Farris Badwin is pacing the grime-caked bowels of London’s Astoria Theatre in search of a dressing-room. One wonders if this isn’t a wasted effort: five hours before showtime and The Horrors frontman already looks a fright.

There’s that tattered crow’s nest haircut, suggestive of Edward Scissorhand’s tearaway younger brother, the smeared eyeliner and mascara that’s streakier than your average packet of bacon. Hallowe’en was weeks ago, but frankly, one doesn’t have the heart to tell him.
“This isn’t an act,” insists Badwin, whose voice is disconcertingly deep, as though coming to us from the other side of a coffin-lid. “I’ve always dressed like this. Even before I was in a band.”
With just two singles under their belts, The Horrors are already turning heads. In the UK, the music press is slavering over their rumbling goth-punk; recently Chris Cunningham, the shock-jock auteur famed for his Aphex Twin collaborations, shot the disturbing promo for their ‘Sheena Is A Parasite’ 7”. Playing the part of Sheena is actress Samantha Morton: she pulls faces at the camera and lifts her t-shirt, flashing what appear to be entrails at the screen (the video’s use of strobes earned it an instant ban from MTV Europe).
“You know, she did that for real – the bit with the guts” deadpans Badwin, sounding as if he genuinely believes this to be true. “She’s quite a scary lady. All they did was set the camera up and let her go at it.”
Despite dressing in black and singing about vampires and serial killers, The Horrors are wary of being branded goths. Art-rock is their preferred label, although Badwin admits that in the past few months their fanbase has been swollen by aging devotees of The Cure and Siouxsie Sioux. He’s not bothered particularly.
“For me, The Cure and The Banshees weren’t really goth bands to begin with. Their music was about pushing boundaries and upsetting expectations. Just like us.”
Nor, he says, does his band luxuriate in its freakshow image: “Maybe people are turning up at the gigs expecting us to spray fake blood everywhere or behead a chicken. We’re exhibitionists but it’s not pantomime. We use a lot of strobes and still lighting. However, it doesn’t go any further than that. From what we can tell it really connects with the audience.”
Not everyone is enamoured with Badwin’s crew, however. Apparently, there was considerable friction between The Horrors and Scottish rockers The Fratellis when the two went on the road last month (crushingly, neither party is prepared to make public the grubby details of their supposed feud). Weirdly, both groups share common origins, having come together against the unlikely backdrop of seaside carnivals. In The Horrors’ case, they met while tending carousels in dishwater-dreary Southend.
“We formed the band because we were sick of the drudgery of Southend,” Badwin explains. “Seaside towns are such a terrible place. Dull and boring. We were really driven mad there. The Horrors was our way of escaping the tedium of that world. People think carnivals are exciting. The truth is that they’re the most depressing places imaginable.”