Anybody out there? Hello? Hello? Is this thing on?
Sorry.
Well, since I just exhumed footage of the Gas Station yesterday, herewith a bit of fleeting documentation of an also-vanished East Village fixture that was just up a few blocks from that spot.
The clip below was written and produced by MTV News in 2006, whilst I was briefly employed as managing editor. The piece in question was executed by my colleague James Montgomery (who handled the written piece as well). James and I shared an affinity for the Horrors. I'd originally written them off as a gaggle of goth imposters, but there was no arguing that their hearts were in the right place. I also enjoyed that as a live band, they were basically a bedraggled trainwreck, gravely in peril of spiraling off the rails at any moment. In any case, for this "You Hear It First" profile, someone made the decision to shoot the band as they cavorted around the East Village. Not really a very imaginative choice, when you think about it. I mean, yeah, The Horrors were punky, absolutely -- but not really punky in an old school NYC way. I guess you could make the argument that, like the Ramones, they all wore black, had a couple of bowl haircuts in the mix and their lead singer was a spindly, gawky geek like Joey Ramone. Given that tenuous connection, I guess the notion of filming them in the community garden on 6th Street and Avenue B (in the shadow of late Eddie Boros' since-disassembled toy tower) made perfect sense.
Six years later, the toy tower is long gone. The Horrors, meanwhile, did the unthinkable. In short order, they largely ditched their Adams Family aesthetic and started making surprisingly innovative, resonant music with nods to vintage Krautrock, icy post-punk and the woozy guitar haze of Loveless-era My Bloody Valentine, all without seeming overtly derivative. To be frank, I love their messy early records (specifically the single "Count in Fives" and their cover of Screaming Lord Sutch's "Jack the Ripper"), but in three albums, they've basically become the new Radiohead. Looking at the costume party below, you'd have never imagined it.
Anyway, once upon a time...
Addedum: Looks like embedding is no longer an option. Oh well. To see the Horrors faffing about in the East Village of 2006, click right here.
Recent Comments