The Horrors premiered their second album ‘Primary Colours’ in London last night (March 23).
The band played eight new songs at their comeback gig at Bethnal Green‘s Rich Mix Cinema to a intimate crowd that included Klaxons, The Jesus And Mary Chain and Spiritualized.
Kicking off with ‘Primary Colours’‘ opening track ‘Mirror’s Image’, the only old songs in the band’s ten-song set were ‘Sheena Is A Parasite’ and ‘Count In Fives’, with frontman Faris Rotter telling the audience “It’s just like the old days,” before playing the latter.
With the band dressed simply in leather jackets and black shirts – rather than the more gothic attire that fans would have perhaps expected – guitarist Joshua Third told NME.COM that the gig was the start of a new chapter for The Horrors.
“I’ve been so excited about this for so long,” he said. “It was just a really good feeling to get out there. We’ve completely evolved as a band. I guess that’s a good way to describe it.
“We don’t really wanna look to the past anymore, it’s all about leaving that behind and looking forward now. We’ve always been about trying to do something new and now it seems a bit silly to play loads of old stuff.”
Backed by a cinematic projection that showed psychedelic images of butterfly’s and roses, the band said little throughout the performance and remained relatively motionless throughout – although mid-way through ‘Primary Colours’‘ standout track ‘Who Can Say’, Rotter began jumping around the stage manically before throwing himself into the audience, who proceeded to rip his T-shirt.
The singer ended the set by walking off halfway through The Horrors‘ new single ‘Sea Within A Sea’, leaving his bandmates to finish the song’s electronic outro on their own.
“I think everyone in the audience was spellbound tonight, and it’s the exact reaction I wanted,” Third said. “This is how it’s going to be from now on. We just wanna play stuff that’s new now. That’s why it’s always evolving with The Horrors – why we’re always exciting.”
The Horrors played:
‘Mirror’s Image’
‘Three Decades’
‘Do You Remember’
‘Count In Fives’
‘New Ice Age’
‘Scarlet Fields’
‘Who Can Say’
‘I Can’t Control Myself’
‘Sheena Is A Parasite’
‘Sea Within A Sea’
To read NME.COM‘s exclusive ‘first listen’ report on ‘Primary Colours’, head to the NME Office Blog.