UK Indie Icons Razorlight Return To Australia Celebrating 20 Years Of Their Self-Titled Album.

RAZORLIGHT are returning to Australia for their first tour in over fifteen years. The UK indie icons celebrate the twentieth anniversary of their 5 x Platinum self-titled album, a landmark release that cemented their place among the defining acts of the early 2000’s indie scene. With era‑shaping hits like America, In The Morning and Before I Fall To Pieces, Razorlight became one of the UK’s most successful guitar bands of their generation, delivering three Top 5 albums, multiple Platinum certifications, winning an NME Award, and performing on some of the world’s biggest stages. Rob Lyon talks to vocalist Johnny Borrell about their return to Australia.

It’s been a long time between drinks for Razorlight here in Australia. You must be looking forward to getting back?
One hundred percent, I was just told it’s been… damn. Is it eighteen years?

The only time you played Adelaide was Thearton Theatre in 2009.
Right, yeah. God, that’s way too long. It was weird we didn’t come out to Australia right at the beginning, then we had a couple of years where we were over there quite a bit… and then nothing. That’s a very, very long time. It is a long time between drinks.

Things happen, don’t they? How did the opportunity to tour with James come about?
Well, I think we were going to come out anyway and do our own shows and we’ve done shows with James in the UK in the past, so it was just an idea, mix it up, do some of your own shows and some with James. It was just going to work out better for everybod and help pay the airplane bills and all that. Tickets, I mean. That was kind of the vibe.

What is it that you missed about touring Australia?
Oh man… after 2009 the band kind of, well, it didn’t exactly split up, but it basically did. Andy left the band, and I was doing other stuff for about six or seven years. That was the right thing for me at the time. Since Andy came back in, and since we got the old line-up back together five years ago, I’ve been non‑stop going to the agent saying, “Can we not be getting around the world and playing some shows?” And finally that’s happening. I love playing live, and I love going out to places, other cultures, other worlds and you can’t get any more otherworldly than going all the way around the world to Australia. I’m just really pleased to be getting around the world and playing shows with Razorlight. I’ve wanted this for at least the last five years. That probably accounts for five of the seventeen years right there.

How’s it been with the reunited original lineup? Does it feel like you picked up where you left off, or was there some clearing of the air needed?
A bit of both. Me and Andy really fell out, our level of trust and communication was zero. Reconnecting and regaining trust has been one of the most surprising things in my life, and something I’m really pleased about. The weird thing is… Razorlight is a band that, when we play live, we don’t have a backing track. There’s no click track, nothing pre‑recorded. A lot of bands do that now, it’s a big difference from back in the day. We need gigs. We get good by playing gigs. There’s a big difference between playing thirty gigs a year and playing one hundred to one hundred and fifty. It’s like match fitness, you need the gigs to get better.

When we got back together, we were like, “Oh yeah, this is how it used to be.” But with every show now, the band is getting… not necessarily tighter, but better. In some ways tighter, in some ways something else. Every gig we finish, we’re like, “Oh yeah, that’s what it used to be like.” It’s a rediscovering of the level we once had. You keep thinking you’re there, then you do another show and go, “Oh no, it was there.” Then another, “Oh no, it was there.” So yeah, back to the magic, but it’s taken four or five years to get really up to speed. That’s why I’m so excited about this year. Especially when you’re not cheating, not playing along to something pre‑recorded, not running a computer on stage, just playing a real gig. You need time to play and get better. There’s no shortcut. It doesn’t matter who you put in a room, it just takes time.

What was the catalyst that actually got you guys talking again? Was it a passing at a festival, or something else?
Well, actually, it was… there was a guy making a documentary about the band. He came to visit me, and I said, “Look, you should really go speak to Andy as well, he’s got a big part of the story.” He said, “Would you be up for meeting Andy and talking about stuff?” And I said, “Yeah, of course. If you’re making a film about us, I’ll do anything, talk to whoever you like.” So we met for the documentary, and we got talking. Then we ended up playing, and it just felt like the right moment to be playing again. There was a bit of a period of figuring each other out again, but it worked out really well.

