Editors - The Back Room

Released 25th July 2005, Kitchenware

What I thought then...
I distinctly remember getting very excited the day this album leaked, and downloading it on the big computer in our spare room with my mate Ed, comparing the beefed up album versions to the singles we’d downloaded over the past few months. And somewhere in my parents attic there is a minidisc of me interviewing singer Tom Smith before they played my student union. I don’t remember how I managed to pull the strings for that one.

What I think now...
Just the right side of gloomy. I think the Joy Division comparisons dogged them down at the time, but it’s a really apt comparison. They re-issued a couple of the singles twice, which felt a bit like overkill. But there’s some powerful tunes on here. Lights, Munich, Blood - that’s one hell of an opening gambit. Tom Smith sings like the sky is falling and all is lost.

Standout Track
Has to be Munich, another song that follows me around on my daily travels. Best memory is my friend seeing them live, calling me during this song and shouting the guitar line down the phone.

Live Memories
This is probably the band I saw the most before their album was even out. Lincoln Delph, Norwich Arts Centre and Reading Festival...with another show at the Delph later that year.

What Happened Next?
Another band I slowly drifted away from. Even the immediate follow up An End Has A Start didn’t reach the same heights for me, and I paid even less attention to its electronic tinged successor In This Light And On This Evening. Never even listened to the last album, and there’s another on the way. They seem pretty big in Europe still. Good for them.

Next Time: I'M ON FIRE!

Previously: We Have Sound | The New Fellas | Bang Bang Rock & Roll | You Could Have It So Much Better | Employment | The Futureheads | Capture/Release | A Certain Trigger | Introduction