MAKING new album Night Life, The Horrors faced serious setbacks – but it only made the band stronger and more excited about what’s yet to come.
Talking about the Southend group’s first album in eight years, singer Faris Badwan says: “There’s been a lot of challenges and difficulties, but we’ve come out with something really good, that we are really proud of.”
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Badwan and bassist Rhys Webb, now the core duo of the band, are chatting in their publicist’s office in North London.
Webb is yawning and enjoying an afternoon beer after an early start — “I had a fridge delivered at 7am so I’m feeling it now” — while Badwan is wafting a sample of a new woody perfume he has created.
“Being in The Horrors feels like we’ve been on a fantastic journey and this new album shows we’re in a good place,” says Webb.
After nearly 20 years of making music, and after starting Night Life, drummer Joe Spurgeon decided to leave the group to spend time with his family. While guitarist Josh Hayward appears on the record but in the background.
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Badwan says: “When you hear about people leaving bands you think it’s a big, dramatic situation but it wasn’t like that for us. People naturally end up having a different focus in their lives.
“We’ve been friends for so long it was just two guys who wanted to do different things and that’s totally cool.”
Webb adds: “We’ve always had good personal relationships. Music’s not a reliable source of income and when Covid came, musicians had to look at how they were going to support themselves in other ways. And Joe is a father of an eight-year-old.
“And with Josh, he was always involved when the song was finished.”
Badwan adds: “That’s Josh’s strength. He’s less of a songwriter, but he’s an incredible sound creator. And he builds equipment.
“He built half our studio and invented different pedals, built guitars. He’s a one-of-a-kind type of musician, but not really a songwriter.
“And recognising your different skills and where you fit is important and one of the things I love about being in The Horrors.
“I wouldn’t do this on my own. It’s a collaborative effort, especially now we have introduced other people that have other skills.
“It feels like a really good place for the future.”
Badwan and Webb had written several songs for the album and knew they wanted to continue as The Horrors.
They worked as a duo with session musicians when they went to record it in LA, but then recruited collaborators Amelia Kidd and Jordan Cook later.
Webb explains: “We felt really strongly about the tracks we had been working on so there wasn’t any question of us not continuing to do that.”
Badwan adds: “Rhys had written a handful of demos that I really loved, like Lotus Eater and Silence That Remains, and I was really excited by them.
“I love the whole process of going from demos to finished tracks. And this was before Amelia or Jordan had joined the band.”
New keyboard player Kidd had been working with Badwan on her debut solo record when she started to contribute to The Horrors album.
Badwan explains: “Me and Rhys basically had the record written. It felt special and we felt excited to work on it.
Creative buzz
“We were trying to figure out what the extra ten per cent it needed was. And it was Amelia.
“She’s great with textures and you can hear it on Ariel and Silence That Remains. One feature of her style is the chopped-up rhythm and resampled sounds.
“We were used to working together and the three of us have a really good dynamic, a really good way of getting ideas together.
“When we went to LA to work with producer Yves Rothman, Amelia started to add additional production.”
New drummer Cook, formerly of Telegram, was also a friend.
“Telegram had toured with us a few times and I had played in various projects with him,” says Webb.
Badwan adds: “I find it really difficult to find drummers I like. But there wasn’t any question with Jordan and he’s been friends with us for years. He just came straight in, and fitted in.”
Both say their new members have given them a creative buzz.
“It’s definitely energising,” says Badwan. “We’ve become a different gang. And it feels like we have many options for where we can take stuff, which is fun.
“We have a bit more freedom to try different things which is good for us as we have a different idea every five seconds.”
The idea behind the album title, Night Life, came from the contrast of the nightlife of pubs and clubs to the world when everyone is asleep.
Webb says: “Night Life starts in the darkest of night. There’s an element of claustrophobia in the first half of the record. And as the album continues, it slightly elevates, and the mood lightens, and becomes more optimistic.”
That song, and When The Rhythm Breaks, came out of when I was pushed to that place when I had that sort of dissociative feeling
Faris Badwan
Badwan adds: “A big part of my world, my version of nightlife, is insomnia, which I’ve had since I was a kid. In places it’s maybe a dissociative or alienated feeling in the record.
“Silence That Remains is one of tracks that shows the strengths of all the individual members as well.
“It’s one of my favourite Horrors songs and is maybe a bit more understated than we’ve done in the past.
“My dad had a heart attack while I was writing the lyrics and I was walking around the streets I’d spent time in when I was a kid, waiting, as he was in a coma.
“It was tense. I was thinking about how relationships between people change throughout your life.
And the way you connect with people can kind of change over a number of years. I always want to lean into feelings like that when I’m writing, especially lyrics because it helps you make sense of it.
“That song, and When The Rhythm Breaks, came out of when I was pushed to that place when I had that sort of dissociative feeling.
“I was feeling a bit removed and isolated. It’s painful and intense but it’s authentic. And being authentic is who we are as a band.”
Badwan’s father, who is Palestinian, is now “doing OK,” says the singer. He adds: “He’s better. It took a while but he’s better. And you never want stuff like that to happen.
“But it’s also important to not be scared of those intense emotional parts of life either.
“I’m half Palestinian, and that’s a big part of who I am. That’s something that I think about a lot and read and learn about a lot.
“The more everyone learns what’s going on the better. You can’t be equipped to deal with it if you don’t learn about it.
“I get people’s need to switch off the news and disconnect from the world, but I think the more people know, the better.”
‘More freedom’
The Horrors have just embarked on a record store tour across the UK, playing a stripped-back set.
“We’re doing them as a three-piece, so we have got different arrangements and presentations of the songs,” says Badwan.
“We could never have done that as easily before but we have a bit more freedom to try different things.”
Webb adds: “We are looking forward to playing live as the shows last year were great.
It’s exciting to be releasing what is one of our favourite records that we’ve written
“We’re in a pretty fortunate position that we have six albums of material. So, we’re playing the songs that we really love.
“We’ve got a great back catalogue to draw from for live, which has been such an important part of our band and connecting with our audience.
“Last night we had a stripped-back rehearsal for the in-stores, and then the rest of the band turned up, and it was electrifying.”
Badwan says: “It’s an emotionally weighty record, and I feel that we did a good job at connecting the emotion behind the different songs.
“It’s probably more spacious than some of our other records, which I really like. I’m glad that we got better at expressing that.”
Webb agrees: “It’s an evolution of the group. It’s part of the journey of us exploring new ideas but always sounds like The Horrors.
“And for me, Night Life feels like classic Horrors.
“It’s exciting to be releasing what is one of our favourite records that we’ve written, with the additional energy of two new members which without a doubt is changing the live experience.
“It’s for the better.”
THE HORRORS
Night Life
★★★★☆
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