Johnny Borrell has branded modern record labels as ‘scum’ during an interview with The Guardian when recalling a meeting he had with an unnamed head of publishing.
“Rule No 1 is labels are scum,” he said. “Or is it rule No 2? I can’t remember. I went to meet the new head of publishing at one of the big record companies and he said, ‘I love songs but I don’t listen to lyrics’.”
Johnny Borrell struggled to gain any mainstream exposure during the build-up to the release of his debut solo album last year, which eventually sold just 594 copies during its first week of sale – not enough for a place in the Top 100 on the UK chart.
“That’s the kind of industry we’re living in,” he continued. “If you’re making music for any reason other than getting rich and getting laid you can’t take labels seriously. Watching the label and my management try to integrate the new material into the mainstream was really like a labour of Sisyphus, you know?”
“Eternally pushing the boulder up the hill, because my music’s not the culture. Someone played Radio 1 to me recently and that’s the culture.”
Borrell is about to return with Razorlight in London to celebrate the 10th anniversary of the band’s debut album ‘Up All Night‘ – a time when Borrell did enjoy his fair share of commercial success.