For a band which opened 2005 with a support tour that saw them on a tour-bus for the first time, The Rakes have made considerable progress. There have been three Top 40 UK singles (‘22 Grand Job’, ‘Retreat’ and ‘Strasbourg’), a well received debut album, Capture/Release, a myriad of tours and festival appearances, culminating in a support tour with Franz Ferdinand.
“Just getting our first album out was the high point of the year for us,” smiles guitarist Matthew Swinnergon. “It was fantastic being able to go into HMV and see our record there. We moved it to the number one slot in the store!”
The Rakes were one of 2005’s most hyped bands. While acknowledging that mass exposure was good for their progress, Swinnergon is aware that there are already a host of aspiring young hopefuls eager to be the next big thing.
“Once you’re out there as a media commodity, you can’t control people’s perception of you,” he muses. “The idea of hype seems to be very strong at the moment, and it all comes down to whether we can make a good second record, which I think we can. I think we can make a really good one, better than the first.”
Their debut album, filled to bursting point with skinny, abrasive punk-pop about modern 20-somethings, was heralded in some quarters as indie’s answer to Mike Skinner.
“We all quite like The Streets but we didn’t set out to be the indie Streets. It’s just another way of bracketing things,” sighs Swinnergon. “I know Alan [Donohoe, The Rakes’ frontman] wants to avoid the overly poetic in his lyrics and wants a more direct lyrical approach, like The Streets have.”
But the band’s lyrics don’t just focus on the day-to-day.
“Our concerns and interests go beyond the pub and work,” says the guitarist. “We tried to set ourselves high standards, to put a bit of thought into our songs, and not just to rhyme love with dove.”
Unusually, all four band members contribute to the writing process, with Swinnergon insisting that, “The Rakes are a band of strong personalities. It’s not a case of one person leading the other three”.
Most of the lyrics come from Swinnergon and Donohoe. One of their biggest hits, ‘Strasbourg’, saw the former write the first two verses (“a little vignette about people escaping the Eastern Bloc and going to find a new life”). Meanwhile, the final verse, by Donohoe, references TV images from the last Gulf War.
Not ones to rest on their laurels, The Rakes are probably in the studio as you read, concocting their second album. It will be preceded by a brand new single, slated for this spring.
“It'll give our current fans a nod to where we’re going while hopefully reaching a new audience,” says Swinnergon.