The hottest young rock'n'roll band in the UK today have been
stealing headlines, breaking hearts and carving out their own niche
in three minute guitar melodies. We shared a drink and a chat with
frontman Johnny Borrel and
guitarist Bjorn
Agren.
You seem a literary band, citing
your inflences as Charles Bukowski and Henry Miller?
Johnny: I think Henry Miller and Charles Bukowski were a lot more
rock and roll then The Kings of Leon or Jet or someone like that,
and I stand by that. I don't know what's more rock and roll: going
to see a rock and roll band, putting your eyeliner on, jumping up
and down, and then going to work on Monday - what's that all about?
I mean, you read the NME or whatever music paper and somebody's
talking about their drug hell or how they can't stand being in
their own mind, and you just think that's so fucking boring, you
know? If you've got that platform, why do all that masturbating in
the mirror - why not talk about what's going on in the
world?
Bjorn: Rock and Roll as an idea is probably all about freedom, and
somebody probably takes that as an idea and thinks, 'Freedom, that
means I should take a lot of drugs and drink a lot. It's one
interpretation of freedom but it's a pretty cliched one'.
J: The thing that interests me is doing things your own way, and
sticking your neck out. That was the point of The Beatles and the
Rolling Stones. Every time the Beatles released a single it was so
different to the last one.
The thing about The Beatles and
The Stones: they weren't just hanging out with other musicians -
they were hanging out with William Burroughs and Allen Ginsberg and
Noel Coward as well as film makers, poets and artists. There was a
whole heap of influences going in to them.
J: That's a really good way of looking at it actually, cause then
you think, what's going on these days? To a great degree, something
like visual art has been superceded by, say, film - a genre that
can reach a lot of people, but can film mean something? Whereas
visual art can mean a lot but only reaches such a small amount of
people. Same with poetry - if there were any good poets around then
I would hang out with them. Poets now - if you were a good poet-
you'd be like Bob Dylan, a poet with a guitar. If Keats was around
today he'd be fucking singing songs. It's trying to win it, isn't
it? Is everything eating itself? Where is that circle? I feel like
a lot of art forms are obselete, and no-one's doing anything about
it.
I think Pop music is probably the
most immediate art form at the moment, you can get complex ideas
across in two and a half minutes.
J: I think that's exactly right, and that's what I always say
because the whole point is that you can do something in under three
minutes that can really mean something. It's really really vital -
I mean, compare it to a poetry reading: I love a lot of poetry but
I've never had a good time at a poetry reading.
You started hanging out and
developed the idea of the band at warehouse parties didn't
you?
B: We played a lot of squat gigs, which were always really
good. We played differently at squat gigs. It's a completely
different environment - if you sell tickets for a gig you have an
obligation to make it a good Saturday night out - that's all you
want to do. But in a squat gig, it's just a freer environment - you
can screw around with things and re-arrange things as you play
them. People haven't paid to get in, so you don't have an
obligation to play every note right but that brings you up and you
probably end up playing better than you would have done.
Is it quite hedonistic being on
the road with Razorlight?
J: I don't take drugs on the tour just because I can't
fucking do it. It's nice to have a bit of a blowout at the
end. We just drink really, we're all scared that if we get too
fucked up on the road we won't be able to play as well.
B: I just think that I could get really screwed up
tonight but if I do it I'll play a shit gig tomorrow and everyone
will kill me!
J: If you're playing Madison Square Gardens then you can do
whatever you want with a bunch of supermodels, but it's slightly
different to sitting at some friend's house whilst they watch you
smoking crack.
What do you do between shows when
you are on tour?
J: I'm trying to write a film script at the moment: it's a
cross between 'Being John Malkovich', 'Billy Liar' and 'Kids'.
It'll be great - we're gonna get that kid from Harry Potter to be a
drug dealer. I see him as a 16 year-old kid who wants to go
darker.
Razorlight's Album 'Up All Night'
is out now.