When The Horrors return to Australia in April next year, with the exception of playing at Tasmania's Dark Mofo this past June, it will be their first Australian tour since appearing as part of the 2012 Laneway Festival roadshow.
"I mean honestly it's pretty instinctive," singer Faris Badwan says when asked about being in a band and the experience of live performance.
"You know when we started, we were playing as five people in a room and we all kind of learned to play our instruments through playing together, and although there was a primitive, raw side to it, I really enjoyed the fact that we were playing everything even faster than it was on the record.
"It was an instinctive expression. We weren’t really questioning what the thing sounded like. I loved bands that appeared like gangs when I was a kid, stuff like MC5 or even The Shangri-Las when it's one cohesive unit.
"I like that, but beyond that I didn't really think I would be in music or I would start my own band, and then when I fell into it, the way I was onstage felt kind of natural.
"I think when we did our first album we were playing live so much that we didn't even take time away to form an album, to gather an album. It was like we wrote and recorded all our songs in between long periods of touring.
"So the first album is kind of like a whirlwind document of our first year as a band and the second album we had a bit more time away from any kind of scrutiny or whatever and we had a bit more time to create this thing.
"It's not like at any point where I've been dissatisfied with what we're doing, it's just trying to figure out where to go next."
Originally forming in 2005, the band developed musically over five albums between 2007 and 2017; from startling garage rock on their debut 'Strange House' through shoegaze towards a polished pop sound via working with producer Paul Epworth on 'V'.
Since then, there have been a couple of EPs in a rawer, extreme style ('Lout' and 'Against The Blade', both released in 2021) before a reconfigured line-up emerged with latest album 'Night Life' earlier this year.
"We're kind of more flexible with how we do things now. In the past we had one set up and we would just play together as a five pice and now because of the different members and their different capabilities we can switch from playing as a three piece to four, five, six.
"When I was doing my other band Cat's Eyes shortly after, between 'Primary Colours' and 'Skying'. . . our whole thing was we had our songs and we were always trying to think of ways that we could adjust them or change the arrangements to fit different settings and I think having had that experience maybe, it made me more aware of what we could do at some point with The Horrors, which is cool.
"It's nice to be able to draw from these experiences. It was a challenge, like how do you find a way of presenting music in this context. Rachel and I were always up for those kind of challenges and doing stuff that other people don't have the opportunity to do or can't.
"It was more like a problem-solving exercise, which was fun and also evading security was also part of the fun. It's quite different with The Horrors, but I think the way we have things now with the new members we can be flexible and we can do a totally different set from night to night which is really exciting.
"There was a collective desire to clean the slate and start again. With our fifth record 'V' with Paul Epworth, that was the last record we were it felt to us quite polished and probably as far towards pop as we would get.
"I was happy with some of that record. 'Something To Remember Me By' is probably one of our best pop songs and I think that was cool. I enjoyed making that, but then after that was done it felt like it was time to go somewhere completely different and I suppose those EPs are just a reflection of what we were into, the kind of atmospheres we were finding inspiring.
"We did initially think those EPs were going to be our sixth album, but as we did them it felt like they existed best in their own self-contained world. After we'd done them it felt. . . It's not like we ever plan what direction we're going to go in, we just go with whatever feels exciting and feels worthwhile.
"I can see the parallels with the EPs and our first record. I think it was probably a bit of an effort to. . . because 'V' was in such an amazing studio. . . and obviously Epworth who's one of the most successful producers around. . . the EPs we wanted to go back more towards DIY. . . a lot of them were recorded at home in part.
"We wanted that rawer sound, but then it felt like maybe the EPs were showing one particular side of the band and it was leaving another side unexpressed and then with 'Night Life' when we were writing those songs. . . they felt more emotive.
"The songs on 'Night Life' are at their strongest when they lean more towards the emotive side and are to me more personal and intimate. I enjoy that about it, that's the part I love about the record."
The band are currently in the middle of their most extensive touring schedule since 2018, and although Faris doesn't think the songs from 'Night Life' were played live prior to being recorded he spoke about the transformation of songs from demos through the recording process and into the live context.
