"Ever stolen anything from there?" grins Razorlight's singer Johnny Borrell, nodding at a chainstore in London's West End. "I went through a phase of stealing books by dead authors there. It's easy - there's loads of good places to rip off the security tags."
You join NME as we wander Soho in search of a place to grab a beer with Britain's most zealous rock'n'roll band. Comprising of Johnny, Carl Dalemo (bass), Christian Smith (drums) and Bjorn Agren (guitar and owner of the best name in rock) their mission is simple - to inject the spiky art-punk of Patti Smith and Television with lashings of dirty speed. The results are thrilling: breathless beat poetry with amphetamine-addled jitter. Here's the story so far...
They're beating the girls off with sticks
Razorlight gigs are notorious for having a front row packed with devoted female fans. Johnny reckons it's because "they identify with the songs", but from the selection of erotic dreams posted on the fan website, we reckon there's more to it than that. Here's EvilEdna's reverie:
"Carl, Bjorn and Christian had turned into a strip act, dancing around in hotpants like an early Take That performance. Then they started doing this Mexican wave at us so we ran away."
They can survive without electricity
The band began rehearsing last summer in a warehouse infested with "predatorial, bird-eating spiders" - but Johnny was used to the boho lifestyle. "I used to ride the bus just so I had somewhere to write songs," he reveals. "But if you've got your guitar and a tape recorder then nothing can touch you. People would visit me in this attic with no electricity and say, 'This is so romantic.' I'd be, 'Romantic? I'm fucking dizzy from the candle fumes on the gas light.'"
They've pissed on the government
Razorlight's last 12 months have involved Johnny brawling on a boat and Carl getting arrested on the May Day march.
"I'd been getting pissed in the West End and got caught up in the crowds," he explains. "Because it was May Day there were cops everywhere, but I didn't intend to get arrested."
Johnny: "It didn't help that you took a piss on Whitehall though, did it?"
Johnny's done time in The Libertines
"I saw what was happening and it wasn't for me," he says of his ten-day stint. "They're great people but Pete kinda lost it. It's sad - he's not really like that."
We heard you were booted out for being boring.
Johnny: "You've just said that so that I'd rise to it and say exactly why I did leave. Let's just say they didn't have enough ambition."
And talking of ambition...
Johnny: "I want people to think about what they're getting from a band. Are you paying to see them live out their sex-and-coke rock star fantasties or do they actually mean something? Don't get me wrong, fucking is great fun, so's a line of coke. But only if your music means so much to you that you'd die without it."
Tim Jonze