When hearing one of Editors' songs like "Munich" or "Smokers Outside the Hospital Doors," it's hard not to think "Interpol."
The British import Editors, who will take the Pabst Theater stage alongside Hot Hot Heat and Louis XIV on Sunday, sound eerily similar to the eerie-sounding indie rockers Interpol.
Based solely on the deep, vengeful timbres of their voices, it's not a stretch to declare that Editors lead singer Tom Smith must be the doppelganger of Interpol's Paul Banks. The two bands are compared so often that bass guitarist Russell Leetch admitted it's become tiresome.
"I'm actually sort of tired of talking about it, to tell you the truth," Leetch said in an interview between cities on their tour through the States, after admitting he was a bit hungover from the night before. "But they're a great band. We actually went to the bar with them the other night."
Fair enough. While Interpol may be more popular in America, the Birmingham-based Editors rule in Britain. Its second album, 2007's An End Has a Start, debuted at number one in the U.K. and has since been certified platinum there (which in England means the sale of 300,000 copies, not one million).
But Editors is starting to make waves in America. Leetch credits some of that success to the autonomy received from its record label.
"Being on an independent label gives you total creative control over everything" he said. "We knew that we did not want to be on one of those larger labels that wouldn't make the band a priority."
That creative control allowed for a much different recording landscape from its first album, 2005's The Back Room, to its second.
"The first album was just us in a room playing," Leeth said. "The second was in the studio. We are able to make a bigger sound record and had more time to experiment. The band's sound made a natural progression, but people will still know it's us."
Some critics have labeled that Editors sound as a "post-punk revival" in homage to bands like Joy Division. That's a label Leetch is not entirely comfortable with either.
"We're not trying to revive anything, we're just trying to sound exciting and fresh and make music that sounds like today," he said.
At one point, Editors was one of those 'the' bands, which no doubt would have brought upon more unwanted comparison. Before settling on its current band name, the four-man group tossed around the name The Pride, among others.
"We're just called Editors because it looked good on paper," Leetch said. "I don't think the other names represented us properly."
Leetch counts The Walkmen, The National, Elbow and Radiohead as some of Editors' recent influences. Leetch praises Radiohead in particular for its business savvy with its pay-what-you-want digital release strategy for recent album In Rainbows. But Leetch is of the mindset that CDs will always exist.
"Sales are down, and most people like to have their entire record collections at hand on their iPods," he said. "I do too, but I still absolutely love buying a CD. I love looking through the cover and the notes and adding it to my collection. It's part of the human condition to want to collect."
Whether CDs still exist in a few years or not, Editors still wants to make music. When recording its follow-up album, Leetch said Editors members felt no pressure to top their first. He said, as musicians, they just wanted to create.
It's safe to say the more music Editors create, the less likely it will be compared to this band or that. Fans may not have to wait all that long for new music, either.
"After our American and European tours and a few summer festivals we'll start thinking about recording a third record," Leetch said.