"That's one of my favourite parts of making music, watching stuff that you've written morph and change and find its natural place is cool because you can't get that any other way than by playing it live, and I think with this new version of the band we have the opportunity to play stuff in a different way every night if we want.
"It causes the songs to change in other ways and I love seeing when you write a demo and put it together when you're in your room – maybe it's just me and Rhys [Webb, bass] writing for a couple of weeks – we'll have this song and I love seeing how unexpectedly it might transform either in the recording process or through being played live.
"I love the unpredictability of it. I love stuff happening that I wouldn't have thought of. I like stuff developing naturally. I like not knowing exactly how it's going to be finessed or whatever. I really enjoy that part, I enjoy not knowing what exactly is going to happen."
While Faris comes across as quite laidback and meditative (during our conversation he was trimming a bonsai tree), he acknowledges the contrasting physicality of his live performance. I ask if he has ever injured himself. "So many times, yes.
"I broke my nose. Josh [Hayward, guitar] hit me in the face with his guitar. . . and it was in the second song, so I played the whole song with blood pouring down my throat. The photos from that are a little intense.
"I like the unpredictably of live stuff as well because, again I think with live performance it's at its best when it's not planned or not thought about, and I like spontaneity. I've hurt myself [onstage] many times and hopefully will continue to do so."
Would he ever consider toning it down? "That would be less fun," he replies laughing. "The lifestyle of being in a touring band is a very particular one anyway and I think that after nearly 20 years it makes sense that people would want to try other things and some people have families and other stuff they want to do.
"COVID sort of accelerated that process. It made a lot of people take stock of where they wanted their lives to go and some people don't want to tour forever.
"For me, touring is where I feel happiest because I've got a loose routine imposed upon me which I'm otherwise totally incapable of imposing. I get to perform every night, so then that's like exercise and expression, and then I get to be in different places so there's novelty. It's the place where I feel most at home.
"Rhys is pretty similar. It's just something that suits us. [Former members] Joe [Spurgeon, drums] and Tom [Furse, keys and synths] were at a point where they didn't want to do that the whole time.
"At moment we've got a really good group of people who all work together. It's exciting, it's a new version of the band. It feels like there's a tonne of possibilities. It's cool. It's very difficult to get that without some new element getting introduced.
"One of the difficulties with being in a band or doing something creative is you have to access quite a sensitive or raw part of yourself and that can feel tiring because it's intense and emotionally draining.
"I find it quite hard to do a record and then go straight into making another because that part of myself needs to be restored and I need to go be inspired by new things, and that part where you actually have to nourish the creative part of yourself is so important.
"That's part of the job. You've got to give yourself time to be exposed to new things in order to make work that doesn't feel recycled. I enjoy the process. I've been doing it enough time to know that I enjoy it and it's how I feel happiest."
When the band last toured Australia they were playing songs from 'Primary Colours' and 'Skying', and while their current set list contains songs from these albums, there is nothing from their debut record nor 'Luminous'.
"When we're thinking about putting a set together, I think it's more about finding a flow than consciously trying to exclude a part of our work. The stuff from the first record probably will come back. I mean to be fair, objectively 'Luminous' is our worst album, so when you're trying to do a 90-minute set – and by the way I don't think any band should play longer than an hour and a half.
"I think it's bad taste. After the hour fifteen mark I start to wonder when the show is going to end when I'm watching a band, so for me that's kind of perfect. It's great now that we have enough songs and enough work to look back on that we can create any number of cohesive sets that take you on a journey to use the cliché.
"I think there's a place for all that stuff. I do find it quite hard when performing stuff from the first album and that kind of aggression, I sometimes have trouble knowing where to put it.
"If we've done a song that is more in the first album world, it feels a little bit like being a certain character or accessing a part of myself that I don't often need. . . I like stuff that has a bit of an emotive element, to me that's the stuff I connect with the most, so I think the set we're playing now is the stuff that maybe we currently feel mostly naturally at home doing."
The Horrors 2026 Tour Dates
Fri 10 Apr - The Princess Theatre (Brisbane)
Sat 11 Apr - Manning Bar (Sydney)
Sun 12 Apr - Northcote Theatre (Melbourne)
Tue 14 Apr - Lion Arts Factory (Adelaide)
Wed 15 Apr - Rosemount Hopel (Perth)
