Razorlight

Having scuffed their knuckles on the same London scenester streets as the Libertines, Razorlight milked a healthy buzz to hit the ground running with 2004 debut Up All Night (featuring "Golden Touch" and "Somewhere Else") before following up with 2006's excellent Razorlight. In Johnny Borrell, the band has a frontman born with a double dose of passion and talent. Explore Razorlight's B-sides and exclusives in Next Steps.

Razorlight's record collection is, evidently, huge — one minute they're covering Prince ("When Doves Cry", on which they sound like a tribal chamber orchestra), the next they're tipping a nod towards Patti Smith (with the stripped-down arrangement and spoken word cadences of "In the City"), the next they're grabbing a fistful of roots à la Springsteen with "Los Angeles Waltz".

It's entirely suitable that Razorlight named themselves after the padlock worn as punk jewellery by Sid Vicious: there's something eminently solid and unbreakable about the band's links to their rock forebears — a locked-in combination of deference and originality that has given us tracks as diverse as the tight, angular "Rip It Up" and the widescreen "America". Small wonder that, shortly after breaking through to the mainstream, Razorlight was up there in front of thousands, supporting the likes of Oasis, Queen, and the Rolling Stones. The old guard should keep its eyes peeled — the new headliners are coming through.