Exclusive Interview with Razorbax Frontman Leigh Bucknall Part 1 of 2
March 12th, 2010With the release of The Razorbax Debut Album ‘Something To Believe In’ only a few days away Nova cornered front man Leigh Bucknall this week to get the ins and outs on the man the band the and the album…….
Name: Leigh Andrew Bucknall
Age: 20 years young
Where did you grow up?
I grew up (and still live) in a little village called Wednesfield which is in a small town called Wolverhampton.
Who in the band have you been friends with the longest?
That would be Mr. Louis Bowen
How long have The Razorbax been together/How did you meet the other band members?
I met Louis and James at school, and I met Jack from playing gigs together but we were in different bands. Originally I started The Razorbax in late 2005 with Louis on drums and a kid called Joe on bass. A few years and a few changes later we finally settled down as the 4 piece we are today.
At what age did you first pick up the guitar?
I do believe I was 11 years old when I finally got my hands on one that I could call my own.
What inspired you to pick up the guitar?
I used to air guitar in front of the mirror to every single song on Dookie by Green Day. It was my first record and I was about 6 years old… I wanted one as soon as I saw the video to the song Basket Case… I wanted that guitar right then. My mother dearest had a jumbo acoustic guitar but that thing was literally twice the size of me and my parents weren’t exactly in a financial situation where they could just go out and get me a guitar so I had to wait it out…
What age did you write your first song/What was it?
I was about 13 years old, and I wrote a song called ‘’When You Were You’’. I recorded it on an acoustic guitar using a digital camera. At first I just left it and forgot about but then a few years later I found it out and decided to work on it with an electric guitar and BAM! We had our 1st Razorbax song…
How do The Razorbax construct their songs, i.e. is it a collective effort or done by just one or two of you?
It all starts in my bedroom… I’ll write a song, take it to a band practice and record Louis’ ideas on the drums. Then once we have got something we like, Pez and Kitchen come in, learn the basics and throw their ideas into the mix. Then we just work on it until we all like it. Then we move onto the next song.
How long did it take to record the album?
Well it took me about 4 months to write all the songs, and then we spent about 4 or 5 weeks rehearsing it all and recording demos in my bedroom before taking it into the studio.
We already had it planned how it was going to turn out.
Once we got into the studio the actual recording process was over pretty quickly, if we got a good take on something then we would keep it and move on. I think we spent about 4 weeks spread out over 6 months. I’m glad that Andy (sound engineer Andy Taylor) talked us around to doing it that way. It meant we could go home with rough mixes of songs and really think about what to do next. It also meant we could have time away from the record. If we were in there for months on end, day in day out, I think we would have got sick of the songs before we even finished it!
Andy Taylor engineered and mixed the whole thing. He worked his ass off on it. Some days I would go down to the studio at about 1 in the afternoon and he would have already been in there since 10am tweaking things. Other days I would just show up with a guitar and we would spend hours just goofing around with amps and sounds. It was the best experience I’ve ever had, I learned so much from it.
Overall it probably took about 27 days or so to get from starting to record the tracks to actually having them mixed. And then a week or so having them mastered and all ready to go.
Do you have more songs ready to be recorded?
I’m always writing songs and recording demos in my room. But right now I think we want to get out and tour this record and push it as far as we possibly can. We are all really proud of it. There are a few new songs I have written but we will wait and see what happens with those. If we somehow fall into some money maybe we will follow this album up with another one next year. Who knows? I don’t.
How many gigs have you played to date?
Hundreds.
What’s the best big you’ve ever played?
We have played loads of amazing gigs. I think one of my favourites was playing at The Asylum which is a big venue in Birmingham. It was a Kerrang Radio gig, The Automatic were headlining and we were supporting, when we played there was about 400 people in there jumping around having a great time. We had a blast! It was all over too quickly. Then a few other bands played and by 11pm the room was empty and The Automatic were singing their god awful monster song to James’ dad and our band… maybe a few other people. They treated us like shit so I’m glad they had a crap gig… Good times.
