- The Horrors
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For other uses, see The Horrors (disambiguation).
The Horrors 
The Horrors, 2007Background information Origin Southend on Sea, England Genres Post-punk revival
Shoegaze
Garage punk (early)Years active 2005–present Labels XL Recordings Website Official website Members Faris Badwan
Joshua Hayward
Tom Cowan
Rhys Webb
Joe SpurgeonThe Horrors are an English band from Southend on Sea, formed in 2005. Their debut Strange House, was released in 2007 and reached number thirty-seven on the UK Albums Chart, their second album Primary Colours was released in 2009 and peaked at number 25 in the UK. In July 2011 The Horrors' third album Skying was released, and reached number five in the UK album chart.
Contents
Band history
Origins (2005 - 2006)
The Horrors originated in the early 2000s when their interests in obscure vinyl and DJing caused the members to meet: during trips to London and on the Southend circuit, Rhys Webb met Faris Badwan and Tom Cowan through their mutual interest in '60s Garage Rock, New Wave and Post Punk bands such as The Birthday Party and Bauhaus. In 2005 the three formed a band with Joshua Hayward and Joe Spurgeon. The band was centered around Junkclub, an underground club founded by Webb and Oliver Abbott. 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.[1] The Horrors made their first live performance at The Spread Eagle on Kingsland Road in London on 16 August 2005. They played with one other band, London's new wave punk pop band LR Rockets.
The Horrors drew the attention of critics and the public with their debut single "Sheena Is a Parasite." Their second release, "Death at the Chapel," a high-profile show at London's 100 Club in July 2006, and an appearance on the cover of the NME in August, greatly increased their profile. As a result of this exposure, the band played the NME Awards Indie Rock Tour in early 2007 along with Mumm-Ra, The View and The Automatic which helped garner further notoriety.
Strange House (2007-2008)
Having released their debut album Strange House 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,[2] 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;[3] their setlists 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 as the fictional band The Black Tubes, and supported the Arctic Monkeys on their sell-out arena tour of the UK, at which they received a mixed reception. The band played an NME Awards show in 2008 with Crystal Castles, Ulterior and These New Puritans, and supported The Sonics on 23 March, their last London show until their appearance at Bethnal Green's Rich Mix on 23 May of the following year. On January 18, Counting in Fives, a documentary of the band's 2007 tour of the USA, was unveiled at the Sundance Film Festival.[4]
Primary Colours (2009 - 2010)
At the end of 2007, The Horrors announced the forthcoming recording of a new album. The album was produced by the band, Craig Silvey, Geoff Barrow of Portishead,[5] and music video director Chris Cunningham. Recording took place in Bath during the summer of 2008. The band were forced to pull out of their planned appearance at the Underage Festival due to recording schedule conflicts. The band signed to XL Recordings after they left Loog Records in 2007. The only release from the band between the "She Is the New Thing" single in June 2007 and the new material in 2009 was a cover of Suicide's "Shadazz", released by Blast First Petite as part of their tribute to Alan Vega in October 2008. A few weeks before the new album's release, a number of songs from the album were leaked. The album's first single, "Sea Within a Sea", was released as a digital download-only single on 17 March 2009. A music video for the song, directed by Douglas Hart (former bassist for The Jesus and Mary Chain), was also posted on the band's website on the same day. The second album Primary Colours was officially released on 4 May 2009 to critical acclaim and reached #25 on the UK Albums Chart. The single "Who Can Say" was released on 7" vinyl one week later. Primary Colours was nominated for the 2009 Mercury Prize. NME later awarded the album first place in the 50 Best Albums of 2009.[6]
After headlining London's Offset Festival and touring Primary Colours, The Horrors said that they would like to build their own studio, so they can record at obscure hours.
Skying (2011 - Present)
In April 2010, singer Faris Badwan announced on their official forum that the band had already started working on their third album, to be called Skying, and had been in the studio for some months. A track from the album, "Endless Blue", was first unveiled at Latitude Festival in July 2010, and later performed at Poland's Off Festival[7] and Belgium's Lokerse Feesten in August 2010. In February 2011, after rumours that the album had been delayed, Badwan announced via the official forum that the album would be released in July. The first single, titled "Still Life", premiered on 24 May on Zane Lowe's BBC Radio 1 show. The full album was made available for streaming from the band's website[8] on 4 July, and officially released on 11 July, 2011.
The band were announced to be headlining the Festival Republic Stage at the Reading and Leeds festivals in August 2011,[9][10], where during their performance, were joined onstage by The Vaccines due to Tom Cowan being older brother to The Vaccines Guitarist Freddie Cowan. Tom Cowan had joined The Vaccines on stage earlier on the same day. They had also been chosen to perform at the ATP I'll Be Your Mirror festival curated by ATP & Portishead in September 2011 in Asbury Park, New Jersey.[11]
Band members
- Faris Badwan - vocals; formerly known as Faris Rotter.
- Joshua Hayward - guitar; formerly Joshua Von Grimm or Joshua Third.
- Tom Cowan - synthesizer (on Primary Colours), bass (on Strange House); formerly known as Tomethy Furse.
- Rhys Webb - bass (on Primary Colours), organs (on Strange House); formerly known as Spider Webb.
- Joe Spurgeon - drums; formerly known as Coffin Joe.
