The Horrors at the TheklaSocial, Bristol
With support from Neil's Children
Monday 2nd April 2007
Meg Rowell went to see the show...
The Horrors
For the last few months, the UK music press have been steadily showering London rock band The Horrors with glorious phrases such as 'the saviours of Punk-Rock' and 'the most exciting British band since the Sex Pistols', so I thought I'd go and see what all the fuss is about.
After a rather uninteresting set from support band Neil's Children, I'm pretty ready for some excitement, and the cartoonish Horrors more than deliver. Arriving on stage to a barrage of strobe lighting and feedback, the black-and-white clad quintet set the scene from the very first chord.
On hearing their first track tonight, you'd be forgiven for thinking that The Horrors were verging on some kind of death-metal, as lead-singer Faris Rotter indecipherably growls over the top of a deafening sea of noise. But then, pretty soon, some tunes begin to emerge - a bit of psychedelic keyboard here, a sixties guitar riff there, and, all of a sudden, it begins to make sense.
The boyish Rotter is the perfect frontman - all gnarly, spitty and wide-eyed - and capable of delivering the most majestic gestures with the most minimal of action. The baying crowd nigh on devour him each time he ventures close, as he consistently disappears from the stage, only to be located seconds later by a whirling limb sailing recklessly through the crowd.
While single Sheena Is A Parasite stands out as a track which will undeniably become a classic, their music - a mix of seventies punk and sixties garage-rock - becomes secondary to the performance. And, like the Sex Pistols in their heyday, you can't help feeling that one couldn't really exist without the other.
Because that's what tonight (and probably every other live show they do) is really all about - performance. The Horrors don't dress the way they do because it's comfortable, or act the way they act because it's natural; it's about showmanship, rock'n'roll and making an impression.
If one thing's without doubt, it's that The Horrors have certainly made an impression. Expecting tonight to be full of surly young things dressed in black, I was pleasantly surprised by the mix of people (excepting the odd Cruella De Ville hairstyle bobbing above the crowd), which, in my opinion, just goes to show that The Horrors have hit on something which goes beyond fashion, trend or musical taste - that everyone enjoys a good show.
The Horrors are on tour until April 13th - see their page here on Ents24 for tickets and more details.
