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| RAZOR - Shotgun Justice LP | |
HRR 123, limited to 750 copies, 150 x blue/ red split + 300 x blue/ red colour in colour vinyl + 300 black vinyl, heavy cardboard lyric sheet, 2nd pressing: ltd 500, 350 x blue/ red splatter vinyl + 150 x black vinyl, 425gsm heavy cardboard cover, lyric sheet, 3rd pressing: ltd 500, 350 x transparent ultra clear/ red splatter vinyl + 150 x black vinyl, 425gsm heavy cardboard cover, lyric sheet, 4th pressing: ltd 500, 150 x black, 150 x transparent royal blue + 200 x transparent blood red vinyl, 425gsm heavy cardboard cover, lyric sheet, 5th pressing: ltd 500, 250 x black + 250 x blue/ white mixed w/ red splatter vinyl, lyric sheet, 6th pressing: ltd 500, 180g black vinyl, insert | |
| Adam Carlo - Bass Dave Carlo - Guitars Rob Mills - Drums Bob Reid - Vocals | |
| -Miami -United By Hatred -Violence Condoned -Electric Torture -Meaning Of Pain -Stabbed In The Back -Shotgun Justice -Parricide -American Luck -Brass Knuckles -Burning The Bridges -Concussion -Cranial Stomp -The Pugilist | |
| 1st -5th pressing SOLD OUT! 6th pressing: AVAILABLE | |
When Razor, Canada’s finest export since the Toronto Maple Leafs, entered the stage of the glorious Headbanger’s Open Air festival in 2009, it felt like a true rebirth of one of the most important bands in the history of Thrash Metal. The crowd just went wild. For me, Razor was the best band on the three-day bill. The more than enthusiastic reactions of the fans might lead one to suspect that Razor today is more popular than they were in their heydays of the mid-‘80’s. Guitarist and mainmam Dave Carlo is not really sure if that is indeed the case: “I don’t really know if Razor today is bigger than in the ‘80’s. I know that it is wonderful that we have the opportunity to play some decent festivals. We played some in Canada, we played some in Europe and it looks as if we will be going to Japan in 2011, too. But I’m not sure, if Razor is bigger now than in the ‘80’s. I guess I would need to put out a new studio album in order to figure that one out. Hopefully we will be able to do that soon. However, our experience at the Headbanger’s Open Air festival was very good. Those are the types of experiences we are looking for.”
Okay, so there you have it! The man himself mentioned the possibility of a brand new Razor studio album. That’s a thing fans of the band have been looking forward to for years. Mister Carlo explains: “What is true is that we have material ready for a new album. I have written most of the new album. The lyrics are not complete but the music is. I do continue to fine tune it though. The biggest challenge is finding time to do the recording. I have been promising Razor fans a new release for quite a long time and I haven’t been able to deliver. It’s not because I don’t have the music. I just don’t have the time to get the recording done professionally. My commitment is to try and get that done sometime in the next year or so. So at the next round of festivals we will have new material to play live.”
So a new studio album by Razor might or might not materialize in the near future. For now, Razor lunatics are invited to enjoy the re-release of “Shotgun Justice” on vinyl (in a strictly limited edition of 500 copies). “Shotgun Justice” was originally released only on CD in 1990 on Dave Carlo’s own label Fist Fight Records (and distributed in North America through Fringe Records). It was the first Razor album featuring their then new vocalist Bob Reid. Amongst Razor maniacs there still is an ongoing debate about who is the ultimate vocalist of the band: Original singer Stace McLaren, aka Sheepdog, or the “new guy” Bob Reid? Is there a big difference between the two anyway? Dave’s answer comes from the heart: “Good question, good question! My comment to this would be: If you historically look at bands that have changed their singers, people usually don’t like the replacement singer as much as the original guy. It just works out that way. I don’t know why. Iron Maiden is an example. I always preferred Paul Di’Anno to Bruce Dickinson. With Black Sabbath I have always preferred Ozzy Osbourne. Longterm fans of bands get attached to the original voice of that band and they can’t look past it. And if the first singer had a great voice, like Stace had, it becomes so much harder for people to look past it. We have to face the fact that Razor had a great original singer: Sheepdog. He did a great job with the band, he is a great singer. What bothers me is that people get blinded by that and they don’t give Bob Reid a chance. If I had started Razor with Bob Reid in 1984 and nobody had heard of Stace, Stace would never have become the singer. I think people would have been very appreciative of Bob Reid. If I would now go back to working with Stace again, and stop working with Bob Reid, which by the way could happen, if that were to happen, I am positive that people would then start to compliment Bob Reid and like Bob Reid. As soon as they would know that Bob Reid is not singing on Razor albums anymore, they would go: ‘Oh, we liked Bob Reid.’ The truth is, I don’t think Stace would have been able to sing on ‘Shotgun Justice’. And for a lot of people that album is a real classic. The reason why Stace could not have done it is the hatred that is put across on that record. That kind of aggression was just more suitable to Bob. I wrote ‘Shotgun Justice’ for Bob’s voice. So that record couldn’t have existed without Bob as a singer because part of my ability to write that album came from my knowledge of who my singer was. I hope that makes sense to you. Both Razor singers are great vocalists. I could work with either one of them. I just want the fans of the band to be glad that I made five great albums with Stace. Nobody knows what the future will hold. But I also made three great albums with Bob Reid. And I might make more great albums with Bob. But whoever I make them with, it’s gonna be good. And I think our performance with Bob at Headbanger’s Open Air proved that when we get on stage with Bob, we’re pretty good. I recognize that our hair is not as long as it used to be. But we’re older guys. We have to face the facts. We are older now and we don’t have that much hair anymore. Some of us cut it off, some were losing it. This is what happens to people when they age. And we can’t apologize for that.”
As you might know, Dave Carlo is the only surviving original member of Razor. So is it fair to say that Razor is soley Dave Carlo’s band? Something of a solo project? Truely, this is not how he sees the situation at all: “Well, my answer to this question is: I am the only remaining original member of Razor. We are all alive, so we are all surving members. All the former members of Razor remain alive. As far as being in the band, yes, I am the only remaining original member of Razor. From time to time I work with Mike Campagnolo, who was the original bass player. We have an on and off working relationship. So that is something that still happens. As far as Razor being my band, if you look at the history of me writing the music and the lyrics, at least from a musical standpoint, I pretty much have been responsible for the overall sound of Razor. Lyrically, there has been a cross section of people writing the lyrics, from our original singer Stace McLaren to Mike Campagnolo to myself and also to Bob Reid as well. So Razor has different people writing lyrics but I have been the primary author of the music.”
Matthias Mader