Russell Leetch, Editors bass guitarist: We are a better band than Arctic Monkeys

The Editors make indie rock and will be performing in Romania’s main city on August 16, in The Summer Terrace Herastrau from the Capital. Russell Leetch, the band’s bass guitarist, talked to HotNews.ro about „the second biggest British band of the decade after Arctic Monkeys” tag: „We will be re-discovered by music fans in 20 years time when people listen to bands through a chip in their brain and people then will realise we were the best band of the noughties”.

Despite the fact that indie rock was initiated in the 80’s, Russell Leetch has an explanation for the genre’s late success. „In the early 2000’s a lot of bands coming out, like The Rapture, LCD Soundsytem, Bloc Party, Yeah Yeah Yeahs, were referencing the 80’s nu wave scene and talking about bands they had discovered and taking it to a new place. A lot of bands like Echo & The Bunnymen and Talking Heads were hugely successful in their time, so I guess it was just passing the information of great bands down the timeline. Great music is never forgotten.

C.N.: „The city may have had an effect on the music we were making” – this is something you said after making your debut album. Now, on the verge of releasing your third album, do you feel something has changed? Especially that in 2005 you were very much upset „working our asses off doing two jobs at once and not sleeping much”.

R.L.: We still work our asses off, but we enjoy playing our music all around the world, we have much better jobs. The new record is very much about city life, I think we’ve spent longer in cities than ever before and with the world growing larger and us getting older we’re taking a lot more in about the world.

C.N.: You promised the new album will shock some of your fans. Why is the third record „different”. Did you try to take on a new sound, being probably bored of constantly playing the same genre, or was it something that came naturally, without having planned it?

R.L.: I believe for all the reasons you mentioned. It was natural to push on, yet we didn’t feel uncomfortable. We never want to sit still on the same sound or same ideas, that’s boring for us as musicians. If our fans feel uncomfortable or don’t like it then that can be good , we can’t just please their expectations on previous material. That would be non successful.

C.N.: You performed in various countries and experienced different reactions from the fans. Do you think that some countries are thirstier for music than others? Are some more crazy about indie rock than others? Your concerts are sold out in most of the British and German cities…

R.L.: Holland bloody loves us as well! In answer to the question, I don’t know. In the UK our earlier tours sold out a lot quicker than they do now, I think we were hotter property or there was more of a buzz, that tends to happen more in the UK. It’s something I’m not bothered about. It’s more amazing to me that other countries want to come and see us and buy the tickets well in advance, that achievement excites me more for some reason.

C.N.: You were lauded as„the second biggest British band of the decade after Arctic Monkeys” by The Mail on Sunday newspaper. How do you regard that? Do you feel happy about this comparison? Or do you feel the need to show everyone that you are better than Arctic Monkeys?

R.L.: We are a better band than Arctic Monkeys. We will be re-discovered by music fans in 20 years time when people listen to bands through a chip in their brain and people then will realise we were the best band of the noughties.