Johnny Borrell finally admits Razorlight's second album 'f**ked everything up' for indie music

'At the start of this video, music was in quite an interesting place. Then three-and-a-half minutes later it's f**ked'

In at the sharp end: Johnny Borrell (Rex)

At the height of their fame, Razorlight were scoring number one albums, chart-topping singles and supporting bands such as Oasis, The Rolling Stones and The Who.

While themselves a copycat band, what transpired were hundreds of labels jumping on any opportunity to sign Razorlight-light (i.e. The Kooks). The reign of ‘indie landfill’ had begun.

Luckily, the man behind “America”, Johnny Borrell, is pretty open about how he “f*cked it up” for everyone. Speaking to Noisey, the singer walked through the seven definitive songs of the indie landfill era, including his very own “Before I Fall To Pieces”.

“Here’s where we totally f*cked it up for everyone,” he said. “I think you can kind of say that in 2006, at the start of this video, music was in quite an interesting place. Then three-and-a-half minutes later it's f*cked.”

Speaking about the band’s first record, Borrell remained positive, praising their “drum ‘n’ bass obsessed maniac” drummer Christian Smith-Pancorvo but concluding that continuing with “some faux-idealisation of something gritty, aggressive and cool” would have been “completely f*cking bogus.”

For their second album, the self-titled Razorlight, Andy Burrows joined on drums: “I think the second Razorlight album definitely opened the way for a flood of mediocrity in UK music. In my defence, though, people think of Razorlight as some kind of Johnny Borrell solo project, but it was always collaborative.

“I rate the drummer Andy Burrows. He was a great drummer with a melodic ear – but if you want to figure out who was taking Razorlight in which direction, then maybe have a listen to what we’re each doing now. I’m playing psychedelic blues-tango, and his stuff is so middle of the road it’s got more white lines than Liam Gallagher in 1997.”

In the same interview, Borrell criticised The Libertines, angering fans after calling them a “self-referential tabloid pantomime, where every song was about themselves”.

As you may have guessed, Borrell is currently promoting a new album, The Atlantic Culture, a collaboration with Zazou.