Four years on, minus Tyondai Braxton and with a more focused approach to their sound, the now three-piece are raring to take a bite out of any musical genre that flows past them.

We caught up with pioneering percussionist John Stanier, somewhere on the streets of New York, to discuss their latest album Gloss Drop. “It’s like another court on court Battles record,” says John, explaining the sound behind their latest release.

Yet it seems that the eccentric New Yorkers have evolved a lot since their vibrant debut Mirrored, which saw the band as a four piece attempting to outshine each other. “We were constantly fighting for musical real estate within a song, and I think that’s fine, but after a while it gets a little tiring,” says Stanier, in a reflective state.

While he continues to explain Gloss Drop as “definitely more to the point”, it’s hard enough for any band to follow up the success of their debut album, even harder when you realise the impact Mirrored achieved upon genre fusions in 2007.

With the likes of Brian Eno astounded by their groundbreaking concepts, Battles had more than enough to live up to when releasing album number two.

“I feel like we got the second-record syndrome out of our system before we even started writing what is now Gloss Drop,” says John. “We decided to start from scratch and clear the table, we weren’t really happy with what we had.
“When we became a three piece, it kind of put the fire back underneath us and pressure like none of us had ever felt.”

Successfully cheating the curse of the second album, Stanier confirms that Braxton leaving the band was “definitely a blessing in disguise. We somehow managed to take a negative situation and turn it into a positive. People are like, ‘Oh, it’s this uplifting fun-sounding record,’ but we were definitely not in that mind frame at all. It was the exact opposite of that,” says John. “We were hell-bent on finishing this record, I was putting my last drop of sweat into making sure we did it. We’re kind of lucky.”

Recruiting guest appearances from the likes of Matias Aguayo and electro eighties sensation Gary Numan, Gloss Drop feels both organic and nostalgic in approach, though it seems that Battles were a little hesitant over contacting Tubeway Army legend Numan to begin with. “He was our fantasy artist. I grew up listening to Gary Numan; I didn’t even know if he was still doing music,” John explains.

“It was as simple as having Warp ask him and he was like, ‘Yeah!’ I knew he was going to be good, but I had no idea until he really delivered. It was a win-win situation,” exclaims Stanier, with glee in his voice.

With a performance set at Birmingham’s HMV Institute on 27th June, be prepared for the oddities of Battles and their mystifyingly angular skills, leading forward an eclectic mix of dance rock that will be heard in essence for decades to come.

And if you’re a footie fan, watch out for John Stanier at St Andrews when he comes to Brum for his date with Capsule on the 27th June at HMV Institute. “I’d like to go to a Birmingham City game, buy a shirt and scarf for my collection, hang out with a bunch of cool dudes and go to their spot.”

Battles are on tour now.

Words: Ross Cotton

Fused popped along for a chat with Chris Urbanowicz and Ed Lay in the plush environs of the sparkling new dressing rooms of the all-new super-swanky O2 Academy Birmingham to reminisce about their old hometown of sunny Brum.

Is it good to be back in Birmingham again?
Ed: Yeah it’s great. This is the biggest gig we’ve played in a long time. It’s our first proper headline gig for well over a year so to do it in Birmingham at a new venue, we couldn’t ask fro much more really. I’m sure it’s gonna go great. Obviously we’re gonna play a lot of the new records, so there’s gonna be a lot of songs that people don’t quite know yet, or haven’t heard at all, but we had to do something like that – we didn’t want to just turn up and do the same set that we did a year ago.

I guess with a Birmingham gig though, you can play the whole new record and it’s gonna get received really well. It’s not like playing a festival.
Ed: Yeah…I think the people are intrigued about what it sounds like and they wanna hear it. We’ll start this first gig with the old ones anyway, they’ll go mad for the old ones, and then hopefully that’ll continue over to the new stuff.
Chris: The new stuff’s really good you know… (laughs).
Ed: Yeah, it’s still kinda group based anyway, so even if they don’t recognise or enjoy it, they can nod their heads to it and have a little dance.

Are there any new influences you’ve taken on board for the new record?
Chris: Soundtracks, visions of the future, if you will – that sounds a bit pretentious – but like that feeling that Bladerunner has, and The Terminator and movies like that – putting a soundtrack to the future of the cities, that’s something that interests us. Musically, not that many – we try and keep that to a low. We reference Cabaret Voltaire a few times – that one always seems to come up whenever we do stuff.

His Berlin stuff?
Chris: Yeah, that stuff helps us out rhythmically a lot. And you know if you get stuck you can always turn to David Bowie to help you out.

You’re scattered all over the place now aren’t you? Because you’re not all living in Birmingham anymore has that affected the song writing in any way?
Ed: No not at all actually. We still write in pretty much the same way as we always have done, it’s just we have to send the demos a little bit further – postage is slightly expensive nowadays, so you just stick it on the internet – the world has got so much smaller, even in the last couple of years, so it’s not a problem for us to work like that at all.
Chris: Yeah…It means that we can work separately, individually, on a track, and then when we come together we’ll all have something different to offer, and also something to do, ’cause we’re not like a jam band, we can’t just make things up as we go along. We like being productive when we’re in the studio – especially when you’re only there for two weeks, and then you have to go off somewhere else.

What haunts do you always try and get back to when you’re in Birmingham? Is there anywhere you miss?
Ed: Island Bar is pretty good for a cocktail, and the new O2 Academy is very well situated for that…to get a pre-gig cocktail would be pretty awesome…I might try and do that…

There’s a new pub open round the corner as well called The Lord Lucan, a lot of people have been talking about it, it’s just behind the new Academy venue. I think last year it would’ve been a bit of a ghost town, but now it’s ideally situated…
Ed: Oh wicked! Well yeah this venue is gonna open up a whole new section of the town, ’cause nothings really been this way, and with bands coming here every night it’s gonna get nicer, it’s only gonna get better.

