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

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Editors Instagram - April 2026




A lot can happen in 30 days.

In April, Tom's solo tour slowed down to accommodate a temporary pause. While that was happening the beginnings of his transition back into being an Editor were set in motion. Call it in was released on the 28th of April by way of a reintroduction. When I first saw the song title, I thought it was the headline of a journalistic hit-piece. There's a phrase, "phoning it in" which is applied pejoratively to indicate doing something with a low level of enthusiasm. That was what I thought was going on, that "Editors call it in" was a four word review of the band's new music.  Had it been the case then this would, in my opinion, have been an incorrect assessment. 

Historically, the lead singles for Editors' albums have always been fast paced.  They have only come in over five minutes in length twice, with Smokers and Heart Attack, so in that respect there is consistency. Call it in is not the low-key return as a first single that a song like, for example, No Harm was which came out prior to In Dream's  release. This has pop hooks from the outset, and a brevity of just getting in and getting out within 4 minutes. 

The video for the single was directed by Justin Lockey featuring all 5 Editors possessing a collective reduced mobility, playing the song in a basement somewhere in flickering lights. All the while, Tom is very mindful of something to his right. There's nothing flashy, and the overall feel of the clip is one of claustrophobia and sheltering in place, but from what? Of course Call it in  reveals minimal information as to the direction of Editors' as yet untitled new album. One single often informs us of very little when projecting what the collection of new songs will sound like. We do know that Blanck Mass is not involved this time around, meaning we essentially revert back to the procedures and practices that created the Violence album. Editors as a five piece unit creating collectively, with more input from some of the key players that may have been reduced during the EBM sessions. 

There's been a well crafted effort to harness and extend the momentum generated by Tom and his solo album. Even he is due to go back out on the road in May, the band have already placed new markers on the horizon to allow the dusk of Tom Smith being outside of Editors to slowly fade into the dawn of a new Editors record. There are also tour dates over at the official website:-


There's also news and views on the band's forum:-


In light of this almost seamless roll from one situation into another, I trust that Tom and those around him have a handle on the importance of his health. He has essentially undertaken what amounts to two back-to-back promotional cycles, which could last in total about 3 years when it's all done. That's quite the workload. If you've been around long enough here you'll know that just over a decade ago he experienced some health issues which meant that Editors had to cancel an entire United States tour. It illustrates the fact that, as much as we don't tend to apply it to performers and artists, they're inescapably human. 

There is a gap between Editors' summer shows and their next tour proper, but there will be rehearsals to do and also other promotional duties that will accompany the new album's release. Additionally,  he's still raising a family and so collectively you have an awful lot of spinning plates to be kept moving. Hopefully, everyone is mindful of that.

As you'd expect, given everything that's happening right now with the band,  the zip file this month is pretty big. There is a lot of great stuff within it, however, making it worth your time. Enjoy ;)

Editors Instagram - April 2026
download here

For all of Editors' previous Instagram posts, go here.

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