7: Have you guys played Coachella before?

E: This is our first time.  It’s easily the hottest festival we’ve ever played.

7:  Have you guys played a lot of festivals?

E:  We did a little run last year.  Some of the minor ones in Europe.  But we were lucky enough to do Glasten… and the comparison between the downpours there and the totally clear desert skies here is ridiculous.

7:  The 100 degree heat here is kind of brutal.

E:  Yea, well our manager’s tent was washed away last year which was kind of an amusing sight actually.

7:  It must be brutal being up on stage in this kind of heat?

E:  Yea, we’re lucky we’re playing later on in the day.  I spoke to a couple of guys from Infidels who opened up on a stage earlier and they said it was just blistering.  It must be very difficult.  Being a drummer I’m always concerned about how hot it’s going to get.  I think we’ll just about get away with it.

7: Do you think the heat takes any of the energy out of the performance at all?

E: Just afterwards to be honest.  I think if we were playing longer than 45 minutes we’d be in trouble.  I’ve heard people have actually collapsed onstage and had to be carried off in the middle of their set.

7:  You’re music has been described as wanting the listener to bring their own experiences to it.  Do you guys bring your experiences to your music or is it just things that you are putting out there for people to figure out on their own?

E: There’s kind of, sort of, always a brooding dark side to our music.  Some of it’s very optimistic in places, but overall it’s more of a kind of emotionally fueled album.  We were working fulltime day jobs whilst we were writing in Birmingham which is the most peaceful of places in the UK… very concrete, a little bit solace.  And we were all a little bit pissed off to be honest; doing shit jobs that nobody cared about you doing.  You know... you just do them to just try and get some money... it was just the everyday grind I guess.  But it’s classic, and everybody goes through it and it’s not the most pleasurable experience.  I think definitely we’ve fed from that and that’s kind of translated into our songs because that’s exactly the time throughout we were writing our first album.  I’m sure the next album will be, not necessarily happier but, full of different, you know, influences just on a personal level.

7: So looking back on that album how do you feel about it now with where you guys are? 

E: I’m really happy with it.  We were talking about it the other day.  We would never go back and try recording it again.  You know it was definitely August’s period and everything that we wanted to go on it went on it.  And we just developed, just playing the songs too over time, last year, or over so many gigs changed them.  Maybe not so much but everything .  And the new stuff we’re writing is definitely a step beyond that.  It may not be really miles away from the sounds but certainly we’re kinda more excited by the sounds.  Just long as it makes us all happy and we’re all just excited by the sort of sound stage that we’re creating.  We kinda leave Tom to get on with the lyrics themselves.  That’s kinda his forte.

7:  So what do you prefer as far as studio time or touring?

E: I think playing live is what we are really good at.  And that’s our kind of forte.  We always grew up watching bands and being inspired by bands that make us feel excited.  Bands are great when the hair on the back of your legs stand up.  That’s what we kind of wanted when people listened to our music.  So the live scene is so important.  The way we’ve built our career so far in the UK is just by going out and touring.  We toured the same towns and maybe stepped up the venue each time, so it’s been very gradual.  Just constant you know.  Just trying to get out to as many people as possible.  And it’s worked and I think that’s the way we’re going to play it over this next tour.  We just finished our first major tour here and we’ll be back within 3 months to do some more dates to try and follow on that.  And keep the momentum, that’s very important.  Now having said that, it’s been, a couple of weeks ago we recorded a version of Orange Crush by R.E.M., and that was our first time in the studio for like 9 months and we were all just so excited to be there and it was a pleasure, because I think we learned a lot the various times we’ve been in the studio and we just want to get back in there.   So I’d say it’s a bit of both.  At the end of this year we’ll be going back to the studio for sure, so if we can tour till then that’s fine.

7:  You mentioned you guys haven’t done a lot of promoting or advertising but you guys are probably the highest advertised band.  On the drive into Coachella, every 20ft there a poster for Editors.

E:  Our US label Fader has been so on form.  Because they’re a new label and they’re actually a magazine, the way they brought their marketing plan to us is from a different advertising.  I guess it’s different to most big record companies that maybe don’t know how to work the renegade market, or kinda, they’re kinda really good at the guerilla stuff.  So we’re lucky to have those people on board because I think their thinking is very fresh and they’re probably giving us the best chance that we’ve got over here to break into the market.  So, yea, you’re right… I saw the signs coming down I couldn’t believe it.  They’ve gone out in their trucks and just stamped them out everywhere.  So yea, at least we know they’ve got our back and that’s half the battle I guess.

7: So would you say your style fits with that… you’re more guerilla style to the way you approach things?

E: In the way of just trying to get out to as many people.  For us it’s playing live and, yea, the Fader guys have really backed us up.

7:  You guys toured with Franz Ferdinand, how was that?

E: I think it definitely was one of the major factors to us doing so well back in the UK.  It came along side the release of Munich and that going to radio on daytime in the UK.  And just getting, spreading our music to people we hand reached before but they were Franz Ferdinand fans so they were very receptive to new music.  I don’t think there are many bands that we’d have gone out on tour with at that stage of just launching our album, because maybe, say we’re with U2.  Everyone is there to see U2.  Everybody doesn’t really care about the first on band.  But we felt confident that people would actually respond to us, have a good time, and actually eventually go out and buy our record.  So it was perfect and they were fantastic guys.  We saw them earlier today.  It’s a nice little community.

7:  Who or what other places do draw your influences from musically or non-musically?

E:  To be honest, for us guys it’s mainly music.  We all like film, but I don’t think there are any particular directors we discuss.  But bands, the UK band that I think is criminally underrated and who I think we all share the same opinion on is Elbow.  Just, they write the most beautiful songs and they’ve been screwed by their record label.  Yea, it’s a real shame.  I can’t believe they have done better, both here and in the UK.  Bands that we listen to… maybe the first Strokes record, is you know... very exciting music.  It was at a time everything was a bit darker.  There wasn’t much coming out with that vibe in the UK or the USA so they were a breath of fresh air, kind of rock and roll spirit.   I mean we’ve definitely picked up from contemporary bands rather than older bands I’d say.