Alternative rock band The Horrors are back with their sixth album ‘Night Life’ which arrives on 21st March. Known for their ever-evolving sound, from Garage-Rock kicks of their debut ‘Strange House’ to the Post-Punk sound of 2017’s ‘V’, this a hotly anticipated release which fans are excited to hear. We sat down with bassist Rhys Webb to take a deep dive into all things ‘Night Life’, from new band members to exploring new production and soundscapes.
Q. What can we expect from ‘Night Life’ compared to your previous records?
A. "I’d describe it as a classic Horrors album but from the future. It’s got some familiar elements and some nostalgia, but there’s a lot of new techniques and production, which is quite futuristic for us. For the new album, we were aiming for a heavier, deeper, darker, atmospheric kind of sound, which is something we’ve always loved and been inspired by, but sometimes shied away from. The sixth album came out in 2017, and a lot has changed since then.
A few of the band members have stepped away, very amicably, so we’ve got two new members. It means we’re in a situation where we were able to step back a bit and decide what to do next. Faris and I started writing some tracks and we wanted to continue the project, but we felt like if we were going to make another album, it needed to be a really great record. So we didn’t worry about singles or anything like that, we focussed on exploring the ideas we wanted to explore".
Q. How are you feeling ahead of the release?
A. "I’m feeling really confident because I know we really love it, and that’s the most important thing. And I think if we know we love it, other people will love it. So as a band we’re feeling really good, a good sense of fulfilment, anticipation, and excitement. We did some shows in December last year with the new lineup, with Jordan Cook behind the drums. It had a great energy so it's really great to be gearing up for the campaign ahead. It does feel weird to be back; it’s been so long that everything feels brand new again. So far it’s going down really well with fans, which is great to see. There’s been an echo of feeling similar to how we feel, people saying oh great they’re back, people enjoying the new stuff and excited for the record".
Q. Did the writing process feel different this time round?
A. "Music is about an emotional experience, and that’s something that we think about a lot when we’re in that creative space. Faris and I wrote the demos, and we started recording in London, then we moved over to a studio in LA to work with producer Yves Rothman. At that point, the sound was coming from me, Faris, and Yves, and we didn’t have a guitarist or keyboardist. That’s when Amelia Kidd from The Ninth Wave came on board. Faris had just produced an album for her, which hasn’t been released yet, and thought she could be a good addition to the band. So we sent her some tracks and she brought her ideas to the production. Moving forwards she’ll definitely be part of the writing process".
Q. Is this mostly new material, or are there some older demos on there?
A. "This album is actually the first time that we’ve revisited older material. There’s a track on the new album called ‘The Feeling Is Gone’ which we wrote ages ago, it must have been at least eight years ago. It was an acoustic demo that Faris and I wrote together and really liked. It had a sound I’d describe as a Country Joy Division, kind of like The Gun Club, dark but with a Country vibe. We reimagined it in this dubbed out, electronic way. But the rest of the material has been written for this album, it started writing the demos over lockdown. The difficult bit was getting the initial demos down, then the recording process is when it got more fun".
Q. Do you feel you've explored some different sonic styes on this record?
A. "Yes, working with Amelia and her electronic style really opened up a new world of sound, a lot of new sonic possibilities. Amelia brings her own personality and production style which has definitely kept things fresh. We’ve got involved in more electronic stuff, like programming, working with sounds, manipulating the vocals, cutting things up and editing, which has been new and exciting for us. We’ve been trying to explore some new heavier, industrial elements, mechanical sounds and industrial production which we hadn’t really explored before".
Q. What’s the inspiration behind the album art?
A. "For us, the artwork is an extension of the album we wanted to create. We wanted the artwork to represent the music and have the same feeling and ambience. ‘Night Life’ was always set in a nocturnal world so that’s part of what we wanted the art to reflect. The writing on the front is actually Faris’ handwriting, and the sitter is a model called Lillith, who’s a contemporary dancer from Ukraine, who’s also a Horrors fan. And they represent the light in the shade of the record. More abstractly, the art represents the angel Ariel, who is a protector angel, and who inspired the single and first track ‘Ariel’. So we also wanted that heavenly, celestial, astral feel. We worked closely with our good friend Sarah on the artwork, and also on the video for ‘The Silence That Remains’, as well as the jellyfish for the ‘Lotus Eater’ video. It’s quite a different look for us, I think it’s such a beautiful image".
Q. Do you take into consideration how the physical album is going to look or do you have your mind on the digital side of things?
A. "We’ve always only really thought about the artwork in the context of a 12 inch LP. It’s that immersive thing, it’s really fun to open a record, look at the sleeve and the images, the words, are there any hidden things, any clues, whatever it might be. It’s more than just the music, it’s engaging with the album on a more conceptual level. So although the album will end up on Spotify or whatever, we don’t really think about that much. Every year vinyl sales are going up, and our audience has always been a vinyl buying crowd, so the physical album really matters to us and our fans".
Q. How are you feeling about touring again?
A. "Having two new members has brought a great new energy. This album is really dark and heavy and confrontational, and we wanna get that across on stage. Obviously we’re playing some of the old songs, but we’re trying to reimagine them a bit and come at it from a new angle. It’s not a full fresh start, we ultimately still sound like The Horrors, but we’ve definitely got a bit of a bang, a bit of onstage power and ferocity. But before we start touring properly we’ve got these instore shows to celebrate the release of the album, at record stores and smaller venues. We’ve just started rehearsing these stripped back versions, which is a way we’ve never played or heard the songs before. The way we’re playing them is quite ambient, quite dubby, more minimal".
Q. Haven been given a new lease of life with these new members, what's next for The Horrors?
A. "We’re not directly thinking about the next album, but with the current band members it feels quite likely we’ll make new music this year. Amelia is really hardworking, she’s into making music, whereas I’m lazier. But we’ve definitely got a lot of energy to start writing and creating. We could just start writing at any time, we’ve got a lot of momentum, and we don’t wanna sit on that. But no specific plans yet".
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