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The Horrors

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For other uses, see The Horrors (disambiguation).
The Horrors

The Horrors are a British garage rock band who formed in the summer of 2005. They released their debut album Strange House, which reached #37 on the UK Charts, on March 5 of 2007 . They have polarised opinion in the popular music scene by their unusual choice of apparel and obscure musical inspirations. [1]

Band History

Origins

File:Theautomatichorrorsmummraviewonstage.png
The Automatic, The View, The Horrors and Mumm-Ra on stage at NME Indie rock tour 2007

The Horrors have their origin in the early 2000s where they became interested in obscure vinyl and DJing. During trips to London and on the Southend circuit, Rhys Webb met Faris Badwan and Tom Cowan, who had attended Rugby School together, through their shared interests in 60s garage rock, and, in 2005, the three formed a band with Joshua Hayward and Joseph Spurgeon. The band formed around Junkclub, an underground club founded by Oliver Abbott and Rhys. Their first rehearsal consisted of two covers: The Sonics' "The Witch" and Screaming Lord Sutch's "Jack the Ripper" (heavily influenced by previous cover versions by The Fuzztones, One-Way Streets and The Gruesomes) - the latter would eventually find itself as track one on the band's debut album. [2]

Sheena Is A Parasite

It was with this single that The Horrors first gained noticeable popularity in the UK. The music video was directed by Chris Cunningham. This ended a seven year music video hiatus for the much respected Cunningham who admitted to being "mildly obsessed" with the track, having come across it on Myspace. Having directed several Aphex Twin videos, the video content was expected to be suitably twisted and quirky. The video stars Oscar nominee Samantha Morton as the song's manic, transmogrifying subject who whips around like a banshee and spews her intestines at the viewer. Sharply edited and shot on a low budget, the video was instantly banned from MTV UK purely on the basis of the use of strobe lights, not because of the gory subject matter (as was erroneously reported by the NME). Chris Cunningham did not want to edit out the strobing as he felt it would compromise his work. The video has aired on MTV2 in America. Partly as a result of the exposure gained by Sheena's popularity, the Horrors went on to NME Awards Indie Rock Tour, along with Mumm-Ra, The View and The Automatic which helped them to gain further publicity.

Strange House and beyond

Having released Strange House, their debut album, in March 2007, The Horrors played a world tour to promote it. A slot as a support act for Black Rebel Motorcycle Club in the USA in the summer was cancelled due to lack of funds[3], and the band instead headlined a US tour in June. They made a number of festival appearances throughout 2007, including appearances at the Glastonbury Festival, the Carling Weekend (on the Radio 1/NME stage), various Scandinavian festivals, the Summer Sonic Festival in Japan, and Splendour in the Grass in Australia[4]; their set list throughout the summer contained a cover of 'No Love Lost' by Joy Division. The Horrors also appeared in the third series of The Mighty Boosh in December under the pseudonym 'The cunty fuckwits ', in which Noel becomes a member, and supported the Arctic Monkeys on their sell-out arena tour of the UK, at which they were bottled by the crowd on several of the tour-dates.

Current activity

At the end of 2007 the band announced the releases of a new single (rumoured to be a cover of 'Dance' by Suicide), and a new album, out in March 2008. The album has since been postponed until later in the year, with September mooted as a possible month of release. The Horrors played an NME Awards show in 2008 with Crystal Castles and These New Puritans, and are to support The Sonics (a major influence on the band) in March. On January 18th, 'Counting In Fives', a documentary of the band's tour of the USA, was unveiled at the Sundance Film Festival[5].

Band members

Temporary band members

  • Freddie Cowan (Tom's brother and guitarist with The Daze) - Guitar, replacing Joshua for several small gigs when he was taking his exams.

Fanzines

The Horrors have compiled several fanzines, distributed at concerts and through independent record shops. The fanzines include free CD compilation albums of songs chosen by the band, and are designed by The Horrors and Ciaran O'Shea, a friend of the band who has also designed sleeve artwork for both The Horrors and Neils Children.

  • The first fanzine, entitled 'Horror Asparagus Stories' after a song by The Driving Stupid, was given out at the O2/NME Rock 'n' Roll Riot Tour. It featured an A-Z of bands chosen by Spider Webb, a guide to effects pedal distortion by Joshua Third, a guide on how to make skinny jeans by Coffin Joe, notes on the bands and songs featured on free CD by Tomethy Furse, and illustrations by Faris Badwan. The fanzine also features illustration from an original Horrors Forum member, which can be found on the second last page.
  • The second fanzine was given out on the NME Awards Indie Rock Tour. The CD compilation featured songs themed around outer space, and the fanzine also included instructions on building guitar pedals by Joshua Third, part one of Coffin Joe's guide to dancing the "Beat Step", and Tomethy Furse's guide to the BBC Radiophonic Workshop. Faris Rotter once again drew illustrations.
  • The third fanzine, 'Heartbreak Ahead', was given out at the Horrors' performances at the Glastonbury Festival, and featured a CD of girl group songs chosen by Faris Badwan, who also illustrated the fanzine again. Included were a feature on Neils Children (who supported the Horrors on their recent tour), comments on the video for "She is the New Thing" from its director Corin Hardy, the second part of Coffin Joe's "Beat Step" dance guide, a guide by Spider Webb to his top ten 'mad records', a feature on the Experimental Circle Club, and an introduction to Spider And The Flies, the side project of Tomethy Furse and Rhys Webb.

Discography

Albums

Strange House (5 March, 2007) Loog #37 (UK)

EPs

The Horrors EP (24 October, 2006) Stolen Transmission

Singles

All of singles released by The Horrors prior to "Gloves" have been chart ineligible because they have been packaged with inserts and stickers, breaking chart rules.

Date of Release Title B-side(s) Label UK Chart Peak Album
April 10, 2006 "Sheena Is A Parasite" "Jack The Ripper" Loog N/A Strange House
July 31, 2006 "Death At The Chapel" "Crawdaddy Simone" Loog N/A Strange House
October 30, 2006 "Count in Fives" "Who Says"
"A Knife In Their Eye" 		Loog N/A Strange House
February 26, 2007 "Gloves" "Kicking Kay"
"Horrors' Theme"
"Death At The Chapel" (Live) 		Loog #34 Strange House
June 25, 2007 "She is the New Thing" "Sister Leonella"
"Draw Japan" (Dandi Wind Remix)
"Excellent Choice" (re-recorded) 		Loog #89 Strange House

References

  1. ^ ""Creepy crawlies" - Strange House review". concertlivewire.com. Retrieved 2007-07-25.
  2. ^ Stool Pigeon magazine, April 2007.
  3. ^ http://com2.runboard.com/bhorrors.f2.t10092 - Badwan announces cancellation of BRMC support slot
  4. ^ http://www.thehorrors.co.uk/tour.php - Horrors tour dates, Summer 2007
  5. ^ Youtube - The Horrors + Counting In Fives
  6. ^ Joshua changes his name etc ~ at Runboard.com


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