Monday, 28th June 2004 began a week where a band called Razorlight stopped being a London four-piece with potential and instead saw them stand up and seize their destiny to become a British band of huge substance. A sign of things to come, Razorlight came of age. It was a great summer.
That week in the summer of 2004, Razorlight’s debut album Up All Night entered the UK album chart at No. 1 and seven days later Up All Night was No. 3 in the official UK chart. It has, to date, sold a million copies.
That same week, Razorlight — Johnny Borrell (vox, guitar), Björn Ågren (lead guitar), Carl Dalemo (bass) and Andy Burrows (drums) took on three British institutions in a row, starting with a remarkable performance on “Top Of The Pops,” going on to play in front of Buckingham Palace and a TV audience of millions at the Olympic Torch Parade in London and then before they even had time to bow to the Queen, being rushed across country to the most quintessential of festivals: Glastonbury. Though bottom of the bill in the Sunday morning slot, Razorlight were on a roll that they still haven’t come down from.
Whilst playing a small, televised, acoustic set for Radio1’s Jo Whiley backstage at Glastonbury, veteran British TV host Michael Parkinson was watching — the story goes that he was so impressed that he resolved there and then that Razorlight must perform on his television show and so, three months later, they did. Razorlight’s rendition of their No. 9 UK single “Golden Touch” complete with gospel backing singers wowed not only Parkinson but fellow guest Tom Cruise and has gone on to be screened around the world — it is the perfect illustration of Razorlight as a world class band.
A year on from that momentous week, Razorlight found themselves having another career changing seven days of midsummer madness. Glastonbury 2005 and Razorlight had by now graduated from first-on the previous year to headlining act — going up against one of the biggest selling bands in the world, Coldplay, on the Other Stage.
The intervening twelve months witnessed Razorlight accepting awards and nominations from Q Magazine, the NME, “The South Bank Show” and Nordorf Robbins to name a few. They returned to singer Johnny Borrell’s backyard, literally, with two sold-out shows at London’s Alexandra Palace and played a UK tour to 40,000 people. Razorlight’s last single “Somewhere Else” reached No. 2 in the UK charts (held from the number 1 slot only by a charity record). One week after Glastonbury 2005 with the sound of the crowd, wildly, singing along to “Somewhere Else” still ringing in their ears Razorlight went to Hyde Park, London, on July 2nd 2005 to play for the world at Live8. That performance of just three songs was universally acknowledged as one of the highlights of the day, by their peers, the media, fans and a world wide TV audience of approximately 3 billion people.
Now it’s 2006 — just over eighteen months since the release of the debut album Up All Night and a million record sales later, Razorlight are gearing up for their sophomore album’s UK release. Produced by legendary Beatles, Sex Pistols, Pink Floyd and Roxy Music producer Chris Thomas, it will come out in July 2006 and all who have heard the songs so far are agreed that this is the record that will turn Razorlight into a globally massive band.
If previous years are anything to go by, it looks like Razorlight are going to continue wowing audiences and critics, breaking personal records and generally having a fantastic summer.