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Artist News
The Horrors’ horror at Labour party song pick
By Andy Malt | Published on Thursday 25 September 2014
It wouldn’t be the political party conference season without a band getting annoyed at their music being used to soundtrack one of these events, would it? It’s generally being played alongside Conservative politicians that gets bands distancing themselves fastest (Primal Scream so quick off the mark that they once did so without actually being played), but this week it’s Labour and The Horrors going head-to-head.
‘I See You’ from the band’s latest album, ‘Luminous’, was played while party members waited for Ed Miliband to get up on stage and do his thing on Tuesday. Something the world was alerted to by Buzzfeed’s Siraj Datoo, who for some reason was live-tweeting the conference’s soundtrack.
In a series of since-deleted posts on Twitter, the band’s Tom Cowan responded: “Fuck’s sake, leave it out Ed. Keep your outdated political ideologies away from us. Our colour isn’t red, it isn’t blue, it’s black”.
Black, of course, is a colour often chosen by fascist parties. But I don’t think that’s what he meant.
Venues used for party conferences are generally covered by blanket licences, which mean that whoever is using the venue can play whatever music they like – so long as the artists/songwriters are registered with collecting societies PPL/PRS – without first gaining specific permission. And that’s why these things keep happening. See you same time next year!
