British buzz-band of the moment The Horrors is making headlines at this year's CMJ festival after an incident Tuesday night in which its snarling, fight-prone frontman Faris Badwan was assaulted by a male audience member. But while Badwan has been portraying himself as the victim of a relatively unprovoked attack, a music industry insider recounts a different version of events: "A drunk chick graffiti artist who calls herself Stray was standing up front during the show," says the source. "In her drunkenness, she wanted the lead singer to come down on to the floor, so she was tugging on his mic cord. Apparently he didn't like that, so he hit her in the face with the mic stand."
The man who pulled Badwan to the floor, according to the source, was actually a roommate of the girl, who naturally took exception to seeing his lady friend wacked in the face with a metal pole. "So he hits the frontman over the head with a bottle, and another roommate, also a guy, punches him. All of them are actually very sane and non-violent people."
Badwan made light of the melee afterwards, saying of his attacker, "You should have seen his face." But the effect of his mic stand on Stray's punim was no joke, says the source: "The chick is a mess, real well damaged."
UPDATE: A rep for the band tells a different version of events: "I was at the show, on the side of the stage, and I can assure you that Faris did not hit a female fan with his mic stand. The only females standing in the front of the crowd were dancing up a storm the entire time, true fans, and there was just a group of three or four really drunk guys that were provoking Faris from the get-go. They were the ones involved in the scuffle." A call to the alleged female victim, meanwhile, has not been returned.
Photo: Nicky Digital