Do you think having the benefit of that experience makes you appreciate it more now? You’re match fit again, playing shows everywhere, does it feel more satisfying than in the early stages of your career?
Yeah, I think you appreciate pretty much everything more in your mid forties than in your early twenties. You appreciate waking up and feeling good in your forties, in your twenties you take that for granted. Definitely all four of us appreciate it more. Björn always says: being in the band was basically all of our first proper jobs. We’d worked in shops and bars, but Razorlight was the first real job. You’ve got nothing to compare it to at that age, you think everything’s normal, even though you know you’re lucky.
With more life experience, you can look at it with context.

Did you always feel pressure to live up to the first three albums, especially the self titled?
No, not really. Certainly not personally. My relationship with music has always been: those three albums turned up in my life, and I followed what they wanted to be. I’ve made nine or ten albums in my life, some with Razorlight, some not, and those three were more successful than the others, but that doesn’t diminish the experience. I just follow the music. I’m as proud of every album I’ve made as I am of the ones that were huge commercial or critical successes. So I’ve never felt that pressure. When I’m making a new one, I’m not thinking about the one that came before.

Looking at it now, twenty years of the self titled album, what does that milestone mean to you?
I listened back to it and I’m just so surprised. Andy and I were like, “Yeah, there’s some really good writing there.” I could barely tie my shoelaces back then, but somehow I could write killer middle eight’s and choruses. It’s weird to think that younger version of yourself, who didn’t know how to fix a leaking tap or drive a car, was able to write those songs. You feel tender towards that younger version of yourself. Like, “Yeah, cool. Good work, man.”

Were you ever prepared for how much life would change once you were catapulted into the limelight, NME covers, big UK gigs, all of that?
No, I don’t think anyone’s prepared for it. But also, it’s not like I was leaving a normal life to do that. I left school at sixteen, I was shooting up heroin at seventeen, it wasn’t like I had some stable life I was leaving behind. My life has always been crazy. So I wasn’t expecting anything to make much sense. Mega fame doesn’t make much sense. I wasn’t expecting it to. It’s really hard being out playing hundreds of shows every year, having people talk about everything you do, and things you haven’t done but apparently you did. It’s weird. It’s hard not to be affected by it.

There would have to be some pretty incredible moments in there as well. Does anything stand out?
Oh yeah. There’s incredible stuff. Someone was talking to me about the Live 8 concert in Hyde Park, such a huge crowd, and it was really the elite players of music who were there. We got a slot, came on, and really did a great job. Things like that are incredible. We played for Nelson Mandela, meeting Nelson Mandela is insane. So there’s all that stuff. But the moments that touch me the most are when some kid with a guitar in a gig bag on their back, you can tell they live for music and nothing else, comes up and says, “I really like that song,” or “I know how to play that riff you wrote.” Those small, private moments mean the most. That’s when you know you’re passing on the thing you were given in the first place, that love of music, and not just love of music, but the thing that saves your life. Passing that on… those are the moments that really count. Those were always my top moments.

What was the story behind releasing the original version of America (Lost in America) last month?
They were doing a reissue for the twentieth anniversary, and I don’t know anything about releasing music anymore. Every time you release music, there’s some new way of doing it. They said they wanted to put out a couple of singles from the other half of the reissued album, which is a load of unreleased stuff. So that was that. I said, “Yeah, let’s put that one out.” Don’t ask me, I’ve got no idea how people release music anymore. That version was the original version of America, how Andy and I wrote it before it became a Razorlight song. That was the sound of it as a Johnny and Andy song, before I brought it in with the guys and we turned it into a full Razorlight track.

Are there any plans for another album at some point?
Oh yeah, definitely. Andy and I have been writing all year, and there will definitely be new music in 2027. It’s a really important moment for us, because the live thing is back up to speed, we’re really crushing it live again, and everyone in the band is in a good place, which has never really happened before. We’ve got loads of songs, but it’s about getting the right recording, a real Razorlight moment, and that involves all four of us. There will definitely be new music in ’27. We’re working on it.

Hopefully this sets the platform for you guys to return for an even bigger tour, and hopefully come back to Adelaide next time around?
Exactly. That’s it. I just want the band to be going for the foreseeable future doing hundreds of shows a year. With a band, you’ve got to be all in, or not bother doing it at all.

Interview By Rob Lyon

Catch Razorlight on tour with James, tickets from Destroy All Lines…