Johnny Borrell

On this photograph, Johnny is only nineteen. It was his first ever press picture and it happened in February 2000. I had no idea what Johnny looked like when his manager played me his demo and asked me... read more to take some photographs of him, so when he turned up on the day of the shoot, I thought ‘This is going to be easy!’ He looked fantastic with his cowboy hat and boots and his young, fresh face. We went on the roof of the building where his manager was living on Brick lane and I took pictures while he was playing guitar. At that time Johnny was a solo artist deeply influenced by Bob Dylan. He formed Razorlight many years later but already had a strong personal conviction that he was the best.

This was one of the first times I’d photographed Razorlight while supporting Suede on their greatest hits tour in December 2003. We’d stopped on route from Manchester to Bristol at some services.... read more Although a bitterly cold December day the backdrop somehow looked like the Lake District and Johnny reminded me of Jim Kerr in the heyday of Simple Minds – a very windswept 80’s look.

Johnny (Razorlight) had had an altercation with Pete Doherty at the Leeds Festival a week before this was taken, and they were now recording a track for the WARCHILD album in Olympic Studios – the... read more shades were needed to cover the bruising (but it gave it an early Bob Dylan feel that would have been missing otherwise).

One of those moments when you realise you’re in the presence of a true rock star; Roger Daltrey (The Who) had arranged to sing “Summertime Blues” with Razorlight for the encore and they... read more needed a quick run through beforehand. As soon as he bellowed out the opening lines his voice just blew you away.

This was taken towards the end of Razorlight's set at The Isle of Wight festival – all was going amazingly well until Carl (bass player) suddenly became very drunk and ended up throwing the microphone... read more into the crowd – I’m not entirely sure why Johnny had a drum stick in his hand.