Editors
Band form
2002
Editors (formed 2002) Editors are a British alternative rock band, from the Birmingham area. The lineup of the band consists of Tom Smith on vocals, piano and guitar, Chris Urbanowicz on guitar and synths, Russell Leetch on bass guitar and Ed Lay on drums.
Formation: The members of Editors met at Staffordshire University, where they were studying Music Technology. They started a band, deciding that a future of being sound engineers wasn't really what they wanted. They started out playing gigs in Wolverhampton, Birmingham and Stafford, with Geraint Owen on drums.
Originally, the band was named Pilot. They played their first show in 2002 and changed their name to The Pride, after realizing that their first choice had already been taken by a 1970's Scottish group.
Owen was replaced by Ed Lay and the band changed its name again to Snowfield. The final name-change came when Newcastle-based Kitchenware Records released a single for them
Music Career: Editors started out supporting the likes of Puressence and Oceansize, before releasing the 'Bullets' single. The track was 'Single of the Week' on Zane Lowe's BBC Radio 1 show and sold out on the day it was released, with journalists comparing their sound so bands such as Joy Division and Echo and the Bunnymen as well as their contemporaries Interpol.
'Munich' was also released as a single, in April 2005 and became Editors' first Top 25 hit, earning them a slot on MTV's Spanking New Music Show in Manchester. Editors and Kitchenware Records then sealed a distribution deal with Sony BMG. The single 'Blood' was released two months later and reached number 18 in the charts.
Editors' debut album The Back Room was released in July 2005, to great critical acclaim, as well as high sales. 'Bullets' was re-released and the band landed a support slot with Franz Ferdinand. 'Munich' was also re-released and earned the band a place on Top of the Pops. This boosted sales for the album, which was certified Platinum. Editors embarked on a joint US tour with Stellastarr*. Their growing popularity in the US led to festival appearances at Coachella and Lollapalooza. They also performed 'Munich' on Late Night with Conan O'Brien.
The Back Room eventually sold over a million copies and was also nominated for the Mercury Music Prize in 2006, along with Guillemots, Hot Chip and Richard Hawley but lost out to Arctic Monkeys.
Editors' second album was entitled An End Has a Start and was released in 2007. The album was produced by Jacknife Lee, who has previously worked with U2, R.E.M, Weezer and Bloc Party. The album went straight to number one in the UK album charts and was quickly followed by the release of the single 'Smokers Outside the Hospital Doors', which went Top 10.
That year, Editors played the 'Other Stage' at Glastonbury festival and also released the album's title track as a singe in September to help promote their North American tour. Whilst in the States, they played live on TV shows such as Jimmy Kimmel Live! And The Tonight Show with Jay Leno. When they came back to the UK, they recorded a cover of The Cure's 'Lullaby', for Radio 1's 'Established 1967' compilation.
The band then appeared on Friday Night with Jonathan Ross, playing their track 'The Racing Rats'. The fourth single released from the album was 'Push Your Head Towards the Air'.
In October 2009, Editors' third album was released, entitled In This Light and On This Evening. It was produced by Mark Ellis, aka 'Flood', who has previously worked with U2, Depeche Mode, Erasure and The Killers. Editors became the first band to play at the O2 Academy in Birmingham. Their track 'No Sound But The Wind' was selected to appear on the soundtrack to New Moon, the second film in the Twilight series, starring Robert Pattinson and Kristen Stewart.
Smith & Burrows - Only Smith & Burrows is Good Enough Album Review
By Andrew Lockwood in Music Reviews on 15 February 2021
Smith & Burrows may sound like a hardware store in a remote, timeless village somewhere in deepest darkest Yorkshire, the sort of place that hasn't changed for the best part of fifty years but that can always be relied upon to sell you exactly the right type of screws you were looking for, where as in actuality they are a musical duo made up of Tom Smith and Andy Burrows.
Tom Smith will be better known to you as the lead singer with Birmingham band Editors and Andy Burrows, whilst having a substantial back catalogue of solo material, will probably be more widely remembered for his roles in Razorlight and We Are Scientists. The pair formed a friendship many, many years ago and that originally culminated in them releasing an album of Christmas themed songs almost a decade ago. Their debut album, 'Funny Looking Angels', released in November 2011, featured covers that included Katie Melua's 'Wonderful Life' and Yazoo's 'Only You' and was characterised by it's soft harmonies and Folk-centric instrumentation.
Continue reading: Smith & Burrows - Only Smith & Burrows is Good Enough Album Review
Glastonbury 2021 Cancelled: The First Of Many Festivals, Or Just The Biggest Casualty?
By Andrew Lockwood in Music / Festivals on 22 January 2021
This year's Glastonbury Festival has been cancelled casting doubt on whether other festivals will be able to go ahead.
"With great regret, we must announce that this year's Glastonbury Festival will not take place," came the not altogether unexpected announcement from the Glastonbury organisers. For the second year in a row the biggest festival in the UK, and one of the biggest in the world, will now not take place. Michael and Emily Eavis communicated their decision to pull the plug on this years event via a Twitter post on Thursday 21st January.
