The Horrors: Concerts Shouldn't Last More Than 40 Minutes

09/28/07 4:30pm

by Caitlin Hotchkiss (CHARTattack)

The Horrors aren't a band for the faint of heart. Depending on which you encounter first, it's obvious in both their appearance and in their sound.

Although immediately labelled as goths due to their impeccably dark fashion sense — pointed shoes, suit jackets, neck ties, Victorian scarves and black pants so tight they might as well be painted on to their spindly legs — the preternaturally young U.K. five-piece are actually quite jovial in person. Yet, onstage they remain true to their dark surf-punk influences — The Cramps and Screaming Lord Sutch among the obvious — while putting on unpredictable shows that have gotten them banned from more than a few venues.

During their last stop in Toronto, ChartAttack had the opportunity to chat with Horrors bassist Tomethy Furse and guitarist Joshua Von Grimm about culture clashes — both at home and abroad — and putting an eyeliner-smeared beatdown on commonplace (read: boring) music genres.

ChartAttack: Was it a difficult process to finally get your album released in America?
Tomethy Furse: No, it wasn't. It was released in March last year in the U.K., and came out here in June of this year. But it wasn't really difficult. We just had to find a label, and we kind of felt that Americans wouldn't get our music. Where we come from, there's not a lot of American music there. But I think they do get it here, with the garage influence and everything, since people actually listen to that on American radio. It's much more diverse. Radio in England is really terrible. You'd never listen to it. There's no point, it's so bad. But over here, you get a lot of cool radio stations that are a bit more aware of where we come from.

So you've found more of a niche here than you thought you would?
TF: Yeah, we've been very well-received. But it's more that we've been received for different reasons in different places. Over here, I think people can appreciate where we've come from. In the U.K., it's because we're playing something people haven't really heard before.
Joshua Von Grimm: You could say we're pioneers! (laughs)
TF: We're sonic adventurers!
JVG: Like Christopher Columbus.

Regarding the occasion when Faris [Rotter, singer] was punched by a thug on the street, and also given the reaction of your fans to your live shows, what do you think it is about you guys that brings out such a visceral response?
TF: Well, we're always dealing with angry people. And I think what happened with Faris had nothing to do with the band. He was just an angry man, and it was about the way Faris looked. People just challenge people who look different because they don't have any respect for that kind of thing. But the band, the audience reaction... I think the music is quite intense. I don't even think it was a conscious thing.

And you guys are spending a lot more time in America than you did before, so what's the biggest cultural difference you can see?
TF: I don't know. There's so much that's completely different. But I think there's a lot of ignorance... well, not everybody of course, but generally people are quite ignorant.
JVG: Not any more than they are in England!
TF: Well, exactly. It's just that we're touring and meeting people within that world. It doesn't matter where you go, you're still with people who aren't an example of normal people. Being on tour, you'd talk to a lot of people that you would never bother talking to at home.

Your earlier shows were much shorter in length. Is it a struggle now to play longer sets?
TF: Not at all. We're having a hard time keeping them short! (laughs) The shortness came out of necessity because we didn't have any more songs to play. And when we kept it short, people liked it.
JVG: I hate seeing bands that play longer than 40 minutes. I get really bored. If you think about it, you're just standing there watching people, and no one watches people for longer than 40 minutes. It just gets boring.
TF: Sitting there listening for an hour, hour-and-a-half...
JVG: Nobody wants that.
TF: Nobody would do that. Why would anyone watch a band for an hour-and-a-half?
JVG: Now we could play for an hour, but I think it'd be a lot less fun. The ultimate thing would be 30-minute sets of just noise and racket. We wanted to do that.

That's pretty avant-garde.
JVG: We really want to do it. We just don't know if people would pay to come and see that.
TF: I think if we ever did any free shows... If we do any shows where people aren't spending all their allowance on tickets, then that's when we'd do it.

Since you're all very well-schooled and still quite young. Do you have any life ambitions beyond the music industry?
TF: No, not really. I mean, I tried it – I went to university for graphic design, and I didn't like it. When you get away to focus your energy on something, most people really like it. But I found it really tiresome. I wanted to be making music. I don't think I'm as good at anything else as I am at music. I think I might go beyond being in a band, like doing film soundtracks and music outside of bands, but I can't really see myself doing anything other than music.
JVG: I'd want to be a fisherman. I quite like that idea. Sit out on the deck with a rod all day.

In other words, make all your money now while you still can.
JVG: That's the thing — we aren't making a lot of money now! (laughs) But at least we're having fun.