Home
Help
Search
Members
Recent Posts
Gigography
Instagram
Twitter
Evening Standard interview September 2017
Sept 15, 2017 17:13:06 GMT
Post by Captain Crieff on Sept 15, 2017 17:13:06 GMT
Editors frontman Tom Smith: Don’t expect a greatest hits tour – we still have things to say
Smith said the band will only consider nostalgia tours if the buzz of making new music goes away
Editors frontman Tom Smith has said despite the band reaching several milestones they have no plans to celebrate with a greatest hits album and tour.
The indie rockers have been gigging for over a decade and recently marked the tenth anniversary of the release of their debut album, The Back Room, but Smith said he is fearful of becoming nostalgic as he feels he still has “stuff to do and things to say”.
He told the Standard: “I’m scared of the term ‘nostalgic’. A greatest hits always comes up in conversation but we’re busy making our new album.
“I’m not turning my head entirely but it needs to be the right time and place. I get it that as an audience member if that record means a lot to you it’s a nice thing to go and see, but we haven’t rested in terms of making new records.
“Our newer ones aren’t so significant here as they were, but there is still an audience here who want to hear what we do. I’m not being snotty to those people who go and do those things. I feel like we still have stuff to do and things to say. When you do feel like you’re repeating yourself, personally, we get scared by that so try and do something new.”
He continued: “When that feeling [of making new music] goes away I’ll start to get worried and maybe I’ll start thinking about nostalgia tours more seriously.”
One thing that has changed is the band’s ability to party the way they used to, with Smith joking they are now more ‘tame’.
Speaking ahead of the band’s headline set at Birmingham’s Beyond the Tracks festival he said: “We like to have a good time and a laugh if somethings on and the times right. But it’s a little bit tamer. We’re all in our mid-thirties now. It’s definitely different to when we first started.”
The five piece, made up of Smith, Russell Leetch, Ed Lay, Justin Lockey and Elliott Williams, are currently gearing up to release their sixth studio album – a follow up to 2015’s In Dream.
They teamed up with electronic artist Blanck Mass for the record, which Smith described as “quite poppy and guitar”.
Speaking about the album, which is set for release in early 2018, he said: “I never put much stock in originality, it’s cut from the same cloth as we’ve always done but it feels fresher and Blanck Mass gives it a different sound.
“Our decision making and what is right for us musically as a band has matured. In the first three records the influence of the producer steered the ship, whereas now we’re more hands on and I think that comes with experience and being more comfortable in that environment.”
Despite having five albums under his belt and nearly two decades in the industry, Smith said one avenue he is not ready to explore is judging on a talent show.
He said: “Would I be a judge? No. If they had ‘Indie Factor’, which nobody would watch, I could turn up there and be a judge with no charisma and bore the hell out of everybody.
“If that’s what they wanted then maybe I’d consider it. But I don’t have what it takes [to be Simon Cowell].”
Beyond The Tracks takes place in Birmingham from 15-19 September.
Link: www.standard.co.uk/showbiz/celebrity-news/editors-frontman-tom-smith-don-t-expect-a-greatest-hits-tour-we-still-have-things-to-say-a3635606.html
Smith said the band will only consider nostalgia tours if the buzz of making new music goes away
Editors frontman Tom Smith has said despite the band reaching several milestones they have no plans to celebrate with a greatest hits album and tour.
The indie rockers have been gigging for over a decade and recently marked the tenth anniversary of the release of their debut album, The Back Room, but Smith said he is fearful of becoming nostalgic as he feels he still has “stuff to do and things to say”.
He told the Standard: “I’m scared of the term ‘nostalgic’. A greatest hits always comes up in conversation but we’re busy making our new album.
“I’m not turning my head entirely but it needs to be the right time and place. I get it that as an audience member if that record means a lot to you it’s a nice thing to go and see, but we haven’t rested in terms of making new records.
“Our newer ones aren’t so significant here as they were, but there is still an audience here who want to hear what we do. I’m not being snotty to those people who go and do those things. I feel like we still have stuff to do and things to say. When you do feel like you’re repeating yourself, personally, we get scared by that so try and do something new.”
He continued: “When that feeling [of making new music] goes away I’ll start to get worried and maybe I’ll start thinking about nostalgia tours more seriously.”
One thing that has changed is the band’s ability to party the way they used to, with Smith joking they are now more ‘tame’.
Speaking ahead of the band’s headline set at Birmingham’s Beyond the Tracks festival he said: “We like to have a good time and a laugh if somethings on and the times right. But it’s a little bit tamer. We’re all in our mid-thirties now. It’s definitely different to when we first started.”
The five piece, made up of Smith, Russell Leetch, Ed Lay, Justin Lockey and Elliott Williams, are currently gearing up to release their sixth studio album – a follow up to 2015’s In Dream.
They teamed up with electronic artist Blanck Mass for the record, which Smith described as “quite poppy and guitar”.
Speaking about the album, which is set for release in early 2018, he said: “I never put much stock in originality, it’s cut from the same cloth as we’ve always done but it feels fresher and Blanck Mass gives it a different sound.
“Our decision making and what is right for us musically as a band has matured. In the first three records the influence of the producer steered the ship, whereas now we’re more hands on and I think that comes with experience and being more comfortable in that environment.”
Despite having five albums under his belt and nearly two decades in the industry, Smith said one avenue he is not ready to explore is judging on a talent show.
He said: “Would I be a judge? No. If they had ‘Indie Factor’, which nobody would watch, I could turn up there and be a judge with no charisma and bore the hell out of everybody.
“If that’s what they wanted then maybe I’d consider it. But I don’t have what it takes [to be Simon Cowell].”
Beyond The Tracks takes place in Birmingham from 15-19 September.
Link: www.standard.co.uk/showbiz/celebrity-news/editors-frontman-tom-smith-don-t-expect-a-greatest-hits-tour-we-still-have-things-to-say-a3635606.html