Razorlight 'Up All Night' album

Every once in a while a band emerges fully formed, that fulfils a dream no-one even realized they had.

A band who are spookily, synchronically of the moment, but who also transcend it, slightly glazed eyes already on where they’re going next. A band who simply strap on, plug in and give out but manage to do so with an uncanny pop universalism. A band whose musical Esperanto is, in this case, comprised of equal parts American, English and Swedish – a transatlantic/North Sea meeting of angular, electric wire guitars here, a voice as English as cricket there. A band whose tunes make grown men go weak at the knees, and yes, whose looks make young girls’ knees tremble too. That band, right now, is Razorlight.

And it’s all happened very, very fast. Formed in the Summer of 2002 by Londoner Johnny Borrell and Swedish ex-pat' Björn Ågren, rehearsals produced immediate sparks, and with the addition of drummer Christian Smith-Pancorvo and Ågren’s old pal Carl Dalemo on bass, their first recordings were made by their manager on a video camera. This proved enough to pique label interest sufficiently to front some cash, so by October Razorlight were recording their demos at Hackney’s Toerag Studios, hot on the heels of the White Stripes. So impressed was (London indie rock radio station) Xfm’s John Kennedy that he took the unusual step of playing the demos ( ‘Rock’n’Roll Lies’, ‘Rip It Up’ and fast-becoming-anthemic set-closer ‘In The City’) on his show.

As fans started to devote head and web space to “Dreams of Razorlight”, and trading bootleg versions of the Xfm sessions, Razorlight were recording a new batch of demos at Westside studios during the summer of 2003, sufficient to start a serious bidding war. Mercury Records won. On the basis of reputation – and some MP3s - alone, Razorlight were invited to Japan’s Summer Sonic festival in August 2003, even before releasing one of the Toerag demos, ‘Rock’n’Roll Lies’ as their first single. A limited edition, ‘Rock’n’Roll Lies’ nevertheless only just missed the UK Top 40. An event celebrated by the completion of a UK tour with The Hiss and a triumphant London single launch party at the Kings Cross Pool Hall. A notable event due to the theft of the tickets, which were then, found being sold on E-Bay for extortionate sums.

Razorlight continued to shine when, as a gesture of supreme confidence in his new charges, Mercury UK’s Managing Director, famed producer Steve Lillywhite (Ultravox, Siouxsie and the Banshees, Psychedelic Furs, XTC, U2, Pogues, Talking Heads, Morrissey), took a month off to concentrate on producing their debut bum. The first fruit, a fierce version of ‘Rip It Up’ was chosen as the next single. An intense tour schedule (playing UK tours with The Hope of the States, Bellrays and The Raveonettes) combined with holing themselves away in RAK studios (when Paul McCartney was not in attendance), finessing their first album, with basic tracks cut live in the studio to preserve their onstage dynamic.
January 2004 saw the band completely sell out their first ever headline UK tour. Returning from the road, they found themselves in the unenviable position of having lost their producer and label MD. Steve Lillywhite left Mercury and went back to producing U2. Undaunted Razorlight began work with a new producer, yet, someone who was more than qualified to fill Lillywhite’s shoes. The new producer was John Cornfield. And once work resumed in Sphere Studios Battersea, London, the vibe and feeling of the album leapt to a fantastic new level.

But yet again, the band that seemed to be able to do no wrong were severely tested. Just one week into production, Cornfield had to abandon the project and return home to Cornwall due to family concerns. Razorlight were called to America, playing sell out shows in New York and blowing apart Texas at the legendary South By South West Music Festival - all the while unsure of what would happen to one of the most anticipated albums of the year; their debut. Returning from the States, Razorlight found that Cornfield was still unable to leave Cornwall - so the mountain came to Mohammed. Razorlight decamped to the West and third time lucky, resumed and finished the recording at John’s own studio Sawmills.
Just as the band felt they were in the home stretch, album recording completed and about to embark on their biggest headline tour yet, a crazy schedule of single release, album release, touring and summer festivals, drummer Christian Smith-Pancorvo decided to leave the band. In what must be a first; Christian decided to leave due to “health reasons”. Just two weeks before the tour was due to start, Christian played his last official show with Razorlight and the hunt for his replacement began. Sixty two drummers were auditioned in two days and the search resulted in Andy Burrows. Singer, Johnny Borrell couldn’t have been more ecstatic with the new band mate declaring that Burrows was, “ a one in a million drummer”.

