Thanks Chris - One Decade Later

These first 9 years, 11 months and thirty days of waiting have definitely been tough but I feel, with the utmost regret, that I have arrived at an unwanted conclusion. It is now my opinion, based on pure supposition and the most potent of gut-feelings, that Chris Urbanowicz might not be returning to Editors after all. The death of optimism is a slow, slow process. 

Ho ho.

I need to preface this, as ever, with a statement that I don't know Chris. As with the rest of Editors, we've never met or corresponded. Primarily because I respect his and their privacy. This is also not any kind of slight or indictment on the current line-up of his former band (I have no idea what it was like to work and travel with the man), it's just a series of digital scratchings from the other side of the moat that separates fans from the groups they follow.

If you're looking to update your historical markers, then this one will make you feel simultaneously old and sad. However, I would propose that there's also some room for celebration. April 16th was the date a decade ago that it was announced that Chris Urbanowicz had been extricated from Editors. It was a shock to everyone outside of the band's inner circle, reinforcing the notion that as much as you may think you have a handle on the activities of your favourite artistes, more often than not your certainties are based on meticulously controlled or distorted information. As far as public personas go, Editors have always been masterful at only showing you what they want you to see. As an example, right now in 2022 at the time of this writing we're on the cusp of a brand new record and promotional campaign, and we have no idea what's going on or what any of their new work sounds like. Carefully curated creativity, or selectively secretive subterfuge?

 

It's difficult enough to get a genuine read on people you actually know and interact with regularly, so hoping to get an authentic take on four individuals that you have only ever experienced vicariously through the music they produce is almost futile. The cold shock of Chris' sudden expulsion from Editors proved it. We never anticipated it, but all the information revealed during the years after the fact through interviews suggests this wasn't a decision made impulsively. Interpersonally, things had been tilting sideways for a while but, as I said, they did a very effective job of filtering the ongoing negativity and keeping it locked in the attic.

 

In the unpublished but widely-read manual of what musicians do after they split from their band, it's understood that the conventional procedure is to go out there and do your own thing.  Just like Bernard Butler did after Suede, Dave Grohl after Nirvana, or the way that Johnny Marr became a member of about 300 bands before going solo himself after The Smiths. Given Chris' obvious abilities, I think it was expected that he'd be in a studio somewhere in a short amount of time to start working on his own material. Perhaps he'd join another band? My money was on him becoming a member of We Are Scientists, given that he'd already acted as a guest guitarist with them. Instead, he did some production work for smaller bands and in 2014 he did some recording with Andy Burrows, later releasing a track for free called Married to the Night which you can check out here. Between 2012 and 2022, and aside from some hints and rumours, there's never really been a definitive Chris Urbanowicz offering in the form of a long-playing record. Ultimately, he seems to have taken a path where the treadmill of the record business has been side-stepped or just flat out rejected.  No more the pressures of deadlines, or the dreaded touring episodes of crap food and cocks-out showering to endure.

Chris' time on social media lessened as time moved on, not necessarily a bad thing. He's more than likely just out there living and enjoying his life. If it's the case that his preference is to occupy a space outside the restrictions and expectations of being a commercial artist, then so be it. It's our loss. Yet deep down, I think we'd all like to find out that he still spends a small amount of his time recording and creating music, not to release but just purely for the simple pleasure of engaging in the process of translating ethereal fragments into something you can hear. He's pretty good at it.

Some 17 years after they were first recorded and released to the world, the artefacts of Chris' imagination are still echoing. He's not an active member of the group any more, but the compositions that he collaboratively put his heart and head into are being sung and enjoyed by the next generation of Editors fans. Like the band themselves, all the contributions he made have endured. Adjacent to all of the mysteries and emotional conflicts that are evoked when his name is reiterated, just remember there are 3 albums and some great singles he was part of, and they will always be there. It's OK to miss his playing, but we should celebrate that we were able to experience it at all. 

 

I wanted to end this little tribute with a video clip of some description. It was tempting to highlight one of Chris' on stage performances or studio creations as an indication of the kind of thing that we fans loved about his musicianship, but I felt what follows to be much more appropriate. Wherever you are and whatever you're up to a decade after the storm hit, thank you Chris. I hope you allow yourself the indulgence of feeling proud of these amazing things you helped to create.

stream it here

lemming x