Razorlight

Razorlight
Razorlight at GuilFest in July 2011
Background information
Origin	London, England
Genres	Indie rock, garage rock, post-punk revival, post-Britpop
Years active	2002–present
Labels	Mercury/Vertigo (UK)
Website	razorlight.co.uk
Members	Johnny Borrell David Sullivan Kaplan João Mello Gus Robertson
Past members	Björn Ågren Carl Dalemo Christian Smith-Pancorvo Andy Burrows Freddie Stitz

Razorlight are an English indie rock band formed in 2002 by lead singer and rhythm guitarist Johnny Borrell. The band are primarily known in the UK, having topped the charts with the 2006 single "America" and its parent self-titled album, their second. Along with Borrell, the current lineup of the band consists of drummer David Sullivan Kaplan, bassist João Mello and lead guitarist Gus Robertson.

At the beginning of their career Johnny Borrell's new outfit spent six months rehearsing in a decaying factory space in east London. After his earlier incarnation as a solo acoustic singer/songwriter supporting bands like The Libertines, Johnny Borrell fashioned Razorlight as an intense electric rock band with hooky songs and took the band out on the road. On 17 September 2002 they played their first show with all four founder members, Johnny Borrell (vocals, guitar) Carl Dalemo (bass), Christian Smith-Pancorvo (drums) and Björn Ågren (guitar), at Dingwalls, supporting The Von Bondies. Former NME journalist Roger Morton, who had been managing the band from the beginning, began looking to get the band into a recording studio and a session was booked by A&R man Justin Cross at Liam Watson's Toe Rag Studios to record early versions of tracks "Rip It Up", "Rock 'n' Roll Lies" and "In the City". Collaborating alongside Watson and Cross on production was John Fortis. Off the back of these tracks they began getting serious A&R heat due to the songs' success on radio stations such as the John Kennedy Show on XFM.