Editors drummer Ed Lay on this weekend's Hop Farm Festival in Paddock Wood

Editors at The Hop Farm Festival

The Hop Farm

Paddock Wood

Birmingham-based indie rockers Editors bring their epic "dark disco" sound to the main stage at The Hop Farm Festival this weekend.

Formed in 2002 as Pilot, singer Tom Smith, guitarist Chris Urbanowicz, bassist Russell Leetch and drummer Ed Lay also tried out the names The Pride and Snowfield before settling on Editors soon after signing to Kitchenware Records in 2004.

They enjoyed instant chart success with their platinum selling debut album The Back Room, which reached number two and spawned the hit singles Munich, Blood, Bullets and All Sparks.

Their second long player, 2007's An End Has A Start, hit number one and pushed three singles – the title track plus The Racing Rats and Smokers Outside The Hospital Doors – into the top 40.

Now one of the UK's biggest live draws, a poll in The Mail On Sunday ranked them the second biggest British band of the decade after Arctic Monkeys.

Ed Lay, 28, spoke to Go! by phone from Ferrara, Italy, last week about the festival and their third album, In This Light And On This Evening, which is due out in September.

Is festival season a time of year you look forward to?

"Oh definitely. We're playing a few festivals we've never done before this year, such as The Hop Farm which is one of only a couple we are doing in the UK. It's nice to do stuff that we haven't done. There's only a certain amount of times you can play the same festival."

What are the benefits of playing a festival?

"There's a good community spirit at most festivals and we've been playing with a lot of the same bands over the last five years and to meet up with all of those guys is pretty unique. You certainly don't get that at your own gig."

Who are your best mates on the music scene?

"We're very close to Elbow. We recorded a track with them a few years back and hopefully we'll come across them more than once this summer. Everyone's pretty friendly. I don't think we've met a band we've taken offence to or have caused offence to either. Pretty much everyone you can have a beer and a chat with after the show."

Who of the Hop Farm lineup are you looking forward to seeing on Sunday? There is Paul Weller, Doves, Super Furry Animals, The Twang, Mystery Jets, Ladyhawke, The Rifles and That Petrol Emotion on the main stage.

"That's a pretty good lineup! We're very good friends with The Twang. We've sort of grown up with them, so I'm not bothered about seeing them, I see them all the time! Doves I'm especially looking forward to, and we were having a discussion last night over dinner about Super Furry Animals and how Godlike they are. They're not just quirky, they've got some really interesting ideas. I love everything about their production and their artwork, but the actual songwriting... I don't think they know how good they are. I'm probably looking forward to seeing them the most."

Tell us about the new record. We've heard it's a new direction.

"It's not a complete sea change. We've always written songs with the same sort of aesthetic as we're trying to get across on this album.

"We wanted to create something we had never really tried out before and tried to make as many interesting sounds as possible. There are a lot of interesting percussive ideas that aren't necessarily just from drums. There are a lot of vocals on there as well. Everybody got stuck in with those.

"We didn't see any point in just repeating what we've done before. I'm really impressed with the songs and I think we've got a great record coming out."

Have you tried them at recent gigs?

"Yeah, the response we have been getting has been fantastic. To ask someone to sit through a gig and bombard with them with new material and to get a very positive reaction back bodes well for the future."

Will you play the old ones too?

"Oh definitely, yeah. You've got to realise that people are paying good money to come and see you and, unless it's your first album and that's all you can play, you've got past material which people have bought into and they've become your fan you've got to give them something back. Festivals aren't about promotion, they're about people who have paid a lot of money to see a lot of bands and enjoy the whole day."

By Oliver Frankham

The festival runs Saturday July 4 and Sunday 5. (Editors play the main stage on Sunday evening).

Tickets are priced at £125 for a weekend ticket including camping and parking, day tickets are priced at £65 for either day. Tickets still available at time of writing from www.hopfarmfestival.com or phone 0871 220 0260.