SOUTHEND’S two biggest bands are set to battle it out in the national charts as they both release their latest albums this month.

The Horrors are returning with their fifth studio release, V, on Friday September 22, while the seaside town’s newest stars, Nothing But Thieves, will finally unveil their second album, Broken Machine on Friday.

Both upcoming releases are expected to be huge hits in the charts and a potential battle of Essex’s top rock bands in the national charts seems assured.

Speaking about the idea of a potential number one album, Josh Hayward, guitarist with The Horrors, said: “It would be a really nice but I do not think it will happen. I have not checked who else is releasing that week but it will probably go to some one more successful than us.

“We are very much looking forward to the album coming out, but I do not think that will be happening at all.”

The guitarist, from Canvey, was also excited to hear about the impending release of Nothing But Thieves’ new album.

He added: “It is good to see bands from Southend still coming through.

“They would have been about ten when I was in school, though.”

The band have said that the new release is going to be a surprise to some of their loyal fans who have been with them since their first release, Strange House, ten years ago.

Faris Badwan, the controversial frontman of the band, said: “It is a risk, but life is not much fun without risk.

“It is the antithesis of being creative if you know what you are going to be doing every time.”

The band worked with a new producer, Paul Epworth.

The producer, based in London, has worked with some of the biggest artists in music including Paul McCartney, Adele and Coldplay.

He has also been a part of some of the industry’s newest talents coming into the public eye across a host of genres such FKA Twigs and London Grammar.

Josh says that the writing process for the new album was a more natural process than what they had done before.

There was a pressure on every member of the indie rockers to create new ideas.

He said: “I think we tried to change our approach with this album.

“Working with the new producer, we did not have to discuss things as much.

“You think of something and you just do it.

“This album feels more like how it was when we first started.

“One of Paul’s big things was creative momentum. If your idea works great, or if it did not not then we dropped it and started with something new.”

Josh says that the band wrote between 60 and 70 songs while working on V, which left them a with a huge task to cut down the album to its final total of ten songs.

Joe Langridge-Brown, the guitarist of Nothing But Thieves feels that the band has also experienced a change as they look to take on their second album.

Their writing process was slower than that of The Horrors as the band were in production for just the second time in their career,. But they are already being tipped for greatness.

Joe said: “We have been sitting on this album for a long time and we have had some of the songs for a number of years. We have grown as artists since our first album and as people, we know what want to do now.”

As a fan of The Horrors, Joe has admitted that there could be some friendly competition between the two acts who have now walked very similar paths on their routes to the top of album charts and sell-out arena tours.

Joe said: “Maybe it could happen, we should do a show with those guys some time, that would be great.”

Nothing But Thieves, since they arrived on the national stage, have proudly flown the flag for Essex rock.

He said: “I would say one of our biggest achievements as a band is that we are seen as doing that.

“I love it that we are beginning to build this loyal fan base and people are actively invested in us as a band.

“When it comes to maybe getting to number one, I do not try to think about it really, it is not our number one concern.

“We are not a band that just releases singles to get into the charts, we are an album band.”

Nothing But Thieves and The Horrors are both set for huge nationwide and international tours in support of their new releases.

The Horrors are travelling across the country this October while Nothing But Thieves will fly across the pond to the United States before spending their autumn in Europe in venues holding between 500 and 6,000 fans.

The touring schedule has already been intense for the two acts, with Nothing But Thieves enjoying a packed festival season.

However, ahead of one of their biggest performances during the summer in Poland the band lost all of their gear on the journey and came close to cancelling the show at the final moment.

Joe said: “We were playing in front of 100,000 people at Woodstock in Poland, but somehow all our equipment got lost and we just did not know what to do.

“The show must always go on though.

“If you look on the video of our performance, you can see we have our backs turned trying to check everything and hoping everything sounds right.”

Nothing But Thieves will be celebrating the release of their new album, Broken Machine, with two special in-store performances at HMV in Southend High Street on Friday and at Slipped Discs in Billericay High Street on Saturday, where they will be signing copies of their new album.

Both releases have had top billing from the country’s music experts and are expected to be the next in a long line of Essex artists to take the county’s music scene to the next level.