The Horrors talk line-up changes, studio stints, and making sixth album 'Night Life' • Interview • DIY Magazine

This month marks the arrival of ‘Night Life’: The Horrors’ imminent sixth LP and an album that’s been a long time coming. After the release of 2017’s ‘V’, and despite a handful of gigs and “palette-refreshing” industrial rock EPs in 2021’s ‘Lout’ and ‘Against The Blade’, the band were presented with their first sustained period of pause and reflection in their nearly 20 years of existence.

Coinciding with all this too were some significant internal changes. Founding members Tom Furse and Joe Spurgeon stepped aside to focus on other commitments, while guitarist Josh Hayward – although still touring with the band – was only available for fleeting studio visits, leaving the responsibility of LP6 resting squarely on the shoulders of vocalist Faris Badwan and bassist Rhys Webb. There was “no question”, says Faris, that there would be another Horrors record, but how it would come to materialise was less certain.

“There were no gigs, no live shows. Nothing on the horizon for the band to actually be doing,” says Rhys. “I’d literally forgotten what it was like to be in a band! But I felt like we still had a lot to say and do. [Making ‘Night Life’] was a new experience for us,” he continues. “It made Faris and I work as a team, more than we had done before, because the group had always been five individuals. This whole album process has brought us closer together.” “It’s more streamlined, isn’t it?” Faris chips in. “Our writing partnership has become the core of the band. It feels almost weird saying, ‘Yeah, we’re really happy with how this is going’, because it’s without a couple of the original members. But the truth is we were really excited with the songs.”

“It feels like a re-invigorated project.”

— Faris Badwan

In between all-nighters in Rhys’ London basement, and a DIY home studio at a Tottenham AirBnB with new recruit – and now fully fledged Horror – Amelia Kidd, the bulk of these songs crystallised during a non-stop six week stint in LA with producer Yves Rothman. During their daily walks to and from the studio in full view of the Hollywood hills, the band were exposed to, and drew inspiration from, the city’s “gritty” underbelly. “It’s such a strange place,” says Faris. “You get to see the polar opposites of human life. There’s so many homeless people and it’s really broken down and depressing in one sense, and then on the other hand you’ve got this glamorous side. It’s quite dark underneath. There’s an emotional weight underneath the flippancy.”

As indicated by their commitment to weathering line-up changes and marathon studio stints, The Horrors – as they readily admit themselves – are an “all or nothing” proposition; an unyielding organism forever re-adapting to fit its climate. Their drive to sculpt cohesive, gloomy and glistening worlds seemingly too remains unbroken, no matter what form it has to take. “Even though it’s not completely, it feels like a re-invigorated project. We found ways of pulling [the album] together because we absolutely believed in it,” says Faris. “It meant having no money for like, years. It meant spending all our available time doing these songs. It’s a testament to how much we believe in the band.”

“The whole thing’s had a bit of a magical quality to it,” says Rhys. “I can’t really put it into words, but there’s just been something in the air. To me, it’s an instantly classic Horrors album. It’s exactly what we think The Horrors should be doing and should be… our bleak and haunting best!”

‘Night Life’ is out 21st March 2025 via Fiction.

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