Titled after one of the album tracks, Up All Night, is set for release on October 19th, 2004. It will include live favorites like the in-your-face 'Leave Me Alone’, re-recorded singles ‘Rock ‘N’ Roll Lies’ and ‘Rip It Up’ and the more introspective pop rush of 'Stumble And Fall', which went top 20 on release in the UK. The album Up All Night, will also feature it’s intricate namesake and the melancholic 'Which Way Is Out'. The first single, the warm and bouncy 'Golden Touch', and the epic 'To The Sea', span a range of styles most of their contemporaries can only dream about, while remaining uniquely and resolutely Razorlight.

Collectively then, Razorlight are the best new band out of Britain to hit America. Individually they are:

Johnny Borrell (vocals, guitar)
Just turned 22, at the band’s birth; Borrell has been turning up as a support act to bands in pubs in North London since he was 14. Even then people were saying he was a star in the making. The rest of the time you might see him wandering around London in a pair of ripped-to-shreds jeans, a bag of laundry in one hand, a notebook in the other, a guitar slung over his shoulder. Exploring disciplines one by one, taking them apart to see how they worked and putting them back together his own way, in the Summer of 2002 Johnny started writing songs that needed the spar of another guitar, the ballast of bass and drums. The songs started coming in a rush, so much of a rush that he’d have to ring his answerphone and get them down before he forgot them. His songs, like his personality, are simultaneously innocent and savvy, peculiarly English in delivery without resorting to 'Cockernee' geezerishness, thoughtful and intelligent but also visceral and heartfelt.

Björn Ågren (guitar, backing vocals)
Steve McQueen lookalike Ågren (pronounced ‘Orgren’) was the first to gang up with Borrell. A dreamy, thoughtful character, he grew up on an isolated Swedish farm obsessively refining his guitar style. A sudden crisis of direction led to him abandoning a media course and lighting out for London, supposedly en route for Australia, sharing a house with ten other Swedes. He hadn’t played guitar in years when he spotted an ad in NME. A five minute meeting in a Shoreditch pub led to rehearsals at Johnny’s Holloway flat, and immediately Ågren’s angular but melodic guitar chops chimed perfectly with Borrell’s own staccato style. As well as melodic foil to Borrell, Ågren is a dynamic counter-presence onstage to Borrell’s insular imaginative bubble, bouncing around like he’s on springs, throwing shapes and attacking the songs like they’re getting away. Razorlight’s most amiable member, open, honest, and without attitude, he seems much older than his 23 years.

Carl Dalemo (bass, backing vocals)
Blond dynamo Dalemo was the last to join the band. Back in his native Lidköping, Sweden, he’d been singing and playing guitar for over five years with his beloved punk-pop-lo-fi outfit Spiral Stairs, but shortly after arriving in London, he was called by his old friend Björn who suggested he try out for the band he was playing in. Carl had never played bass until he arrived at a Razorlight rehearsal, but his rock-solid playing immediately provided an anchor for the band, allowing Ågren, Smith-Pancorvo (then Burrows) and Borrell an unusual rhythmic and melodic freedom. Shy in person, give the boy a few drinks and he undergoes an astonishing Mr. Hyde transformation, with an impressive ability to get himself on the wrong side of custodians of authority, be they bouncers, doormen, or indeed police, once being famously arrested during a Mayday demonstration for urinating on Whitehall.

Andy Burrows (drums)
Having sworn off ever drumming again, Winchester based, Andy Burrows (24) had to have been one of the few young musicians in the country who had never heard of Razorlight, when on seeing a news story in the NME, his family combined forces to make Andy audition for the coveted post. Auditioning alongside 61 other hopefuls, it was obvious from the minute Andy walked in and picked up the sticks that he was one of the best young drummers in the country, if not the best.

The departure of Razorlight’s first drummer, Christian Smith-Pancorvo, due to “health differences” just ten days prior to Razorlight’s biggest tour to date - the Golden Touch tour - meant that the new sticksman had not only the pressure of joining a new band to contend with but also had to deal with stripping to his boxers for a photoshoot on his first day on the job. All of which Andy handled gamefully and has made the Razorlight drum stool very much his own.

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Razorlight - Up All Night