In "Music meets Football", we speak to some of our artists about their love of the beautiful game and the teams they support. Our latest feature is with Faris Badwan of The Horrors.
One of the founding members of the band, who are approaching their 20th anniversary, Faris is a passionate fan of Championship side and one-time Premier League champions Blackburn Rovers. There are few bands who’ve created a canon as determinedly innovative and consistently critically-acclaimed as The Horrors. Since the beginning they’ve roamed freely between genres, emerging as zeitgeist-shaking garage-goths on their 2007 debut Strange House, before taking a sharp left turn for their Mercury-nominated follow up Primary Colours.
Last month saw the release of their sixth studio album, Night Life. The album sees them shapeshift into a new form, with a new sonic outlook and a new line up centred around the core duo of vocalist Badwan and bassist Rhys Webb, now joined by Amelia Kidd on keys and Telegram’s Jordan Cook on drums. You can listen to our latest focus track from the album, ‘LA Runaway’, on our unofficial Blackburn Rovers playlist on Spotify.
Sport Playlists: Tell us about how you became a fan of Blackburn.
Faris Badwan: When I was seven in the 1993/1994 season, I’d just discovered football. Everyone at school supported Liverpool and Manchester United, however I felt an instant connection to Blackburn – players like Tim Flowers, Stuart Ripley, obviously Alan Shearer and Chris Sutton, Colin Hendry – but also the kit, the fact they were the underdog, I guess. Although it has to be said that Jack Walker’s presence meant that they had a pretty decent budget looking back! I’ve stuck with them my whole life.
SP: What are your earliest memories of attending a game at Ewood Park?
FB: I didn’t go to loads of games when I was a kid, just because my parents weren’t into football – but my uncle played professionally in Hong Kong and was a Hull City youth player. He took me to my first game, which was Aston Villa against Hull City in the FA Cup in 1999. Then I started going to Blackburn games when I got older. I even went to a few reserve games which I loved as a kid because they were cheap and you could hear all the swearing!
SP: Who were your footballing heroes growing up – whether that be Rovers players or otherwise?
FB: I’ve often either played in goal or centre back, so my favourite players were in that position. Tim Flowers was an early one, Brad Friedel was a fantastic player for the club, David Dunn as well. Beyond that I loved a lot of the South American goalkeepers, just because they played the game so differently – people like Jose Luis Chilavert and Jorge Campos.
I think my favourite player of all-time is Filippo Inzaghi. His positional play and poacher’s instinct bordered on supernatural at times. I love players who make the most of one or two specific traits and turn it into an entire career.
SP: Did you ever have any aspirations about becoming a professional footballer when you were a child? If so, how far did they go towards becoming a reality?
FB: Haha. Unironically I would still play football every day if I could. I love it so much. I tend to get injured a lot because I’m quite aggressive when I play and kind of unnecessarily throw myself into everything.
SP: What’s the best moment been in your time supporting Blackburn?
FB: There are the obvious ones – like winning the league – but actually I loved the final when we won the Worthington Cup in 2002. We had Mark Hughes in midfield and Brad Friedel was man of the match. Also, when Steve Kean finally got the sack!
SP: What are your thoughts on how the 2024/25 season has gone so far?
FB: John Eustace leaving was a kick in the teeth. We were on a great run that looked set to continue.
SP: What are your hopes for the rest of the season?
FB: I actually really enjoy the Championship just from an enjoyment perspective but obviously the play-offs are still possible. I just think there’s only so far the club can go under the current Venkys ownership unfortunately. They don’t understand the club, they don’t care about the supporters…and we all remember the drumstick advert.
SP: Who are your favourite players in the current Rovers squad?
FB: Callum Brittain has probably been my player of the season which maybe isn’t that surprising, I kind of didn’t expect much from Makhtar Gueye but he’s chipped in with a few goals, and I still believe in Todd Cantwell’s ability to realise his potential!
SP: How important has the crossover between music and football been in your life?
FB: Incredibly. I would say that my appearance on Soccer AM has been the proudest moment of my career.
SP: What song do you associate with a cherished footballing memory?
FB: Chumbawumba – ‘Tubthumping’! France ‘98 was a big world cup for me, I was in Palestine and Jordan, where my family are from, and I basically watched football non-stop.
SP: If you had to pick one of your songs for Blackburn to walk out to before kick-off at Ewood Park, which one would it be?
FB: ‘Sea Within a Sea’ just because the long instrumental intro would probably confuse the crowd. But weirdly I can imagine a crowd singing it (if promotion depended on it).
SP: You’ve just released latest album ‘Night Life’. What can fans expect from the record, and what was the process like making this album with the band’s new line-up?
FB: I had pretty extreme insomnia throughout the record and a lot of the time I deal with that by walking around at night so a lot of the lyrics were written while doing that. We also recorded a large part of it in LA which was fun.
I’m not a big fan of telling people what to expect from our music, I’d rather just follow whatever left turn we end up taking and see who’s up for coming with us. We have a great dynamic within this version of the band and a lot of new stuff feels possible.
SP: What plans do The Horrors have in store for the rest of 2025 now the album is out?
FB: Touring all around the world, which I love doing. Our new setup allows us to perform different arrangements of the songs depending on the show, which is exciting.
