Manchester Academy 3
9th August 2005

It seems that every couple of months a new British band is churning out a debut album that’s crashing into the upper echelons of the charts and actually sticking around for a bit. Bloc Party have done it, Kaiser Chiefs have done it, Maximo Park have done it and even Hard-Fi have managed to sneak their album into a few homes. So who’s next then? Well have a guess. Actually don’t bother, I’ll tell you- its The Rakes. With album Capture/Release out now, and hopefully selling faster than England can collapse in an international friendly, I caught up with Alan Donohue (Vocals) and Jamie Hornsmith (Bass) to talk Japanese groupies, mocking national heroes and being as big as Bono.

You’ve played Glastonbury, T in the Park and Wireless so far this summer. How have they been, and which did you prefer?
Alan: “They’ve all been good. The best was probably Glastonbury just because of the prestige of it. It was nice to do that one, and then you can tell the grandkids about it. With Wireless it was the same stage that Live 8 was on, so that was big. When I saw myself on the TV screens next to the stage I realised I was Bono!”

Didn’t you play three days at Glastonbury?
“Yeah, we played more times than I brushed my teeth”

Alan and Jamie then decide to try and work out whether they went to the toilet more times than they played. An impressive count of two portaloo trips means that The Rakes spent most of their time safe from the fear of been washed away by the now infamous campsite river by sticking on high ground.

You’ve been compared to Bloc Party quite a bit recently; do you see the similarities yourself?
“Yeah we do similar music, well their faster stuff anyway. It assumes a certain intelligence from the audience whether it be Bloc Party or The Rakes, especially with the lyrics.”

NME gave you an impressive 9/10 for the album how do you feel about that?
Jamie (grinning); “A bit disappointed actually we were hoping for 11 out of 10
Alan; “It all depends on what you class as success really. Do you count 9/10 from NME as success? Do you count playing Top of The Pops as success? Is having 3 bisexual Japanese girls at your hotel a success? If it is then I’m successful”

He then bursts out into laughter leaving a bit of doubt whether he’s a rampant love god in the Far East, or simply having a bit of a laugh. Alan has a wicked sense of humour, despite the barely audible voice at times, and a politeness that many bands could do well to learn from. When asked about working with ‘producer of the moment’, Paul Epworth, he quips, “Yeah he is big right now- about 14 stone”, before the other half of the double act, Jamie, corrects him, “15 stone isn’t he?”

This playful banter isn’t something that comes across in their performance tonight. It’s all about how focused they are. Powering through ‘Strasbourg’ they’ve got a loyal following. The jerky dancing that Alan’s becoming known for may get you harshly kicked out of your local nightclub, shunned by the ladies or even medical help, but the crowd cheer every flick of the wrist and bone-defying hip rotation. The highlights of the night are current single ‘Work, Work, Work (Pub, Club, Sleep)’ and debut track, ’22 Grand Job’, for which the moshpit trebles in size. Manchester has enjoyed a great rock show tonight, and a helluva lot more people are going to be blown away soon enough.

“We’re not just focusing on the UK, we’re going abroad on Friday”, says Alan, “ The shows in Japan were great but everyone has this idea that British bands are huge over there. For us there was a queue, but if you go down the street there’s an even bigger queue for a homegrown Japanese hip-hop act that you’re just never going to hear about in Britain. The audiences are quite reserved- they probably don’t understand any of the words but they still enjoy it.”

“We’d like to get big in Germany actually. We’re headlining shows over there, even though we’ve never released anything and no one really knows us. We did make a gag about David Hasselhoff on a couple of radio shows, but I don’t think it went down too well!”

When asked what’s next for The Rakes you get a modest, “I don’t know”, giving you the impression that life’s been so frantic for them that they haven’t had a second to even consider it. From London, to world domination in a few easy steps. Next thing you know Alan will be teaching the Pope just how that crazy dancing goes.
 

www.therakes.co.uk