Editors @ Rothko :: The Inside Scoop

{{pics via The Modern Age}}


Well, the unhippest guy in NYC (yes, that's right, me) was let in to have the inside scoop straight from Editors' Tom Smith himself. See...here's what happened.


I began my day heading over to meet up with the rest of the staff from Underrated Magazine to discuss our next issue. For those of you who don't know Underrated, its a small publication put out in NYC by the lovely and superbly suave Miss. Rachael Darmanin, who also runs The Underrated Blog. We met up and took over a large section of the Virgin Megastore cafe, and Rachael eventually asked me to do the interview with Editors later that night at the Rivington Hotel that was to be a feature article in the next issue. At first, I was a bit hesitant because I had other plans...but then I realized, "what the hell am I thinking?! Of course I'll do the interview!"


Around 7:00pm Rachael and I walked over to the hotel, got some $12 wine (come on we had to, that place is super swanky) and waited around for Editors' publicist who seemed to be nowhere in site. Rachael dialed her phone, and we heard a ring across the room...so as you can see, we felt a bit stupid as we saw the publicist sitting right in front of us. We were told that the soundcheck was running a bit late, so we'd meet the band at Rothko and do the interview there. But then after sound check, going along with the theme of the whole show (you know, how they kept moving the damn thing from venue to venue) we were escorted back to the hotel and up into a quieter room to do the interview.



I have to admit, I was a bit nervous. Brits wearing all black who play dark, melodic, pounding music, and me...a Jewish kid from suburban Pennsylvania with a tape recorder and a shitty backpack...in one room. How was I not going to lose my cool seeing as I am a bit of a dork? Well, Tom Smith made it easy in his interview as he was one of the friendliest guys I have ever interviewed. As we talked, Tom told me his thoughts on the position they are in as a bit of a "hyped" band. He told me all about how the band was more concerned with having longevity and true timelessness in their music then simply being a passing fad and the "next big thing" (as NME occasionally has hinted at) Tom Smith's head is level. He doesn't fall for the hype. (He even seemed to be a bit confused, wondering who put the children of Sir Mick Jagger on the guest list for the night's show at Rothko...) As I closed the interview, the band members looked excited to play yet another sold out show in NYC...and as I left, in came Spin magazine...


So eventually I made it to the show...the line was rediculously long. We got there about 2 hours before their set time, but eventually Rothko was PACKED. The band came on at about 11:30 and had the audience in their clutches the entire time, blasting through such anthems as "Camera" and "Munich" with efficiency, energy, and grace. Tom Smith looked like a frontman ready to take on the world...humble, focused, and ruling the stage with his presence. But maybe the whole time he was really just wondering "I wonder where the Jaggers are?"....I guess we'll never know.


Read the rest of the story in the next issue of Underrated Magazine.

Editors - Camera [via Tonight Let's Dance]