The Horrors: “The first time I came, I arrived without a ticket”

Three months on from releasing fourth album ‘Luminous’, The Horrors are gearing up to play third from top tonight (24th August) on NME/Radio 1’s Stage, ahead of The 1975 and Disclosure.

Speaking ahead of the set, Faris Badwan recounted his first experience of arriving as a punter. “The first time I came, I arrived without a ticket. They weren’t so strict with the wristbands thing so I thought I’d sneak in. And there were loads of good bands when I first came. People like the Fiery Furnaces, Secret Machines.”

Faris claims that the group’s new album lends itself to different spaces: “I like playing in tents rather than outdoors,” he says. “You have more control with the lights and stuff, it’s more intimate. I like playing to 50 people as much as thousands. We have done small things like that, last-minute secret things.”

Tipping The Wytches from the rest of the line-up (“I like the fact the singer looks like a young Bobby Gillespie,”), Faris said the biggest challenge of today’s set would be tracking down guitarist Joshua Hayward. “Out of the Horrors, Josh is the one that really goes for it. Earlier on he was asleep in a hammock under the main stage. And now he’s probably gone to make some friends, as is his want. Yesterday we had to take an army and he was barely upright. He embraces it.”