Andy Burrows gets Photobombed by a rogue Smith
January 2019 had the band on a break, hanging up their Editors jackets in the name of reminding themselves who they actually are as individuals as opposed to their shared identities as a group. A miserable group. This means that there's not a lot of interviews or live action to speak of, apart from Tom's appearance at Union Chapel for the Stand up to Cancer show at the end of the month. There's a certain irony that the majority of the keepsakes at our disposal in January come from the one man who bemoaned the fact recently that social media hadn't died a slow and painful death yet, Mr. Elliott Williams. He shared some photos of an important acquaintance's record collection and I would have to agree, the gentleman in question has some good taste in music.
An excerpt of the song In this Light and on This Evening showed up as the closing music on the BBC drama series Luther with Idris Elba, which was provided another pause in my consciousness to question whether I was actually hearing it or if the stored memories in my brain were leaking out into the real world. It turned out that it was certainly happening, and that I wasn't losing my marbles...on this occasion. Reassuring.
In related news some of Rahi's work is currently in exhibition at Noorderlicht Gallery in Groningen from the 16 Jan – 10 Mar 2019, and the gallery's Instagram page offered up some treats which I've collected and shared here. Speaking of the 6th Editor, he also won an award in Art Vinyl's "Best Art Vinyl 2018" competition for VI OLENCE, on the 7th of January. Well done to you, sir.
There were some more hints at the collaborative efforts presently underway between Smith and Burrows, and of course Andy joined Tom to play some tunes at Union Chapel. So even though there are a couple of months until Editors resurface to play in Mexico, there are clearly other irons in other fires right now.
If the past is a reliable indicator of the present or future, then it's probably correct to assume that there have already been band rehearsals of some description. Formal or even informal get-togethers to play with some new ideas, or possibly revisit some that for whatever reason didn't work out during previous recording sessions? Remember, this is a band that have shelved songs for years only to return to them when they finally figured out/blindly stumbled over a solution to making them work as compositions. There could be tracks that were written around the time of TWOYL or even earlier that we haven't heard, but that will be magically given new life due to something as simple as Ed applying a B-52's style drumbeat to it (as happened with Formaldehyde). Which seamlessly brings me to an item that I've been meaning to share with you all for a while but I keep forgetting to.
About 8 years ago there was still something of a professional distance between Editors and the wider community. We all knew that they read the online forum, mostly because they showed up there in person from time to time. Not often, but sometimes. However, there was nothing like the perceived potential access you have now with Twitter, Facebook and Instagram etc. Sure, they might not reply to whatever comment you make on their latest post, but it still feels like they're closer nowadays. I use the word perceived a couple of sentences ago because Russell has actually made his own Instagram profile private. That to me is a clear statement that even in a social media setting, the man would like to retain a piece of internet real estate for himself that isn't open to all, which is totally fine. But aside from that, in 2019 it's still a little bit easier to gather information on and to interact with Editors than it was 8 years previously. So that's the context I'm framing this little piece of bonus written memorabilia from 2011 in.
This was a written statement to the fans made by Russell in November of that year and I'm reproducing it here exactly as it was when it came out. I think it was on the front page of the band's official website, or possibly via the forum. I can't say with certainty. What it did was bring everyone up to date on what had been happening around the time it was written, and what a time that must have been. I would love to dissect this because there's a lot to look at, but I won't. It's much better if you take a look and then evaluate it yourself. I will say that if you know the story, and I mean really know the story of Editors up until the point you're reading this, then that whole first paragraph is all red flags while the second is all "Oh wow" moments. Enjoy the memories, and the links to Editors' Instagram collection for January 2019 are positioned carefully just underneath ;)
An excerpt of the song In this Light and on This Evening showed up as the closing music on the BBC drama series Luther with Idris Elba, which was provided another pause in my consciousness to question whether I was actually hearing it or if the stored memories in my brain were leaking out into the real world. It turned out that it was certainly happening, and that I wasn't losing my marbles...on this occasion. Reassuring.
