Editors biography
Editors are a British indie rock band based in Birmingham, who formed in 2002. Previously known as Pilot, The Pride and Snowfield, the band consists of Tom Smith (lead vocals, rhythm guitar, piano), Chris Urbanowicz (lead guitar, synthesizer), Russell Leetch (bass guitar, backing vocals) and Ed Lay (drums, percussion).
Editors have so far released two platinum studio albums, selling over two million copies between them worldwide. Their debut album The Back Room was released in 2005. It contained hits such as "Munich" and "Blood" and the following year received a Mercury Prize nomination. Their follow-up album An End Has a Start went to number 1 in the UK Album Chart in June 2007 and earned the band a Brit Awards nomination for best British Band. It also spawned another Top 10 hit single with the release of "Smokers Outside the Hospital Doors".
After their continued success in the charts, sold out tours and numerous headlining festival slots, Editors received critical acclaim. Their brand of dark indie rock is habitually compared to the sound of bands such as Echo & the Bunnymen, Joy Division, Interpol and U2. The band's third album, In This Light and on This Evening, was released in October 2009.
History
Formation (2002-2004)
The band met while studying Music Technology at Staffordshire University, but they realised it wasn't really the career for them and decided to form a band, playing in Wolverhampton, Birmingham and Stafford.
The band was initially known as Pilot and played its first show under this name in 2002. While in university, the band had a marketing strategy which involved placing hundreds of promotional stickers across the walls of Stafford asking "Who's the Pilot?".
They made a promo under this name with the tracks "Come Share the View" and "Forest Fire" and then uploaded them onto the internet, making the songs available to listen to on BBC Radio 1's Onemusic Unsigned. A review of the songs reads "The Pride keep things subliminally lo-fi. Refreshingly simple and restrained, "Come Share The View" is a lesson in welding hypnotic soundscapes with white noise while showing allegiance to the school of slo-mo on "Forest Fire"". The band then took its music offline to create mystery and anxiousness and ensure that more "Artist and Repertoire" representatives came to see them perform.
They then changed the line-up with Ed Lay replacing Geraint Owen on drums as he began to focus on his Welsh band The Heights. Under this lineup they became known as Snowfield. They played their debut gig under this name at the request of Fused Magazine in March 2003. The following summer the band self released a demo six track EP, all of which went on to become future Editors songs. Then, as it was the home of their management and the nearest big city, the band relocated to Birmingham after graduation in the Autumn of 2003.
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