by
Deals signed and sealed most recently by two major labels go to The Darkness (at last) and Razorlight.
The Darkness have inked their deal with East West, which is the first signing by Korda Marshall since he took over as managing director of the label. Marshall was previously MD of Mushroom Records, which AOL Time Warner have also bought. Incidentally, it was officially announced yesterday that Funeral For A Friend have signed to Infectious, which is also part of Mushroom… which is now part of East West/AOL Time Warner, as previously mentioned. Ooh, it's all so confusing isn't it?
The Darkness had a video clip shown on 'CD:UK' over the weekend. What japes! The single 'Growing On Me' comes out on June 9th.
Joining the big major label party are Razorlight, who played a DiS/Club Fandango night not so long ago, where they had a guest list the size of an elephant's willy. The band have signed to Mercury Records. It's the first signing by A&R man Paul Walmsley. Congratulations to both parties involved.
Razorlight, formed only a year ago, sent their demo to Xfm DJ John Kennedy, who fell in love with it and has been quoted on air as describing them "the best unsigned band in Britain." (Er, that was before they got signed, obviously.) Elsewhere, plaudits have come in from Steve Lamacq after attending the aforementioned Camden gig, where he described them in his A&R column on the OneMusic website as: "Close your eyes and it sounds like they've digested every record The Strokes ever listened to and come to around about the same conclusions. There are traces of Television and the Flamin' Groovies, but - and this is the good bit - given a British spin the songs have New Wave warmth mixed with British steel."
DiS has described the band: "Fronted by r'n'r pin-up Johnny Borrell, the four-piece offer an intoxicating blend of new wave rock and old school tunes with riffs and melodies as sharp as their cheekbones. Think Patti Smith, think Iggy Pop, all wrapped up in one extravagant flourish of guitars and attitude."
Razorlight (who also feature ex-Stony Sleep man Christian Smith on drums, fact fans) release debut single 'Rock'n'Roll Lies' on July 28th.
