MUSIC Editors take a shot at U.S.

The British band's debut album, 'The Back Room,' is being released next week.
By JOHN BENSON
VINDICATOR CORRESPONDENT
The British invasion may have started more than 40 years ago, but the onslaught continues with dozens of bands annually getting flung over the Atlantic by the U.K. press slingshot of hype and promise.
Yet too often, the bands are, well, as forgettable and bland as English food (ouch!). However, one of the latest groups to be positioned as the next U.K. act to keep your eye on may actually warrant attention.
Releasing its debut album, "The Back Room," next week, the Editors have created quite a frenzy in the U.K. with its alternative dynamic, hyper guitars and somber vocals.
In talking to Editors bassist Russell Leetch, it becomes apparent why so many Brit bands are always in play. It turns out the British music industry spins on a different axis than its stateside counterpart.
"It's a lot different in the U.K. on how singles go to radio," said Leetch, calling from the South By Southwest Music Festival in Austin, Texas.
"Obviously, one song is plugged for months on end [over here], while in the U.K., you get a four-week run and that's it. Next one. Hence in the U.K. we've re-released singles."
Not only does this explain the extravagant number of import singles available but it also illustrates how a new band can go from obscure act to hit maker in a shorter period of time. For the Editors, "The Back Room" was released last January in the U.K. and culminated earlier this year with a three-night sold-out stand at the famed 5,000-seat Brixton Academy.
On U.S. tour
For the quartet, it was obviously time to turn its attention towards stateside success.
So with American critics lining up to endorse "The Back Room," the band recently began a co-headlining tour with noisy New York City pop act stellastarr* that brings it through Cleveland on Saturday at the Agora Ballroom.
"We're just going to approach it exactly how we did in the U.K., which is by playing lots of gigs," Leetch said. "That's how we built our fan base up in the U.K. We don't have expectations that we should be playing big theaters [in the States]. We're in it for the hard slog."
Despite the slogging, optimism runs high within the quartet, which is still basking in the spotlight regarding its recent sold-out January shows in New York and Los Angeles for industry audiences.
Leetch understands this won't be the case for the majority of its upcoming dates.
"Those were shows where everybody was excited to see us so obviously they were great gigs," Leetch said.
"And we really enjoyed them but it's going to be down to the nitty-gritty when we're playing in front of four people in the middle of nowhere, whether we kind of shine through. We'll just see how it goes."