How many gigs have you played/who have you played with?
Hundreds!!! We’ve played with some pretty big bands like The Wombats, Hadouken, The Automatic, My Passion…; I wouldn’t say any of us were fans of those bands though. They wouldn’t even talk to us. The Wombats just wanted to hang out in their big fancy tour bus and listen to shit like Joy Division and The Smiths…
The Automatic took all the other bands out for dinner when we were due on stage… Oh well.
We do have some good friends in an awesome band called Sharks who we play with every now and then. We played with Beat Union once a long time ago… other than that there’s no-one really worth mentioning…
Who are your influences?
We are all influenced by different music. I listen to anything with loud guitars, loud drums and lyrics that mean something. Obviously bands like Green Day, The Jam, The Clash, The Who, Living End, Alkaline Trio etc. None of that dance shit…
I tend to relate more to the lyrics of the early Jam and Clash songs. Paul Weller’s writing in The Jam was absolutely amazing.
Musically I love the huge sonic quality of bands like Green Day. Their last 2 albums sound fucking massive! And Billie Joe’s writing is amazing; he is clever with his words.
Where do you see yourself in 10 years?
On a poster on your daughter’s bedroom wall biatch!!!
Ha-ha, no I honestly have no idea. But I know for a fact I will still be writing and playing music.
Which is your favourite song from the album and why?
That’s like picking your favourite kid…
Don’t is the song I’m most proud of just because musically, it pushed us to somewhere we never even thought about going. It’s probably my favourite too. Recording the vocals to that song was the best fun I’ve ever had in a vocal booth.
There is a part in the song where it all breaks down to just a piano and vocal, and there was just one word (HOPE) that was just screaming out for a choir harmony. Andy Taylor (our engineer) said to me ‘’man if you had the money you could get a choir in for that one word and it would sound ace’’ but obviously we didn’t have the money or a choir so I just said fuck it, I’ll be a choir. He got me to do about 10 different harmonies, I was hitting notes so high it hurt!
At the time it seemed silly and in my head it sounded awful, but when we played it back it sounded like a gospel choir. It was awesome. For all of us I think that one word made the song into something else. I love that song.
If you were offered the chance to headline your first tour but at the same time Green Day wanted you as support for their tour, which would you take?
Easy. We would support Green Day for the following reasons
1. We would get to watch them every night and believe me, I can tell you from experience, and it doesn’t get boring 
2. When else would we ever get to play to that many people?
3.I don’t think there is a band that looks as much fun as they do.
I think if there was ever a band that could teach us anything, it would be them.
How would you describe Razorbax music?
Honest to god rock n roll music that anybody can relate to.
You’re going to be playing the first ever x109 Festival are you looking forward to it? Any surprises for the audience and listeners on line?
Yeah I can’t wait for it!!! The bands that are playing sound great. I am actually looking forward to seeing Kuda Bux. And obviously I’m looking forward to playing our music and seeing all our friends.
Any surprises? I don’t know yet. We’ll see…
Is there one song from your childhood that still hits a chord with you today?
When I Come Around by Green Day…
What message are the Razorbax trying to get across?
Just be honest with yourself.
Sum up your Album in 5 words.
Completely honest rock n’ roll!
Anything else you want to say?
Erm… Our record comes out on 15th March. Completely self funded and self released, it will be available as a digital download through iTunes, Amazon, Napster, Play, HMV, Spotify and of course Nova-Caine Music and many more places.
It’s also going to be available on CD for just £7 so get a copy!
Come to a show, drink beer with us and have a good time with us!
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Check back tomorrow for part 2 where Leigh takes us through the album track by track….
The Razorbax Debut Album ‘Something To Believe In’ is released Monday 15th March and is available from The bands own official website and Nova-Caine.com in CD and download and download only through iTunes, Amazon, Napster, Play, HMV, Spotify
For more info on the band check them out at:
Nova
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