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College Tribune | October 28th 2008
MUSIC
cutting edge papers, he acknowledges how crazy celebrity culture has become. “In Sweden we don’t really have as extreme a celebrity culture as in England. I don’t know if it’s the same as in Ireland but in England it’s fucking crazy. And half of the press says, ‘we adore these people’, and the other half is, ‘look at them, they’re normal’. One week you’re a genius and the next you’re just ordinary. It’s very interesting but very weird.”
will turn your home appliances off to listen to it. I suppose this is an album that really pulls you in.” On the past records, Agren has co-written some of the songs and yet he has not con-
tributed in such a way for the new record. “Sadly this is the first album without a ‘me’ co-write. I did have a really good contender but you see, I usually write the music and Johnny writes the lyrics. There was a really good one though but it didn’t work out. It’s just one of those things where, you know, if Johnny cant find the words, well it just won’t happen because you’ve got to find inspiration to write. I hope it’s on the back burner for now because it’s a good piece of music.” At this stage, Razorlight have be-
come quite a mainstream group with so many different types of fans, not just the alternative crowd. “It’s horrible when that happens to your favourite band.’ confesses Agren “You know, when you think ‘oh this band is good, this is my thing’, and then everyone gets the album. But that’s the weird thing, you start liking a type of music or a band and then the lame people start liking it as well. I’m getting better at it as I’m getting older, you know. I just have to think ok so lame people really, really love this band but the band is actually really good. You can’t blame the band because lame people like them.” This smacks of a plea not to dismiss Razorlight’s credibility just because of their mainstream success.
This brings us to the well-worn topic of the scandals of two of Britain’s most notorious talents, Amy Winehouse and Pete Doherty. “These are incredibly talented people - you cannot train to become that talented, you either have it or you don’t. It’s the most horrible thing ever because they seem to think, ‘I have this great talent - I’ll have two tonnes of crack and die please’, rather than actually taking their talent and applying hard work in order to become something amazing.” Evidently Razorlight are a group who take their musical abilities very seriously. Slipway Fires is testament to this, as they have managed to advance their music in new directions while still retaining parts of their uniqueness, ensuring that although lame people may now like them, there is no denying that they are a great band.
Lame people really, really love this band but the band is actually really good. You can’t blame the band because lame people like them And yet, for all their popularity, this group are very rarely in the tabloids apart from the odd incident like Borrell’s dates with Kirsten Dunst. Although Agren admits that he doesn’t personally know people whose scandals have been splashed all over the
» Slipway Fires is scheduled for release on November 3rd » Razorlight play the Olympia on November 26th
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