Razorlight have announced details of ‘Planet Nowhere’ – their first album recorded by the band’s classic line-up since 2008. Check out new single ‘Scared Of Nothing’ below, along with our interview with the band.
Arriving on October 25, the album sees singer Johnny Borrell, guitarist Bjorn Agren, drummer Andy Burrows and bassist Carl Dalemo return to the studio for their first full length since third album ‘Slipway Fires’.
The line-up, which also released the chart-topping self-titled album ‘Razorlight’ in 2006 featuring Number 1 single ‘America’, announced their reunion in 2021. That year, they released two new songs as part of a Best Of album, ‘Razorwhat?’
Speaking to NME, Borrell admitted he had been ready to end the band if they hadn’t been able to make further new music.
“I said to everyone: ‘If new music doesn’t work, let’s move on.’ I was ready to ceremonially say goodbye to Razorlight,” he said. “It would have been a major deal. I was contemplating all kinds of ways to end it, some involving Japanese swords. But this album wanted to be made.”
Made in Spain with veteran producer Youth, ‘Planet Nowhere’ is launched today with new single ‘Scared Of Nothing’, the first song written for the album. “When ‘Scared Of Nothing’ was finished, I thought: ‘This changes everything. We’ve got a direction now’,” said Borrell.
Burrows revealed the band have rediscovered their creativity while making the new album, stating: “It’s been beautiful to revisit what we had. There was always an electric dynamic between us. I’d thought that moment had passed. It’s cliched to say we’ve chilled out, and I’m not sure that’s true. But there have been moments of real joy between the four of us.”
Read on for NME’s full interview with Borrell and Burrows, including the meaning behind new song title ‘Taylor Swift = US Soft Propaganda’ and their memories of ’00s nights out.
The pair also shared plans to celebrate the 20th anniversary of classic debut album ‘Up All Night’, which was recorded with original drummer Shian Smith-Pancorvo, who quit to be replaced by Burrows on the eve of its release.
NME: Hello Razorlight. Before we discuss the new album, have you had chance to discuss the fall-out from Andy’s departure in 2008?
Johnny Borrell: “We needed to talk about that stuff. To be broad and philosophical about it, we’re trained from a very early age to think somebody is right and somebody is wrong, and that you should identify with the person who’s right. That’s the tragedy of any conflict.
“I spent about five years thinking: ‘It’s a shame Andy isn’t around, but at least I’m in the right.’ I needed time to grow out of that self-defeating way of thinking.”
Andy Burrows: “I’d massively missed this band. I preface virtually everything I say with: ‘I don’t mean to sound over-dramatic’, but being back in this band is the stuff of dreams. I’m lucky to do lots of great things, but I’m not in another band, and Razorlight is a fucking great band.”
How did you feel when you first met back up?
Burrows: “I was pretty nervous. Anyone would be if you hadn’t seen someone for 12 years, having been close and achieving a lot. But I was also very excited.”
Borrell: “We had to rebuild a certain amount of trust amongst ourselves, and I was nervous how that was going to work out.
“Our trust had really broken down a lot. To start playing together and have that trust rebuilding was amazing. It was something I never thought would come back. We were straight and honest with each other, which was inspiring.”
Did you need to sort things out with Bjorn and Carl too?
Borrell: “Yeah. People sometimes have the idea that Razorlight is all about the dynamic between me and Andy. Really, it’s the four of us. There was a lot of learning to do, to come back to what we’d left in amber 12 years before. There was a lot more going on than only me and Andy. Back in the day, that dynamic was obviously tragically fractured at times, but it was also perfectly complementary.”
Having toured since 2021, when did the new album start to emerge?
Borrell: “Last year, I was doing stuff with my other band, Jealous Nostril. I was enjoying it, but I had a moment of: ‘Razorlight are back together, so why haven’t we written much?’ I said to the others we should do a recording session and be honest: if we don’t get anything we love, drop it.
“If we’re not producing new music we feel excited about, what would have been our path? We’d go out each year to play slightly smaller festivals, going in that ever-descending circle. We could have tried to make up for that with some great facial hair.”
Burrows: “With greying facial hair.”
Borrell: “Exactly. We’d have soon ended up with ZZ Top greying facial hair. We’re not going to do that. The feeling was, if we’ve got something we really love, let’s do it.”
How did you end up in Spain with Youth producing you?
Borrell: “I went to Youth’s house in Wandsworth, this sprawling Victorian place where everything is covered in hashish resin. I told him my writing was only flowing into my other projects, not into Razorlight. Youth took a big hit on his joint and said: ‘It’s funny you say it’s so complicated. To me, Razorlight is really simple: driving bassline, driving drums and a simple story.’ And then he exhaled his joint.
“As he did that, I thought: ‘Mate, you’re the man for the job.’ We’re the most neurotic band in the world. Well, Bjorn is totally the opposite and almost balances me, Andy and Carl out. But here was the least neurotic producer in the world. We needed Youth’s cuddly stoner energy.”
‘Scared Of Nothing’ was the first song written for the album. Did the rest of the album flow quickly after that?
Borrell: “I went back to the Basque country where I live and promptly forgot about being a musician for five weeks. My girlfriend asked me: ‘Are you writing anything?’ and I just laughed. I hadn’t even thought about it until she put it in my mind. I picked up a guitar and, honestly, pretty much everything else happened. ‘Taylor Swift’ popped out in about 10 seconds.”
