RAZORLIGHT

'Razorlight' is an Anglo-Swedish band formed in 2002 by singer-songwriter Johnny Borrell.
At the start of their career Johnny Borrell's new outfit began by supporting The Libertines at various venues (including 333 in Old Street) where a young A&R scout, Justin Cross, found them and with his own money put them in Liam Watson's Toerag Studios where John Fortis produced the tracks "Rip It Up", "Rock 'n' Roll Lies" and "In The City". Off the back of these tracks the band (now named Razorlight) began getting serious A&R heat due to the songs success on radio stations such as John Kennedy.
The band became very popular on the London music scene. Large demand caused the band to play extra shows, including a 7,000+ capacity gig at Alexandra Palace. The album was heavily marketed in the UK.
''Up All Night'' was re-issued in April 2005, including the previously unreleased single "Somewhere Else", which 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 that did 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. ^[1]
Razorlight supported Queen + Paul Rodgers on July 15, 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 at their gigs in Cologne and Paris.
During the Christmas season the band played an intimate show at the Railway Inn in Winchester. They were supported by up and coming London band Captain Phoenix, who are fronted by drummer Andy Burrows' younger brother Ben.
The band played their biggest tour to date in October-November 2006 and also supported Richard Ashcroft in his homecoming gig at the Lancashire County Cricket Club on June 17.
In November 2006 the band had to be hospitalised after traces of radioactive poisoning was detected on their plane. Their British Airways return flight from Moscow was a scheduled route used by Russian ex-spy Alexander Litvinenko. ^[2]
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'.
On March 19th 2007, the band were confirmed to be headlining the Reading and Leeds Festivals in August 2007. They played Reading on Friday 24th, and Leeds on Saturday 25th. They also played the Main Stage on Saturday 19th May in Preston for Radio 1's Big weekend along side bands such as Kasabian and the Kaiser Chiefs.
On July 7, 2007, Razorlight performed at both the UK leg of Live Earth at Wembley Stadium, London, and T in the Park in Balado, Scotland.

Contents

''Up All Night''

''War Child''

''Razorlight''

Funeral Blues

Discography

Albums

Singles

Trivia

References

External links

''Up All Night''

Razorlight's debut album, ''Up All Night'', was released on June 28 2004, reaching number 3 in the UK album charts. ^[3] The critical reception was generally good, receiving good reviews from ''NME'', ''Q'' magazine and ''Billboard'', although they were also accused of lack of imagination and unoriginality for allegedly borrowing ideas from other influential bands such as The Strokes.

''War Child''

Razorlight contributed the song "Kirby's House" to the War Child charity album Help-A Day in the Life.

''Razorlight''

Continuing their association with The Who which started at the Live 8 gig, Razorlight debuted some of new songs from their forthcoming second album live on March 30, 2006, in one of a chain of Teenage Cancer Trust concerts, organised by Roger Daltrey. Later that year, on July 2, they played to a sellout ''Hyde Park Calling gig'', where they were preceded by The Zutons, and opened for The Who. The band went on to play on the beach opposite Brighton's West Pier on July 12 in a free concert as part of a Vodafone TBA event broadcast on Channel 4.
Razorlight released their second album ''Razorlight'' on July 17, 2006, in the United Kingdom and it debuted at #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 leading single from the album, "In the Morning" was released as a single on July 3, 2006, which peaked at #3 in the UK Singles Chart. To date, it is their third biggest single after "Somewhere Else", which peaked at #2, and "America", which peaked at #1. It also reached #2 on iTunes' top songs chart.

Funeral Blues

Razorlight's latest song, Funeral Blues was recorded in support of The Big Ask, Friends of the Earth's climate campaign. The song was recorded at The Premises in East London - Europe's first solar-powered recording studio. It can be downloaded for free from http://www.foe.co.uk/.

Discography

Albums

★ '''Up All Night''' (28 June, 2004) Vertigo '#3 UK'(3x Platinum)^[4]

★ '''Razorlight''' (17 July, 2006) Vertigo '#1 UK' (4x Platinum)^[5], '#180 US'

Singles

Year	Title	Chart Positions				Album
		UK Singles Chart	UK Download Chart	Irish Singles Chart	US Modern Rock.
2003	Rock ‘N’ Roll Lies	56	-	-	-	''Up All Night''
	Rip It Up	42	-	-	-
2004	Stumble and Fall	27	-	-	-
	Golden Touch	'9'	'3'	-	32
	Vice	18	-	-	-
	Rip It Up (re-release)	20	-	-	-
2005	Somewhere Else	'2'	'2'	-	36
2006	In The Morning	'3'	'5'	-	-	''Razorlight''
	America	'1'	'1'	6	-
	Before I Fall to Pieces	17	17	37	-
2007	I Can't Stop This Feeling I've Got	44	-	-	-
	Hold On	80	-	-	-

Trivia

★ On ''Up All Night'', Johnny Borrell recorded a phone number into the track "Vice", which was rumoured to be his personal phone number

★ Famous fans of the band include, Bobcat Goldthwait, Colleen Shannon, Dolph Lundgren, Jenny McCarthy, Jamie Gillis, Corey Haim, Matthew Saunders, Sebastian Fox and Doug Bradley. McCarthy stated, in a recent interview with The Toronto Star, "I try and see them every time they come and play in Los Angeles. They really are better than The Beatles."

★ Andy Burrows wrote the song 'America', and is widely assumed to be a vain attempt to help the band crack the lucrative US market - though it's focus is (ironically) mediocrity in the UK media.

★ Razorlight's 'Somewhere Else' was recently voted the third worst lyric in pop by listeners of Marc Riley's Music Show on BBC6 BBC NEWS Article

★ They have appeared at Live8 and Live Earth. At the latter Johnny Borrell appeared without his trademark white jeans and t-shirt, replacing them with black ones.

★ Razorlight (minus Johnny Borrell) recorded a song to celebrate the 40th anniversary of The Beatles' Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, "With A Little Help From My Friends". This featured Andy Burrows on vocals, mirroring the way Ringo Starr sung vocals on The Beatles' original.

References

1. http://www.nmefestivals.com/t_in_the_park/news/112932
2. NME: Bands caught up in spy poison scandal [1]
3. http://top40-charts.com/chart.php?cid=26&date=2004-07-04
4. http://www.bpi.co.uk/platinum/platinumright.asp?rq=search_plat&r_id=32770
5. http://www.bpi.co.uk/platinum/platinumright.asp?rq=search_plat&r_id=32864

External links

★ Razorlight official site

★ Razorlight official Myspace site

★ Razorlight Forum on buzzjack.com

★ Deanlearner

★ Razorlight myspace fan site

★ Audiojunkies Interview with Razorlight

★ Razorlight at Carling Weekend: Reading Festival & Leeds Festival

★ In The Attic Interview with Razorlight

★ Telegraph Interview with Razorlight