Just a couple of months after stepping back into their original line-up for the first time in ten years, Razorlight have gotten back into the swing of things quickly by planning to play a summer full of live shows and recording new music. Damian Robinson caught up with Razorlight lead guitarist Bjorn Agren to talk about reforming, playing live, and looking forward to Hardwick Festival.
June’s live- steam reunion show looked like a blast as the first show with the original line up. Was it as much fun as it looked?
Yeah – its funny we look back at the footage and think it looks really good, and have to pinch ourselves that that’s us playing. We had six days of rehearsals before that gig and are really happy with it. Getting back together is really magical and it’s a really special thing that our musicality’s still there.
Six days? Wow
Yeah, we’re still interlocking as players so it’s already feeling tighter and should be really good for the summer. We always played live really full on, and the more we play live the more we’ll get that sound back; sometimes how we played lived was all about a certain type of energy and playing style. You can only get that back by practice.
You’ve got a summer full of festivals including Hardwick, are you excited?
I can’t wait. There’s some really good songs in our catalogue and playing live was always our thing. We’ve had to get over a logistical snag with Carl being unable to join us for some of the shows, he’s unable to re-enter the country until he gets his second jab, but he should be back by the time we play Hardwick. We’re like a formulae 1 team and no one’s seen the new car yet so that’s really exciting.
Your socials are suggesting you’re already back in the studio, can we expect any new material by the time you play Hardwick?
There’s always new stuff going on as Andy and Johnny are always writing. We normally road test material before we fully record it, so I wouldn’t be surprised if there’s something new but we’re characteristically late in getting a set list together so I can’t say for certain.
How’s the first few days of getting back together been?
It’s been a wonderful thing. The first new song we played sounded immediately like Razorlight, which is strange when you think that we haven’t played together for 11 years. I thought the sound might have grown apart a little as we’ve all been into different sounds, but it hasn’t at all. I was worried we’d have to reanalyse and remember how to play together, but that’s not been the case at all.
Razorlight’s reunion gig is still available to watch through Razorlight.co.uk. They play Hardwick Festival on 22nd August.