 | | The Horrors |
The Horrors - love 'em or hate 'em, their buzzsaw guitars and blood-curdling screeches are taking the music industry by storm and what's more, they're in Reading on Monday 5 February as part of the NME Indie Rock Awards tour, so there really is no escape. But as scary and unapproachable as they look -an image crafted from some kind of post-modern Addams Family - and sure, their gothic garage punk onslaught is a nightmarish concoction not exactly favourable to the mainstream, behind the facade are a bunch of nice, polite young men. _________________________________________ _________________________________________ Tom the bassist, only 19, was educated at Rugby (as was singer Faris Badwan) and his well-spoken voice and kindly manner is testament to that. | "When all five of us walk down the street it's quite a sight." | | The Horrors bassist Tomethy Furse |
Even so, he certainly wasn't one of the usual crowd at school because of his music taste. "I was into 60s garage punk, psychedelic music, rockabilly, - no one I went to school with was ever in to that." And so he hung out with people twice his age until a serendipitous meeting with the rest of the soon-to-be Horrors gang in the summer of 2005. "One of the reasons we were all attracted to each other and got talking to each other was because we had a similar look and all realised we had similar interests."
 | | Singer Faris Badwan |
They rehearsed just twice over two weeks and then launched straight into their first gig, and understandably it sounded like a fortnight-old band. "A huge amount of progression has gone on since then!". Known for their theatrical goth performances that would make Alice Cooper cower in fear, the band have had their fair share of courting controversy. Notably last Halloween their gig erupted into a bloody fight after crowd-members allegedly provoked singer Faris Badwan by pulling the mic out of his hands via the cord. Also Faris cut open his knee at a Birmingham gig after misjudging a climb from a speaker onto a balcony at the Carling Academy. They could be accused of fashioning an onstage image for themselves but according to Tom they do really dress like in vogue gothic undeads all the time. "When all five of us walk down the street it's quite a sight. It is weird. Do we get strange stares? We get a lot of anger and resentment from the passing man!" Little does the 'passing man' realise that two are from an exclusive public school and the guitarist Joshua Von Grimm builds his own guitar effects pedals thanks to a physics degree. Presumably their eye-linered, heavily coiffured look doesn't mix with hanging out at sweaty festivals, so Tom has only visited our festival once, resolutely remarking "I can't abide festivals" and commenting, not without a sniff of distaste, that last year's line-up was rubbish. However, BBC Berkshire did espy the giant statuesque singer Faris Badwan milling around backstage last year - perhaps they'll make it on the bill this year and, in Tom's eyes, instantly improve the line-up. For now however they're heading to the Reading Hexagon, where they'll be playing with The Automatic, The View and Mumm-Ra. "The View (from deepest darkest Dundee) are really great but I can't understand a word they say" Tom laughs. They're promoting their forthcoming debut album, Strange House, which is out in March. If you've not seen any single by The Horrors before it may have something to do with any previous releases being ineligible for chart position, owing to them being packaged with stickers, which breaks chart guidelines apparently. "Round the time of our first single Top Of The Pops finished and the only reason you want to be in the charts is to go on Top Of The Pops, which would've been great," grins Tom. "It's all a bit pointless otherwise, so we thought we'd give away something special and collectable." If the band had their way their debut album cover would be 3D and supplied with 3D glasses, though one suspects Polydor Records may overrule them on that one. And what does Tom, who ditched his graphic design course to pursue a music career, recommend for other wannabe punk stars? "Do something interesting and new," he offers, "that's probably the main reason why people took notice of us." | 