In related news some of Rahi's work is currently in exhibition at Noorderlicht Gallery in Groningen from the 16 Jan – 10 Mar 2019, and the gallery's Instagram page offered up some treats which I've collected and shared here. Speaking of the 6th Editor, he also won an award in Art Vinyl's "Best Art Vinyl 2018" competition for VI OLENCE, on the 7th of January. Well done to you, sir.
There were some more hints at the collaborative efforts presently underway between Smith and Burrows, and of course Andy joined Tom to play some tunes at Union Chapel. So even though there are a couple of months until Editors resurface to play in Mexico, there are clearly other irons in other fires right now.
If the past is a reliable indicator of the present or future, then it's probably correct to assume that there have already been band rehearsals of some description. Formal or even informal get-togethers to play with some new ideas, or possibly revisit some that for whatever reason didn't work out during previous recording sessions? Remember, this is a band that have shelved songs for years only to return to them when they finally figured out/blindly stumbled over a solution to making them work as compositions. There could be tracks that were written around the time of TWOYL or even earlier that we haven't heard, but that will be magically given new life due to something as simple as Ed applying a B-52's style drumbeat to it (as happened with Formaldehyde). Which seamlessly brings me to an item that I've been meaning to share with you all for a while but I keep forgetting to.
About 8 years ago there was still something of a professional distance between Editors and the wider community. We all knew that they read the online forum, mostly because they showed up there in person from time to time. Not often, but sometimes. However, there was nothing like the perceived potential access you have now with Twitter, Facebook and Instagram etc. Sure, they might not reply to whatever comment you make on their latest post, but it still feels like they're closer nowadays. I use the word perceived a couple of sentences ago because Russell has actually made his own Instagram profile private. That to me is a clear statement that even in a social media setting, the man would like to retain a piece of internet real estate for himself that isn't open to all, which is totally fine. But aside from that, in 2019 it's still a little bit easier to gather information on and to interact with Editors than it was 8 years previously. So that's the context I'm framing this little piece of bonus written memorabilia from 2011 in.
This was a written statement to the fans made by Russell in November of that year and I'm reproducing it here exactly as it was when it came out. I think it was on the front page of the band's official website, or possibly via the forum. I can't say with certainty. What it did was bring everyone up to date on what had been happening around the time it was written, and what a time that must have been. I would love to dissect this because there's a lot to look at, but I won't. It's much better if you take a look and then evaluate it yourself. I will say that if you know the story, and I mean really know the story of Editors up until the point you're reading this, then that whole first paragraph is all red flags while the second is all "Oh wow" moments. Enjoy the memories, and the links to Editors' Instagram collection for January 2019 are positioned carefully just underneath ;)
November 22nd 2011
Russell's Statement
I realise it’s been a while since you’ve all heard some new music from us (apart from the couple of tracks we’ve been throwing about in recent live shows) so I thought I’d give you a bit of an update of our plans. We have been working hard on new material over the last few months and, all being well, it will be with you next year. We had a bit of a false start with what we were doing and realised that we needed to get back into a room and rehearse hard, reconstructing songs and not thinking ‘we’ll write this in the studio..’. Rehearsing the songs in a room and over a longer period of time isn’t something we’ve done since ‘The Back Room’ and in truth bands these days don’t often get the luxury of working on a record like they worked on their debut. We all felt that we needed to put that time and effort in and it’s been great to get the energy and volume up in a room where we are ready to play and record the songs rather than the other way round. You soon realize when road testing material what is working and what’s not!
So - we are aiming to do some recording early next year. Probably in LA and maybe a session in London. We’ve got seven songs that we feel are in a great place to be recorded for the album and a load of other ideas floating around. Current working titles include Formaldehyde, Sugar and The Weight of Your Love. The songs have a great groove and flow, and we’ve got ideas on how they will be orchestrated in a different way from our first three records. Sorry, but you’ll just have to imagine how they sound at the moment but I can’t wait to get out and play these songs and more to you all soon.
Russell
Editors' Instagram January 2019
download it here or download here
For all of Editors' previous Instagram posts, go here.
brought to you with lots and lots of lemming-love :) x
