The Horrors are an English rock band formed in Southend-on-Sea in 2005 by lead vocalist Faris Badwan, guitarist Joshua Hayward, keyboardist and synthesizer player Tom Furse,[1] bassist Rhys Webb, and drummer and percussionist Joe Spurgeon.

In early October 2024, it was announced that the band were now joined by Amelia Kidd (of the Ninth Wave) on keyboards and backing vocals, as well as Jordan Cook (of Telegram) on drums.

[6] The band have released five studio albums: Strange House (2007), Primary Colours (2009), Skying (2011), Luminous (2014) and V (2017) all of which charted within the UK Top 40.

During trips to London and on the Southend circuit, Webb met Badwan (formerly of the Rotters[8]) and Furse through their mutual interest in 1960s garage rock as well as post-punk bands such as the Birthday Party and Bauhaus.

Their second release, "Death at the Chapel", a high-profile show at London's 100 Club in July 2006, and an appearance on the cover of NME that August greatly increased their profile.

The band played the NME Awards Indie Rock Tour in early 2007 along with Mumm-Ra, the View and the Automatic, which helped garner further fame.

[4] A slot supporting Black Rebel Motorcycle Club in the United States in summer 2007 was cancelled because of lack of funds,[10] but the band instead headlined a US tour that June.

[4] The Horrors also appeared in the third series of The Mighty Boosh in December as the fictional band "the Black Tubes", and supported the Arctic Monkeys on their short sellout tour of the UK, receiving a mixed reception.

At the end of 2007, the Horrors announced the forthcoming recording of a new album, which was produced by the band, Craig Silvey, Barrow and music video director Chris Cunningham.

[13] After headlining London's Offset Festival and touring for Primary Colours, the Horrors indicated a desire to build their own studio to record at obscure hours.

In April 2010, singer Badwan announced on the band's official forum that the Horrors had already started working on their third album, to be called Skying, and had been in the studio for some months.

[6] Rhys Webb and Tom Furse released an EP called Something Clockwork This Way Comes (2009) under their side project name Spider and the Flies, influenced by the experimental electronica of the BBC Radiophonic Workshop.

[32] Badwan formed Cat's Eyes with multi-instrumentalist, composer and soprano vocalist Rachel Zeffira, releasing the Broken Glass EP and self-titled full-length album in 2011, the soundtrack to The Duke of Burgundy in 2015, and Treasure House in 2016.

In 2015, Tom Furse announced the 28 August release of his debut solo EP, Child of a Shooting Star, through the official Lo Recordings website.

Furse is also involved with MIEN,[35] featuring members of The Black Angels, The Earlies, Swans and Elephant Stone, who released their self-titled debut album in 2018.