| The
Rakes |
| Country |
 London, England |
| Years active |
2004–present |
| Genres |
Indie rock
Art
rock
Post-punk revival |
| Labels |
V2 |
| Members |
Alan Donohoe - Vocals
Jamie Hornsmith - Bass
Lasse Petersen - Drums
Matthew Swinnerton - Guitar |
The Rakes are an English indie rock
band from London.
|
Contents
- 1 General
information
- 2 Discography
- 3 Trivia
- 4 External
links
|
General information
The Rakes formed in 2004, taking their name from the fact that
they are "skinny as rakes". Since coming to fame in 2005, they have been
associated with the British post-punk/art-rock scene, a genre shared by
bands such as Bloc Party, Maxïmo
Park, and The Futureheads. However,
it could be argued that the Rakes originate from the east London/Whitechapel
punk
scene - along with The Others, The
Libertines.
The Rakes write songs about working life, mundane routines,
and escapism as shown on their acclaimed debut album Capture/Release
that spawned the singles "22 Grand Job," "Work, Work, Work (Pub, Club,
Sleep)," and "Retreat." Several of their singles have appeared in the
UK top 40 list and their album Capture/Release
reached #32 in the UK Album chart. Their take on working life has led
some observers to describe them as the world's first post-David
Brent band. The "22 Grand Job" video shows them playing in an office
environment - one of the main themes to their songs.
The Rakes accompanied Franz Ferdinand on
their 'You Could Have It So Much Better. ..' tour during the winter of
2005. They toured the UK throughout January and February 2006 -
supported by White Rose Movement,
Duels,
Switches
and Klaxons.
Their London Astoria date sold out so far in advance that another two
London dates - at Shepherd's Bush Empire -
where added, which sold out. The Rakes Last London show was in March
2007 at Brixton Accadamy - This show, like all of their london dates so
far, sold out. The band are booked to play at Jersey
Live, an Indie/Rock festival in the Island of Jersey supporting The
Fratellis and Kasabian.
The Rakes are quite famous for their fashion sense, and the
particularly distinctive dress style: stripey tops or smart polo
shirts, black drainpipe jeans and black trainers.
They also associated with the brands Fred Perry, Dior Homme
and Louis
Vuitton. Fashion designer Hedi Slimane was said to be so
impressed by the band's music and dress sense that he based one of his
collections around them. The Rakes also provided the soundtrack to the
Dior Homme fashion show, with the song "The World Was A Mess, But His
Hair Was Perfect". The song is eighteen minutes long, but a shorter
version of was used by the band whilst touring in support of their
first album, and is included on their second album. This is the second
single from Ten New Messages.
The last single from Capture/Release, "All Too Human", was
released in the UK on 27 February 2006 and reached their best chart position to
date. It was their first new material since the release of Capture/Release
in August 2005. The single enjoys a similar name to one of Friedrich
Nietzsche's books, "Human, All Too Human" published
in 1878. This is unlikely to be a coincidence as Alan Donohoe is rarely
pictured without a book and is extremely interested in literature. The
Rakes played at Trinity May Ball on 19 June 2006.
They second headlined the NME/Radio 1 stage at 2006's Carling
Weekend (Reading/Leeds festivals) - playing just before Maxïmo
Park, the spot taken by The
Futureheads at 2005's Carling Weekend.
In 2006, they covered of the song Le poinçonneur des
Lilas by the French singer Serge
Gainsbourg. The Rakes' version was named Just a Man With A Job.
It was for a covers album, entitled Monsieur Gainsbourg
Revisited, a project in which many bands (including Franz Ferdinand and
Placebo)
took part.
The Rakes' second album, Ten New Messages
was released by V2 Records on 19 March 2007. This album was produced by Jim Abiss (who
has also worked with Arctic Monkeys, Editors
and Kasabian)
and Brendan Lynch (who has worked with Primal
Scream). It was recorded in Mayfair Studios in London during the autumn of 2006.
On speaking about the album, the singer Alan Donohoe stated
that:
The album was inspired by a combination of choral
music, the television show 24, Bond theme
tunes, World
War I poets and the Sugababes.
The Rakes have just completed their first tour of the UK since
the release of Ten New Messages, including their
biggest headline show to date including a sold out show at Brixton Academy.
Discography
Albums
- Capture/Release
(August
15, 2005) V2 #32
UK
- Ten New Messages
(March
19, 2007) V2 #38
UK
Singles
| Year |
Song |
UK
Singles Chart |
Album |
| 2005 |
"Strasbourg" |
#57 |
Capture/Release |
| 2005 |
"Retreat" |
#24 |
Capture/Release |
| 2005 |
"Work, Work, Work
(Pub, Club, Sleep)" |
#28 |
Capture/Release |
| 2005 |
"22 Grand Job" (re-issue) |
#39 |
Capture/Release |
| 2006 |
"All Too Human" |
#22 |
Capture/Release
(Re-release) |
| 2007 |
"We Danced Together" |
#38 |
Ten New Messages |
| 2007 |
"The
World Was a Mess But His Hair Was Perfect" |
|
Ten New Messages |
Trivia
- "All Too Human" was named Single Of The Week by Jungalist.net on the day of its release,
27th February 2006.
- Alan Donohoe is a vegan and Jamie Hornsmith is a vegetarian.
- The whole band are believed to be huge fans of their own
tribute band, the Ho Ho Hoes [1],
who have played a selection of their songs at The Rakes Forum Christmas
parties since 2005.
- The song "Open Book" is one of the preloaded tracks on
Microsoft's Zune
Media Player.
- The band prefer Coke to Pepsi, Radiohead
to Muse, and "drinking loads of booze and reading books" to Connect 4,
Risk, Monopoly, Guess Who? and Chess.[2]
External links