- Temporary band members
- Freddie Cowan (Tom Cowan's brother and guitarist with The Vaccines) - guitar; replacing Joshua Hayward for several gigs when he was taking his exams.
Side projects
Rhys Webb and Tom Cowan have a side project, Spider and The Flies, who are influenced by BBC Radiophonics Workshop electronica, and have released an EP called Something Clockwork This Way Comes (2009).
Faris Badwan was involved in a project, Lumina, teaming up with ex-Ipso Facto member, Cherish Kaya to record a cover of the Black Lips song "I'll Be With You". This recording appeared as a B-side on the Black Lips single "Drugs".[12]
More recently, Badwan formed Cat's Eyes with multi-instrumentalist, composer and soprano vocalist Rachel Zeffira. In early 2011 Cat's Eyes released an EP, Broken Glass, and a full-length, self-titled album.
Members of The Horrors have also played with The Diddlers (a Bo Diddley cover band), Cramped (a Cramps cover band) and Happy Bunny.
They have also remixed "Bloody Mary" for Lady GaGa's upcoming album "Born This Way - The Remix."
Discography
Studio albums
Title Album details Peak chart positions UK Strange House - Released: 5 March 2007
- Label: Loog Records
- Formats: LP, CD, digital download
37 Primary Colours - Released: 5 May 2009
- Label: XL Recordings
- Formats: 2LP, CD, digital download
25 Skying - Released: 11 July 2011
- Label: XL Recordings
- Formats: 2LP, CD, digital download
5 EPs
Date of Release Title Label 24 October 2006 The Horrors EP Stolen Transmission 6 October 2008 "Shadazz" (also featuring Suicide and Nic Void) Blast First Petite Singles
Title Year Peak chart positions Record
labelAlbum UK "Sheena Is a Parasite" [A] 2006 — L
O
O
GStrange House "Death at the Chapel" [A] — "Count in Fives" [A] — "Gloves" 2007 34 "She Is the New Thing" 89 "Sea Within a Sea" 2009 — X
LPrimary Colours "Who Can Say" — "Mirror's Image" — "Whole New Way" — "Still Life" 2011 63 Skying "I Can See Through You" — - Notes
Music videos
Year Song Director Album 2006 "Sheena Is a Parasite" Chris Cunningham[13] Strange House "Count in Fives" Daniel Wolfe[14][15] "Count in Fives" Tim Mattia 2007 "Gloves" Daniel Wolfe[15] "She Is the New Thing" Corin Hardy[16] 2009 "Sea Within a Sea" Douglas Hart[17][18] Primary Colours "Who Can Say" "Mirror's Image" Nicky Smith aka Weirdcore[19] "Whole New Way" Dave Ma[20] 2011 "Still Life" Ollie Murray[21] Skying References
- ^ Stool Pigeon magazine, April 2007.
- ^ http://com2.runboard.com/bhorrors.f2.t10092 - Badwan announces cancellation of BRMC support slot
- ^ http://www.thehorrors.co.uk/tour.php — Horrors tour dates, Summer 2007
- ^ Youtube - The Horrors + Count In Fives Lead Singer Badwan has enjoyed rising tabloid fame after being linked with Peaches Geldolf and model Nina Terror
- ^ "The Horrors: Fantasy Faris and Portishead-related new album info". Drowned in Sound. http://www.drownedinsound.com/articles/3876525. Retrieved 2008-09-10.
- ^ http://www.nme.com/list/50-best-albums-of-2009/159978/page/5
- ^ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HUg_H__LGto
- ^ http://www.thehorrors.co.uk/
- ^ "Reading Festival Lineup 2011". http://www.readingfestival.com/2011/lineup/. Retrieved May 10, 2011.
- ^ "Leeds Festival Lineup 2011". http://www.leedsfestival.com/2011/lineup/. Retrieved May 10, 2011.
- ^ ATP: I'll Be Your Mirror Asbury Park
- ^ "The Horrors' Faris Badwan to release Black Lips cover", NME, 7 August 2009, retrieved 2010-11-06
- ^ Horrors - "Sheena Is A Parasite". MTV. Retrieved October 18, 2009.
- ^ Horrors - "Count in Fives". MTV. Retrieved October 18, 2009.
- ^ a b Partizan - Music Videos - Daniel Wolfe. Retrieved October 18, 2009.
- ^ The Horrors - She is the New Thing. Retrieved October 18, 2009.
- ^ The Horrors’ Sea Within A Sea by Douglas Hart. Retrieved October 18, 2009.
- ^ The Horrors’ Who Can Say by Douglas Hart. Retrieved October 18, 2009.
- ^ The Horrors’ Mirror’s Image by Weirdcore. Retrieved October 18, 2009.
- ^ the horrors whole new way. Retrieved October 18, 2009.[dead link]
- ^ [1]. Retrieved July 11, 2011.
External links
The Horrors Studio albums EPs The Horrors EP · Shadazz/Radiation (with Suicide and Nik Void)Singles "Sheena Is a Parasite" · "Death at the Chapel" · "Count in Fives" · "Gloves" · "She Is the New Thing" · "Sea Within a Sea" · "Who Can Say" · "Mirror's Image" · "Whole New Way" · "Still Life" · "I Can See Through You"Related articles Discography · Cat's EyesCategories:- English indie rock groups
- Music from Southend-on-Sea
- Musical quintets
- Post-punk revival music groups
- XL Recordings artists
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