The Horror Interview, July '08 by skidblue

The Horror are probably one of my favourite hardcore bands in the UK, hands down. Sadly they've not played up here yet, but I'd like to amend that at some point. Their new release "The Spoils of War" is on sale from Out of Step Records and most local distro's that are worth a damn.

I managed to catch up with Beautiful Steve (Bass) to shoot the shit.



The Horror is made up of some heavy hitting hardcore alumni and has been going for a few years now, members wise - how did it all come about?

The Horror came to be after we killed our old band, Voorhees. Myself, James, Arms, and Dave all quit Voorhees after a big talk on our last US tour so when we got back we all told Lecky the singer that we had had enough and intended to do a new band without him. This he did not like. Around this time Imbalance were playing their last gigs so I had a word with Andy their singer and asked him if he wanted the gig. I sold it along the lines of ‘we’ll be really fast and curse more than the Geto Boys. He took the bait and eight years on we’re still at it.


There's certainly a political agenda in Andy's lyrics, are The Horror a political band, or just a plain pissed off one?

Andy is well read and he shows this off by writing brainy lyrics. Most of the songs are about war I think. Our subject matter is political but we are not a political band. I don’t think we are even pissed off, quite a jolly bunch really.


Your new LP "The Spoils of War" has now been released, was the recording process for that similar to the raw live feel that was felt on "The Fear, The Terror, The Horror"?

The recording process was similar in the fact that we recorded it live in two days. This time however we used a different studio and our own James recorded and mixed it. It sounds a lot stronger than the last one and the songs are infinitly better.


Are there anymore releases planned for the near future, splits and/or 7"s? Perhaps another tour?

We haven’t really discussed what to do next. I don’t think we’ll tour this yeah but we are talking about an eastern Europe trip next year. Recording wise, we have 3 new songs that we may be using for a split 7” with Out Cold but that’s down to them.


The Horror have done tours on both the mainland and in the States, any "Horror" stories from the road?

DAVE CAN DO THIS ONE!!


There's a hint of older rock n' roll in The Horror. Any chance of a Status Quo cover?

We’re not one of those hardcore bands that say oh, we don’t listen to Hardcore anymore cause we do but we do also like a lot of other stuff, especially old rock stuff. Both myself and James love early Quo but doing a cover version of any kind is something we are against. Voorhees did loads and it gets boring. However, I would love to cover Big Fat Mama.


Is the Leeds hardcore scene as healthy as it use to be?

It’s rubbish. The venues are disappearing, Out of Step records is as good as gone, there are to many heavy rock/metal bands and not enough hardcore punk ones and gig turn outs are shocking. Maybe it needs to die to resurface a leaner stronger beast?


I know some of you are performing in other projects as well, which bands should we all keep an eye out for?

There’s a few. James plays guitar and sings in Gentlemans Pistols and he also plays Guitar in The Sex Maniacs along with Dave and myself. Dave and I also play in a new band with Jamie from the Process and Tony from Fabric called Cross of Iron. I also play in another hardcore band by the name of Humanity’s Gone. I view The Horror as my main band though.


Does Peaches Geldoff come to your gigs, thinking you're her boyfriend's abysmal band The Horrors?

No, but it would be nice to see her. I could tell her how much I hated the fucking Boomtown Rats. I saw The Horrors CD in the Boarders sale for £1.99 last week so fuck them. It’s over boys, get a hair cut.


Top 5 Alice Cooper songs?

Damn, I could give you a top 50!

1, You Drive Me Nervous
2, Long Way To Go
3, Halo Of Flies
4, Is It My Body
5, Public Animal #9

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