The Horrors: “We’re at our best when we’re just trying to make a really loud noise”

The first thing I hear when I begin my interview with Josh Hayward, guitarist of post-punk turned alt-rock outfit The Horrors is “You’ve got a really cool name for a paper, by the way. I want that on record.” For a band who have never been shy of making noisy statements with their music, it seemed a notably well-mannered opening remark. Ten years ago, The Horrors burst onto the British music scene clad entirely in black robes and guyliner, belting out raucous gothic rock as riotous as their stage performances. Now, five albums and as many image-changes later, they’re back with V, a powerful industrial dream-pop record which stands out as the most cohesive thing they’ve ever produced.

“The ethos is still the same,” assures Hayward, “even though the music has evolved. It’s always been quite selfish in the sense of just wanting to make music that we like. I had this realisation that we’re at our best when we’re just trying to make a really loud noise, and looking back that’s still exactly the same as when we started making music.” Indeed, V often succeeds most where its predecessor – 2014’s Luminous – fell short; songs like ‘Hologram’ and lead-single ‘Machine’ are expansive yet forceful, revealing a muscular side to the band which previous albums had seemed unwilling to reveal.

“I think on the last few records we were overworking them too much,” says Hayward, discussing the closure of The Horrors’ Hackney studio a few years ago. “The sound ended up feeling subdued. That’s what can happen with your own studio and what feels like infinite time. We found that playing the songs live was more interesting. We’d occasionally make mistakes, but they’d often be good mistakes which would lead to different things coming out. We wanted to try and capture that spirit, that rawness of recording live.”

It’s an admirable desire, and one which is fitting for a band who so clearly thrive off the energy of a live show. Packed inside Birmingham’s grungy O2 Academy, with a thick smog rolling out through the crowd, the energy of the audience is restless as the group take to the stage. The clash of styles that the band members exhibit is an apt metaphor for the variety of musical influences that they’ve taken on as a group: frontman Farris Badwan wears a patent leather jacket which ripples beneath the strobe lighting; keyboardist Tom Cowan has opted for a slim-fit purple suit (think Howard Moon’s ‘jazz paedophile’ outfit in the Mighty Boosh); bassist Rhys Webb is sporting dad-slacks and a short-sleeved shirt. Yet when the music starts, the performers are as tight-knit and polished as they’ve ever been.

I had this realisation that we’re at our best when we’re just trying to make a really loud noise, and looking back that’s still exactly the same as when we started making music

New tunes like electro-stomper ‘Press Enter to Exit’ and crunching cyberpunk-symphony ‘Weighed Down’ are strategically placed amongst favourites from previous albums, such as ‘Who Can Say’ and ‘Sea Within a Sea’ from 2009’s shoegazey Primary Colours and ‘Endless Blue’ from 2011’s psychedelic-soundscape Skying. Monumental soundscapes have been a recurring feature ever since Primary Colours, and the new material seems similarly intent on creating an epic, dreamlike wall of sound for the listener to immerse themselves within. “I was listening to a lot of [Robert] Fripp while making the record,” admits Hayward in an appreciative nod to the innovator of the style. “And Sade,” he continues, smirking, “although you can probably only hear one of those influences on the album!”

The warmest receptions of the night are reserved for the two tracks which close the set-proper and the encore respectively: the band’s dizzying signature hit ‘Still Life’ and V’s – possibly even the year’s – finest song, ‘Something to Remember Me By’. The Horrors have always been at their best when they are at their most euphoric, and the final soaring choruses of the show’s closer are enough to leave the O2 audience basking in a rush of true jouissance as they head for the exits.

The Horrors have always been at their best when they are at their most euphoric

“I think it’s definitely a trip,” says Haywood of the new album, “and if people listen to it and experience it in that way, if it takes them somewhere, then that’s about all we can hope for. I think I’ll be happy if people still enjoy listening to it five or ten years from now.” Amidst a crowd calling back their songs in joyous union, I’m inclined to believe that there’s still plenty of life left in The Horrors yet, and plenty of reason to believe that V will be as well-received in years to come as it has been in these first weeks of release.

The Horrors’ European tour begins in Paris on 8th November. V is out now.