Buzz band The Horrors have pulled a free gig because of concerns that too
many people would show up, making the whole thing a bit dangerous. The band
had been due to play a mini-gig at London independent record shop Puregroove
Records last night. However, as the buzz has grown on the band (apparently
fans queued up around the block for nearly five hours before a recent 100
Club gig), it was feared simply too many people would show up to make the
gig viable. So, instead, the band did a signing session, signing copies of
their single 'Death At The Chapel'.

A posting on their MySpace explains thus: "With great regret we have had to
pull our live performance at Puregroove Records tomorrow, Aug 2nd - however,
we WILL still be there, but it will be a SIGNING SESSION rather than having
us plug in and play. The reason for this is that the initial feedback we've
had about the possible numbers of people turning up has been sizeable, and
if we play live, the store is worried about safety - especially given the
reputation of you lot down the front row at our gigs...! So we're sorry,
it's out of our hands we're sorry, the store's just too small. We hope you
can still make it down, to get a free, limited poster, and pick up a single
for us to sign for you as a memento. Furthermore, everyone who signs up to a
list at the instore will be notified FIRST about our next London show,
whenever that maybe. So you can at least make sure you can see us live the
next time... Hope to see you down at the signing tomorrow, and sorry again
for pulling the plug, The Horrors."

Meanwhile, a spokesperson for Puregroove told NME: "We got so many calls
about The Horrors that we thought the safest thing to do would be to revert
to a signing. Because of the size of our shop we were worried about safety.
There's five guys in the band, lots of equipment and press, so when you
bring it down to actual fans allowed in (to the store) you'd only get 40."

who?

A very boring, shouty band who have the rather crap gimmick of looking gothy.

They're like a not very good scenestery, version of EMBD or the Cramps. There's a video here:

http://www.godisinthetvzine.co.uk/content/...6&type=Features

THROUGH WAX SEALS & PADLOCKS: ON THE TRAIL OF HORRORS' TREASURES

As a fan of The Horrors, here's your chance to get your hands on some
exclusive, free, Horrors related wonders - but you're going to have to
keep your eyes peeled for the magic words which will act as your keys to
get into this exclusive content, a veritable treasure trove of goodies.

Confused? Read on for more information...

Starting from today, The Horrors will start a 'Trail Of Treasures' and
will be leaving you clues scattered about their world. Some of the
clues will be in e-mails, some on tour posters (hint hint, those who have
gone or are going to the NME tourdates and nabbed a poster - look out
for a clue on there...) and you may find one of these clues repeated in a
TV performance or on a press ad in a magazine (like say, NME or
Artrocker perhaps...). The clue will appear in a few places, so if you don't
see a tour poster for example, you can look out for it somewhere else.

You should be looking for a word or phrase that seem a bit out of place
in the context you find it, and will be somehow connected to The
Horrors.

When you think you've found a magic word, simply go to
www.thehorrors.co.uk and click on the 'Through Wax Seals & Padlocks' link. If you have
guessed correctly, you will then be able to exchange your clue for
access to the secret vault of content, which could be anything from an
exclusive track, to interviews with the band, pictures and best of all,
fantastic competitions, where you could be winning anything from the
chance to see The Horrors live at a secret gig or meeting them in person.

There will be 5 clues coming your way, starting with one clue in
October which is live now, followed by one new clue in November, then
December, January, February etc. Every clue will open a new piece of content,
so you have to keep checking in for the clues each month!

Good luck in your mission. The first 50 people to figure out the first
clue will be sent a limited Horrors fanzine with free US Psych Punk CD
compilation chosen by the band which have been only available on the
NME tour and in some indie stores, and a Horrors badge, as well as
getting a stream of an exclusive Horrors live track that you can't get
anywhere else...

Get on the trail!

Their new video is here:

http://www.godisinthetvzine.co.uk/content/...1&type=Features

Last Sunday I was at the NME Rock 'n Roll-y thing at the Astoria -- Horrors were the first act on.

Musically, they literally don't exist. There is just no music, no lyrics, no melody or...or anything. It's just like a big hole. A big silly hole doing zombie impressions.

BUT they were possibly a thousand times more entertaining than the Fratellis. There's something kind of funny and peculiar about them. Like watching the keyboard player walk across the middle of the stage like a robot zombie, or thinking how much the lead singer reminds me of my older brother when he was listening to Joy Division a bit too much and wanted to paint his room black. I also spoke to the keyboard player's Mum -- she was a dirty scene whore as well. It's nice to taste their delusion; she was pleasant enough, but off her rocker really. I also spoke to the guitarist before the gig, he was quite a nice bloke. At first I thought he was just a copy-cat fan, figuring there'd be loads of them about, but he was just fairly modest about playing.

I have a feeling this thing about all of their buzz is, in itself, buzz. While they were playing, there was literally only one proper hardcore mental fan in all the funeral gear with the only-present-in-body eyes. I really wanted to punch him, he looked like he wouldn't do anything about it either. Might even like it. I was really surprised at how most of the people just didn't like it. It makes sense really -- very few people would be tricked by shite like that, tricked into diving in head first.

Yeah, so I don't have the Horrors. I do want to spit on the Fratellis though. And I want to marry the Maccabees, who were amazing.

You've nearly written a review there David Few more paragraphs and your there so you may as well hehe

Nah, they just got me thinking.

contrasting report to the one my friend gave me folllowing the same show last wednesday, where apparently theHorrors were "great fun", the maccabees were "cool" and the Fratellis were "awesome".

Don't worry, they'll all be long gone in a few months. I'm just so sick of this, I'd laugh at these bands if they played in a Battle of the Bands, why are people so quick to accept mediocrity?

In times of mediocrity and serial monogomy..... (look it up kids)

Because the NME serves it up for them on a silver salver, it means they don't actually have to go and listen to bands and then decide who they like.

The point I was making was that this was an NME gig, yet there was only ONE hardcore fan to see one of the NME's biggest buzz bands. What does that tell you? It shows you shouldn't be too quick to underestimate the public, and that you shouldn't read every piece of PR put in front of you.

A lot of other people are saying exactly the same thing. This is clever PR, not real hoards of fans. Although those of us who would refer to ourselves as outside of 'the public' like to think 'the public' are all dribbling idiots, it's often far from the truth.

Well considering the fact that the Horrors had barely released anything when they landed up on the front cover(a few singles), I think most of us are aware that they didn't have "that" many fans to start with, which is why they you could make a case for them not getting an NME cover or a slot on their tour. However I think the problem is more to do with them being musically shite like you said, rather than their fanbase or lack thereof. I would have no issue with an unknown-ish(small label/unsigned band) getting the cover(in fact the nme should do that more) if they were any good, and not so clearly not being pushed by some "clever" pr campaign.

I think Mike's making a wider point about the tendancy amongst some NME readers to just accept whats dished up to them on the cover and in the main sections, even if it is shite.(the automatic, the kooks, the datsuns, ect ect ect)

Yeah I completely agree with this. But sometimes I worry about the degree of cynicism of some people; sometimes it's just needless.

On a lighter note, this review carries fairly similar sentiments to my own.