Ah yes. ‘Taylor Swift = US Soft Propaganda’. The song is great, but it doesn’t seem to be anything to do with her. So what gives?
Borrell: “When we’re recording, I always write down things people say. Finishing that song in the studio, I saw a bit of paper that said: ‘Taylor Swift = US Soft Propaganda’. If you want me to comment on Taylor Swift specifically, I’m not sure I really can, because I don’t know much about her.”
But you must know people are going to be all over that song title?
Borrell: “Sure. Like I say, I don’t know much about Taylor Swift. But I like to take the reality of the creative process and keep it. And with a lot of albums, people start off wanting to say things then, once people start saying: ‘Oh, that’s controversial, what will people say about that?’ Everything starts to get smoothed out. In 2024, what’s the point?
“I want to stay true. Every step of the way on this album, what was happening in the studio is what you get. That piece of paper is a joke someone thought was funny at the time. So, why not?”
You’ve said one of the problems with ‘Slipway Fires’ is that irony is hard to get across in a three-minute pop song. How does that feed into new song ‘Cool People’, which starts with the line ‘Who writes this shit?’
Borrell: “I don’t know if it’s my job to be a pundit, but I’m extremely underwhelmed by culture at the moment. ‘Who writes this shit?’ is aimed at that. I’ll read a film review saying: ‘This is great!’ and, when I see it, I think: ‘What were you comparing it to?’ Maybe it’s great compared to Game Of Thrones, but not next to Fellini it isn’t.’”
Burrows: “I loved ‘Cool People’ from the moment I heard it. It combines tongue-in-cheek with an amazing level of humility. It’s a bold song.”
Borrell: “If critics take ‘Who writes this shit?’ to use as an attack on us, fine. If they want to wear a big neon sign saying: ‘I don’t get it,’ that’s their choice.”
You’ve also got the 20th anniversary show at Brixton Academy for ‘Up All Night’ coming up. How do you look back on that time now?
Burrows: “We were all aware something bananas was happening. You can’t be that much in demand and not think: ‘This isn’t totally normal.’ The time since gave me a lot of time to reflect and think: ‘Yeah, that really, really wasn’t normal. It was amazing.’ And at the top of that list is the way it feels when Razorlight plays together. When we lift off, it’s something I haven’t felt anywhere else.”
Borrell: “Even my haters seem to love ‘Up All Night’. Even people who’ve got certain preconceptions about me will say: ‘I loved your first album.’ Everything on it was me, I’ve never been such a control freak on a record since.”
Andy, how does it feel for you to play those songs? You weren’t the drummer for those recording sessions.
Burrows: “That record has an interesting niche, as my entire world changed practically overnight. It fills me with a lot of excitement and also the anxiety I felt at the time of: ‘Shit, I need to get my head around this, pretty damn quick.’
“I wasn’t there for the recording, but I did spend two years playing shows while the record got bigger and bigger. I feel both very attached to an album that changed my life, and also detached as an imposter.”
Have you had chance to reminisce about how bizarre everything was for Razorlight in the ’00s?
Borrell: “Because we formed the band, me and Bjorn sometimes look at each other like: ‘This whole thing is our fault. What the fuck were we thinking?’
“If I think about the past, it is: ‘Did that really happen?’ Like hanging out with Quentin Tarantino. Sitting at a table where Tarantino is going: ‘Mr Borrell! A man after my own heart – or so I’ve heard.’ I felt I was in a Wes Anderson movie at that point.”
Burrows: “My equivalent is going out for dinner with Courtney Love and Spike Jonze. That was an insane night.”
Borrell: “Courtney was obsessed with Andy. That was a very funny ’00s car crash.”
Burrows: “I got into my hotel room and the red light was flashing on my phone, a message from Courtney saying a car would be outside.”
Borrell: “Andy didn’t have a choice. (Decent Courtney Love impression): ‘Andrew! There’s a car coming to pick you up!’”
Burrows: “That’s the moment where you look back and go: ‘Did that… Really?…No, really?’”
Razorlight release new album ‘Planet Nowhere’ on October 25. The tracklisting is:
‘Zombie Love’
‘U Can Call Me’
‘Taylor Swift = US Soft Propaganda’
‘Dirty Luck’
‘Scared Of Nothing’
‘FOBF’
‘Empire Service’
‘Cyclops’
‘Cool People’
‘April Ends’
Razorlight play a one-off show at Brixton O2 Academy on November 21 to celebrate the 20th anniversary of ‘Up All Night’, with Mystery Jets supporting. They also appear at the following festivals before an intimate underplay tour. Visit here for tickets and more information.
JULY
28 – Harbour Festival
AUGUST
11 – Hull Zebedee’s Yard
23 – Victorious (Also featuring Johnny Borrell’s band, Jealous Nostril)
25 – Witcombe Festival
30 – Nottingham Woolaton Hall
OCTOBER
18 – Birmingham, Castle & Falcon
19 – Edinburgh, Mash House
20 – Leeds, Brudenell Social Club
21 – Manchester, Band on the Wall
22 – Brighton, Komedia
24 – Bristol, Strange Brew
NOVEMBER
21 – London, O2 Academy Brixton