With great regret, we must announce that this year’s Glastonbury Festival will not take place, and that this will be another enforced fallow year for us. Tickets for this year will roll over to next year. Full statement below and on our website. Michael & Emily pic.twitter.com/SlNdwA2tHd
— Glastonbury Festival (@glastonbury) January 21, 2021
Continue reading: Glastonbury 2021 Cancelled: The First Of Many Festivals, Or Just The Biggest Casualty?
Editors - In Dream Album Review
By Alex Lai in Music Reviews on 02 October 2015
When Stafford outfit Editors unleashed their debut album a decade ago, their brand of atmospheric indie tracks saw them just fall shy of an album chart topper - a feat managed by their following two records. This, 'In Dream', is now their fifth release and will be supported with an imminent UK tour, with shows on mainland Europe following in the lead up to Christmas.
2/5
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Editors - Sugar Single Review
By Holly Williams in Music Reviews on 24 March 2014
Editors released their fourth album 'The Weight Of Your Love' last year after a three year interval where they released nothing at all. During that time, they lost a band member (guitarist Chris Urbanowicz) but gained new relationships when they joined PIAS Records after a five year stint with Kitchenware.
The song kicks off with some seriously heavy bass - as in, shake the ceiling and vibrate your boots heavy - before some melodic guitar riffs are introduced alongside gentle but minimal piano which adds a definite melancholy atmosphere. The deep, steady vocals of Tom Smith seem to have grown more powerful in their recent releases, and in 'Sugar', it certainly helps to infect the listener (if that doesn't sound too gross) as he croons out mushy lines like, 'It breaks my heart to love you' and 'There's sugar on your soul/ You're like no-one I know'.
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Pinkpop 2014 Announce Headliners The Rolling Stones, Arctic Monkeys, Metallica Plus Many More
Posted on12 March 2014
Sony Music Announce 'BBC Top Gear Driving Anthems' Released November 18th 2013
Posted on08 November 2013
A Week In Music, Justin Timberlake's 'Rude' Video, Dinosaur Pile-Up's Promising Second Album And Babyshambles Make A 'Sequel'
By Holly Williams in Music / Festivals on 08 July 2013
A week in music videos... It may have received bad press recently what with the video being banned from YouTube for its nude content and such, but Justin Timberlake's new song 'Tunnel Vision' is a pretty smooth R&B track and it's not like we didn't expect from rude bits from JT; he's been talking about getting girls naked since 2002's 'Justified'! All that aside, it's what we wanted from his number one third album 'The 20/20 Experience'. Plus, it's consistent - another great track after 'Suit & Tie' and 'Mirrors'. Check out the video for yourself.
Mayer Hawthorne will soon return with his fourth album 'Where Does This Door Go' and, if it's anything like the music video to his latest track 'Her Favorite Song', it will be full of surprises. The track may be a serious mix of the melancholic and ambient, but he contrasts this by having canines run the club in this clip - and we think a bit of comedy is the best pick-me-up for a fledgling music career. Watch Mayer Hawthorne's 'Her Favorite Song' video.
Continue reading: A Week In Music, Justin Timberlake's 'Rude' Video, Dinosaur Pile-Up's Promising Second Album And Babyshambles Make A 'Sequel'
Editors - The Weight Of Your Love Album Review
By Jim Pusey in Music Reviews on 02 July 2013
Editors' fourth record has taken quite some time to emerge amid a period of change for the band. Yet it finds them revisiting largely familiar territory, albeit in a triumphant and skilful way. Originally slated for a 2011 release, album number four was to follow the more experimental curve found on 2009's In This Light And On This Evening. But, following the amicable departure of guitarist Chris Urbanowicz due to Editors' "musical direction" last year, the new material was overhauled. The addition of two new band members in the meantime means that although these songs don't push the envelope, they also don't sound like treading water.
Lockey's recent project White Belt, Yellow Tag showed that he was no stranger to crafting catchy riffs. But here he seems to top himself, giving Editors a renewed sense of purpose in the process. Take for example lead single 'A Ton Of Love' where he's in full stadium rock mode, or the country of 'The Phone Book', his presence is keenly felt throughout. But it's not Lockey that seems to be the key ingredient to the strongest songs to be found on The Weight Of Your Love. That accolade goes to Elliot Williams' synths and strings. While understated for much of the record, they start to come to the fore on 'What Is This Thing Called Love', almost forcing Smith to abandon his usual baritone in favour of an impressive falsetto performance. It's taken one step further on perhaps the heart of the record 'Nothing', which is fully orchestrated, without any hints of guitar to be found. If this is the shape of things to come for future Editors' albums, I certainly wouldn't complain.
Continue reading: Editors - The Weight Of Your Love Album Review
Reading And Leeds Festivals Return With Green Day Headliner And More On 23rd-25th August 2013
Posted on12 March 2013
Editors - You Don't Know Love
You Don't Know Love video from Editors
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Anton Yelchin and Editors - Sunday 17th February 2008 at Beverly Hilton Hotel Beverly Hills, California