Razorlight
Razorlight are an English indie rock band, formed in 2002 in London by lead singer and guitarist Johnny Borrell. Along with Borrell, the current line-up of the band is composed of founding members Björn Ågren on guitar and bassist Carl Delemo, as well as drummer Andy Burrows. This lineup is a reunion of the lineup from the band's second and third albums.[1]
Razorlight
London, England
2002–2014, 2017–present
Johnny Borrell
Björn Ågren
Carl Dalemo
Andy Burrows
Reni Lane
Freddie Stitz
Gus Robertson
João Mello
David Sullivan Kaplan
David Ellis
Harry Deacon
Ben Ellis
Mat Hector
Shïan Smith-Pancorvo
The band have gone through several line-up changes, with Borrell remaining the sole permanent member. They released three studio albums before splitting up in 2014. The band reformed in 2017 and released the album Olympus Sleeping in 2018.[2]
They are best known for the singles "Golden Touch", "In The Morning" and "America", the latter of which was a number-one single on the UK Singles Chart in 2006.
History[edit]
Formation and early years (2002–2003)[edit]
The band was formed in 2002 by Johnny Borrell, after having performed across London with the likes of The Libertines as a solo acoustic singer-songwriter. It is often reported that Borrell was a member of the Libertines,[3] but Carl Barat has since revealed that he was just taught the bass lines for four songs to play for a showcase for Rough Trade Records and failed to turn up for it and never played with the band live.[4] Borrell first enlisted Swedish-born guitarist Björn Ågren via an advert in the NME,[5] who then introduced fellow-Swede bassist Carl Dalemo to Borrell. They rehearsed in east London for six months before playing their first gig on 17 September 2002 at Dingwalls in Camden, London supporting the Von Bondies. Former NME journalist Roger Morton, who had been managing the band from the beginning, began looking to get the band into a recording studio and a session was booked at Liam Watson's Toe Rag Studios to record early versions of the tracks Rip It Up, Rock 'n' Roll Lies and In the City. The results of these sessions gained radio play on the John Kennedy Show on XFM who described the band as being "the best unsigned band in Britain", and led to A&R attention.[6] Following a bidding war to sign the band, they signed to Mercury Records.
Up All Night (2004–2005)[edit]
The band released their debut album Up All Night on 28 June 2004, reaching number 3 in the UK album charts.[7] The critical reception was generally positive, receiving good reviews from NME, Q magazine and Billboard. Drummer Shïan Smith-Pancorvo left the band in April and was replaced by Andy Burrows the following month.[8] Up All Night was re-issued in April 2005, including the stand-alone single Somewhere Else as a bonus track, and peaked at Number 2.
In July 2005, the band performed at Hyde Park, London as part of the Live 8 series of concerts. However, the band came under fire for being the only band to not donate their extra revenue to charity. The band subsequently claimed that due to their "fledgling status", they were unable to make such a commitment.[9]
Razorlight contributed the song "Kirby's House" to the War Child charity album Help!: A Day in the Life. A shorter alternative version of the song was included on the band's second album, Razorlight.
In the midst of their first American headlining tour in support of Up All Night, Razorlight created a stir in Denver, Colorado, when they stormed off stage five songs into their set during a show at the Larimer Lounge.[10] After stumbling around stage, frontman Borrell shouted into the microphone "I'm going to kill myself now," and ran off the stage. The band's official statement stated that he was suffering from stagefright.
A later laryngitis infection led to the cancellation of the Los Angeles date of the tour.[10]
Razorlight (2006–2007)[edit]
Razorlight debuted several new songs from their forthcoming second album live on 30 March 2006 at the Albert Hall in London, as part of Teenage Cancer Trust concerts, organised by Roger Daltrey. On 2 July, they played to a sold-out Hyde Park Calling, where they performed before The Who. The band went on to play on the beach opposite Brighton's West Pier on 12 July in a free concert as part of a Vodafone TBA event broadcast on Channel 4.
Razorlight released their second album Razorlight on 17 July 2006, in the United Kingdom and it debuted at No. 1 in the UK Albums Chart a week later. It received mixed reviews, Q magazine giving it a rare 5/5 rating, whilst Pitchfork Media gave it 2.8/10. The lead single from the album, In the Morning was released as a single on 3 July 2006, which peaked at No. 3 in the UK Singles Chart. To date, it is their third biggest single after Somewhere Else, which peaked at No. 2, and America, which peaked at No. 1. It also reached No. 2 on iTunes. In 2007, Razorlight were nominated for two BRIT Awards – one for Best British Band and the other for Best Song, America. They were also nominated for two NME Brit Awards for Best Band and Best Album.
Razorlight supported Queen + Paul Rodgers on 15 July, in front of 60,000 people. This gig had been rescheduled following the July 2005 London bombings. In December of the same year, they supported Oasis, at Cardiff's Millennium Stadium. They also supported The Rolling Stones in Cologne and Paris. The band played their biggest tour to date in October–November 2006 and also supported Richard Ashcroft at the Lancashire County Cricket Club on 17 June. They headlined Reading on 24 August, and Leeds on 25 August 2007. They also played the Main Stage on 19 May in Preston for Radio 1's Big Weekend alongside bands such as Kasabian and Kaiser Chiefs. On 7 July 2007, Razorlight performed at both the UK leg of Live Earth at Wembley Stadium, London and T in the Park. In November 2006 the band were hospitalised after traces of radioactive poisoning were detected on their plane. Their British Airways return flight from Moscow was a scheduled route used by Russian ex-spy Alexander Litvinenko.[11]
The same month they supported the Mando Diao "Ode to Ochrasy Tour" in Germany.
Studio albums