Well it’s better than going to Saramoons (next door to the old Dale End Academy venue) I guess isn’t it?
Ed: It is, or the f***ing Square Peg or something, next to the old Dale End, it’s just horrible.
Chris: I drove past the Sunflower Lounge today when I got off the train and I thought, I haven’t been there for a couple of years, is that still open?
Ed: Yeah, it’s still really loud.
Chris: Yeah it’s too loud in there.
Ed: Turn it down!

Click here to view the embedded video.

I remember when you were first starting out – you all connected over the first Strokes album, and kind of made a bond over that. Is there any record at the moment that’s got you all excited?
Ed: Probably The Sound of Silver, by LCD Soundsystem. I know it’s not brand spanking new but the vibe of that record all the way through, you just want to listen to it again and again.

They’re one of those bands that translate well live as well don’t they?
Ed: Yeah, yeah brilliantly, we saw them in Japan and we were just dancing our socks off with a load of little Japanese girls. It was so swelteringly hot Japan in the summer.
Chris: Yeah a bit humid isn’t it, in a tent, with all the air just sucked in. You can just kind of see mist in the room it was horrendous.

How have countries like Japan taken to Editors?
Chris: Hit and miss really!
Ed: I enjoyed being there, I can’t wait to go back, it’s a fantastic place to go but when you don’t spend a lot of time in a place – I mean, we’ve spent a lot of time in the UK and Europe because it’s so easy, and people appreciate you going back and back again, but if you only go there once every couple of years it’s difficult to get a real fan base. We’ll see, maybe they’ll like the next record, and then we’ll be going over there a little bit more.

And if it’s a more futuristic sound on the new album, they may take to that in Japan?
Chris: Yeah it is! And the visuals for that was inspired by some of the streets in Asaka so maybe they’ll understand it…

The last time we hooked up was in Nashville, which I think that was your first American gig at the time – so how’s America taken off for you guys?
Ed: Pretty good. …I lie, very good!
Chris: Yeah in certain areas, yes – East Coast and West Coast is wicked for us. And in a few places dotted in-between like Chicago and Portland we’re doing good but it’s just the places in-between like your Salt Lake Cities and Detroit. I mean we didn’t do badly in Detroit last time but… It’s a difficult place to go and be successful. We do enjoy going there, but I don’t think we’re gonna be that bothered about “cracking America”. I think we’ll just kind of do the East Coast and the West Coast, and stop off at some cool places in-between, and maybe go up to Vancouver and into Canada a little bit.

Ed: Americans are ahead of everyone else in the world at stealing music, they know how to do it better than anyone else; they know all the tricks…
Chris: On our last tour in America we played to more people than we actually sold records in America, which might tell you something about what’s going on over there.

What are your thoughts on peer-to-peer file sharing and stuff like that?
Ed: It’s fine everybody does it. You’ve just got to think of different ways of still carrying on making money out of music to be able to produce the next record. That’s when it gets troubling – when artists can’t afford to make a new record, but if you want to, you’re going to – if you have to cut corners, or beg steal and borrow, people would be able to do it. It’s just one of those things; it’s happened, it’s not going to get any easier, so you might as well just not worry about it.

Ed: I’ll admit that I do download Match of the Day on the peer sites when we’re on tour…is that any good?
Chris: I tend to think that I’d watch it on the BBC if I was at home – but I can’t use a BBC iPlayer if I’m abroad – why, when I pay my TV license, that doesn’t make sense… so yeah I’m willing to back you up if this gets published
Ed: Thanks man.

Chris: This could be a landmark for the BBC.

“BBC sues Editors”.
Chris: “…for watching match of the day”

What are some of the worst places that you’ve played around the world? Or some of the more interesting gigs…?

Ed: Detroit Majestic was horrendous. But every bad place has it’s good side to it and at the Majestic downstairs there was a bowling alley so we went there and had a few cocktails and a few games after the gig and wiped the memories away, it was kinda cool.
Chris: I remember we’ve had some horrible times at Cardiff Barfly. There was a guy that started pissing all over our gear when we were loading up once and our tour manager pushed him over, cock in hand… And there was another time before we were signed, when we used to go to gigs in cars, and some guy smashed in Ed’s windscreen outside the gig.

Ed: No that wasn’t very pleasant… I had to sit in an Autoglass car-park in Cardiff at like 3 o’clock in the morning waiting for a guy to come and fix my f***ing windscreen! Before driving back to Birmingham to work the next day…that was a low. Definitely a low point.
Chris: And we all just left you there! Sorry about that mate.
Ed: That’s alright…

You haven’t had to fight your way out of a gig yet?
Chris: No, people generally don’t know who we are so it’s absolutely fine.
Ed: There was a time in the summer in Poland when we were driving adjacent to the crowd and people were banging on the windows, and one guy jumped on the back…that was a bit crazy…but apart from that no it’s fine, we just sneak out the side and go home.

Is that the kind of thing that you get then after a gig, as opposed to hot girls coming backstage you get guys that wanna talk about drum sounds…
Chris: Yeah that’s a bit what it’s like, guys hanging out.

Ed: Yeah that’s pretty much what happens nowadays. Guys that want to talk about Joy Division.
Chris: Ah that’s so depressing.
Ed: Nah it suits me.
Chris: Yeah it suits me.
Ed: I can’t be arsed.
Chris: Yeah can’t be bothered with things like that.
Ed: We’re far too old for that sort of thing, I’m 28, I can’t be bothered with that s**t anymore.

‘In This Light and On This Evening’ is out now

The front cover is by the amazing illustrator Catalina Estrada and the contributions come form those in the know about the region. But we don’t need to go on about how lovely it is take a look for yourself…