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'' The Razorbax stepped up to the plate and… owned it.
They looked comfortable right from the word 'go'.
The most obvious thing to begin with is how good the Razorbax sound live. Some bands are predominantly studio acts who don't quite achieve – on-stage – the high production levels they regularly get in a recording.
The reverse is true for other bands - they are energised by the audience, able to squeeze a fraction more from themselves in their live performances than their studio work.
The Razorbax cut right across these two categories. Their studio work – as we've heard a couple of times on This Reality Podcast – is tight, punchy and professional. Their live performance cuts it on every single level.
Louis their excellent drummer picked up the band right from the start and threw them in to their first number with such passionate yet measured abandon that it is almost impossible to take your eyes off him. Right from the outset he was the hardest-working member of the band. Which isn't a diss on the others, it's just that he set the framework for the three guitarists to fit in to. And they did - they fit in to it brilliantly.
James on bass guitar hardly stopped smiling all night as he worked hard on his fretboard. Laconic, laid-back, yet on the case, he tossed his strobing, probing bass runs in to the musical mix with pin-point accuracy.
Jack on rhythm guitar (by the way, happy birthday for last Friday Jack!) handed in a solid performance that would have put many professionals to shame. He was the perfect accompanying foil to the other three band members – sometimes out in front, usually supporting.
Leigh on lead guitar, backed by – almost egged on by – his fellow band members, ripped through the air like a razor-sharp knife (see what I did there?). Suddenly alternating between a mix of passive/aggressive styling right up to some serious in-your-face-with-attitude action, his style was the perfect icing on a cake of total perfection.
My repeated use of the word 'tight' when I describe this band actually undersells how good, how together these boys are. Musical maturity of such calibre in four young lads of their age? You'd have said 'Impossible'.
But you'd be wrong.
They rocked. And not just with their own numbers – and I need to make that distinction.
This isn't a band doing covers, this isn't a talentless bunch of no-ability, no-chancers getting by on material written for them. These boys perform their own material – and it's chart material right from the outset.
But the band also gave us a snippet of Away From Here by The Enemy which, I confess, got me bouncing. Yeah, we already know I'm sad.
A little later they broke in to a faithful rendition of Billy Bragg's New England which, after 60 seconds or so, segued in to one of their own numbers so seamlessly that it was breathtaking to listen to.
They also dropped in the introduction of Sweet Child O' Mine by Guns N' Roses.
Talented musicians.
Because we – I mean the people we – because we need to break information down so we can understand it, our brains look for comparisons.
We say things like 'That film director is the new Spielberg' or 'That painter is the new Hockney'.
And people have said of The Razorbax that they're comparable to Green Day.
No, I'm sorry but no.
I've seen Green Day live twice.
The Razorbax are way better on stage than Green Day.
They have an edge that Green Day might have had once upon a time, but Green Day have got fat on the music, and lazy. And not hungry. They've forgotten what it's all about.
The Razorbax are lean and hungry.
And British.
And professional.
The band let absolutely no-one down; they were performing 100% for the crowd all of the time they were on stage.
To anyone who wasn't there…?
You missed the best live rock performance in my recent memory.
If you weren't there, I feel sorry for you.
But if you were there… they were brilliant, weren't they?
B. '' - This Reality Podcast
Discography
Still working on that hot first release.
Photos
Bio
Born and raised in Wolverhampton, Midlands, U.K
THE RAZORBAX are an upcoming British 'Hearty Punk ‘n’ Roll Band' who embellish their D.I.Y ethics with raw power of the heart and the soul. THE RAZORBAX set out to sound like themselves and themselves only, but with an appreciation of the things that influence them in their lives, whether it be musical or not.
THE RAZORBAX will usually be found playing club shows up and down the country and in any venue that will have them on the bill. A band performing 100% for the crowd 100% of the time with an edge that many rock icons had once upon a time is what your typical RAZORBAX get-together is like. With a gigging experience of over 200 shows, playing to crowds of anything between 20 and 400 people, THE RAZORBAX have had the pleasure of sharing the stage with bands such as ‘The Wombats’, ‘Hadouken’, 'The Automatic', 'My Passion', 'Eight Legs' and many more with various gigs in place for the rest of the year.
THE RAZORBAX discography consists of several demos which were recorded in Sky Lab Studio's in the Jewelry Quarter of Birmingham over the last few years, which have received local and international radio airplay aswell as being featured on various podcasts.
The most recent addition is the blistering 12 track Debut L.P titled ‘SOMETHING TO BELIEVE IN...’ which is ready and waiting to be released.
Their Musical influences range from bands such as The Who, The Clash, The Ramones & Stiff Little Fingers, to the Punk scenes of the 90’s (Green Day, Blink 182, Rancid) – to any modern day band that has the balls to make good honest rock 'n' roll music.
THE RAZORBAX are a band who speak their mind and keep to their roots and emotions as honest as they can, never trying to compromise the reality of who they are with anything or anyone.
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