The Horrors

The Horrors (formed 2005)

The Horrors are a British alternative rock band.

The Horrors: Formation

Tom Cowan (Tomethy Furse) and Faris Badwan (Faris Rotter) met at Rugby School. During frequent record-buying trips to London, they met Rhys 'Spider' Webb and bonded over their love of '60s garage rock. In 2005, they formed a band with Joshua Hayward (Joshua Von Grimm) and Joseph Spurgeon (Coffin Joe).

The Horrors formed around a club night founded by Oliver Abbott and Spider, named Junkclub. When they originally formed, they would practise covers such as 'The Witch' by The Sonics and 'Jack the Ripper' by Screaming Lord Sutch.. Their debut gig took place with LR Rockets at The Spread Eagle on Kingsland Road in August 2005. The name they played under at that time was The Brothers Grimm.

The Horrors: Music Career

The Horrors' debut single was 'Sheena Is A Parasite', released in 2006 on Loog Records. The video for the single was directed by Chris Cunningham, who had previously worked with Aphex Twin. This single was followed by 'Death At The Chapel'.

The Horrors' profile gathered steam with a high-profile show at London's 100 Club in July 2006, as well as appearing on the cover of NME in August of that year. They were then chosen to play the NME Awards Indie Rock Tour, with The View, Mumm-Ra and The Automatic.

The band's debut album, Strange House was released in March 2007 and supported the release with a word tour. Unfortunately, their planned US tour with Black Rebel Motorcycle Club was cancelled due to a lack of financial support. They did, however, perform at a number of festivals, including Glastonbury, Summer Sonic and Splendour in the Grass. Their set list at the time would often include a cover of Joy Division's 'No Love Lost'.

The Horrors made a guest appearance on the third series of The Mighty Boosh, as a band called The Black Tubes.

When The Horrors were chosen as support act on Arctic Monkeys' arena tour, they were not always well-received by the Monkeys' fan base. They were also chosen, however, to support The Sonics, one of the band's major influences.

A documentary of the band's 2007 US tour was named Counting in Fives. The film was premiered at the Sundance Festival.

The second album from The Horrors was named Primary Colours and was produced by Geoff Barrow of Portishead, Craig Silvey and Chris Cunningham. Having left Loog Records in 2007, The Horrors released the album on XL Recordings. They also released a cover of Suicide's 'Shadazz' on Blast First Petite.

Primary Colours was nominated for a Mercury Music Prize in 209 but lost out to Speech Debelle's Speech Therapy.

The Horrors have self-produced a number of fanzines, including 'Horror Asparagus Stories' and 'Heartbreak Ahead'.