If you're a long-time Editors fan you know that any inferences about the band's current status, based on the limited information we receive, may prove to be wildly inaccurate. The validity of any assertions made will only get more dubious in times when real information is really scarce, like when they take a temporary break from touring. You may, for example, have combined several ingredients gained from the past few months of dredging the social media swamps for treasure, and constructed a narrative which seems unbreakable as a theory. Take the following elements as examples :-
- Smith and Burrows seem to be reuniting
- Elliott is continuing with his DJ adventures
- Justin is playing and possibly recording with the recently reformed yourcodenameis:milo
Let your mind wander a little and you might arrive at a place in your (deluded) thoughts that the fragmented EBM tour cycle is reaching its "Autumn Phase", and that the parties involved are already filling their immediate futures with alternative ways to spend their waking hours...or if your Mr Lockey then you've probably already mastered the skills required for avoiding sleep entirely in order to stay creative for longer. I mean, it's so obvious when you lay it all out there, right?
Then reality intervenes, tussles your hair in a playful yet slightly aggressive manner, and puts you back on the right track. These things you contemplated were wrong, so wrong, and that's OK. Go back to being you.
On the 11th it was announced that the band would be playing a pre-festival season show in Northampton at Roadmender on the 14th of June, a final system check before the deep-dive of Pinkpop the following weekend. A day later, they shared the news of their return to Glastonbury and this was followed by Eliott posting a snap that suggested he was on his way to Bristol for rehearsals.
Right at the end of the month on the 28th, Editors played ArtRock Festival and surprised everyone with a new cover version amongst their more familiar repertoire. Killer is a song by Adamski that was written with Seal and which was first released in 1990...a mere 32 years ago. Yikes! This is something of a return to old habits, as some of the band's earlier tour cycles used to regularly feature a track that wasn't writtten by them. Be it French Disko by Stereolab, Road to Nowhere by Talking Heads, Orange Crush by R.E.M. or Lullaby by The Cure. That's not even including the covers that graced various radio sessions over the years, so performing other artists' material isn't anything new. I think the selection of Killer for the festival run is surprising and could turn out to be a lot of fun. It's very percussive and even though I haven't heard a full recording of it (yet), there's potential to take it places live that the restrictions of a studio recording wouldn't allow for. Maybe Blanck Mass will flex his electronic chops and they'll dirty it up a little? It's a fine addition to songs in the style of Frankenstein and Papillon, where the primary goal is to get everyone dancing. A noble intention.
The setlist from Art Rock also contained an old favourite that dropped away for a while, as Ocean of Night came back into rotation. How long will it stay around? The Roadmender show should offer us a more detailed view of just which catalogue items are going to be pulled across the imminent summer festival stages, and which have been relegated once more to becoming the sulking malcontented musings of those who get bent out of shape because they never hear them. We're looking at you, Come Share the View/Like Treasure/The Pulse etc etc.
By the time July rolls around, they will be assuredly back and rolling as a unit, having stopped by at Pinkpop, Open'er, Werchter and Glastonbury within a two week time frame. There'll be plenty to see and hear...
Editors Instagram - May 2023
For all of Editors' previous Instagram posts, go here.
brought to you with lots and lots of lemming-love :) x
