From http://www.therakes.co.uk/go.php?object=homeIt all began 3 years ago…

The Rakes formed after Jamie (Bass) and Alan (vocals) met at college. Jamie ‘did art’ and Alan ‘did science’. A few years later Jamie met Matthew (Guitar and vocals) and Lasse (drums) when he worked in a shop in London. Around the time of meeting, bands such as The Strokes, The Streets, The Etc were coming out. Taking note that that if all four were in a band together they’d be called "The Rakes" cos they’re all "skinny as rakes" – the bad in-joke became reality and now they’re touring the world and being taken seriously. They have since given up the day jobs and have been busy touring with Bloc Party, Franz Ferdinand, The Buzzcocks, and many, many, many other dates that seem to all blend into one long night. Ask any one of the band: what time is it? What’s the date? What country are u in? Who’s the president? And they will most likely look at you, mouth open and with a blank look on their face until you walk away confused.

With musical influences ranging from the regular stuff that all skinny, pale, white blokes in bands like (Bowie, Blur, The Cure, The Strokes, Phil Lynott, The Specials, LCD Soundsystem, etc) to stuff that is not so obvious (Tosca, Dizzy Rascal, Statik, The Go Team, etc). Anything that sounds good will be nicked and used in their music. Lyrically, the first album was a mix of regular personal diary-like notes of fist person events ("22 Grand Job", "Retreat", "Work, Work, Work") to more abstract/conceptual songs ("Binary Love", "We Are All Animals", "Terror!"). All from the debut album "Capture/Release" produced by Sir Paul Epworth on V2 Records. (Thanks V2 and Dimmak for your support!! BO!)
The second album will centre on a general theme to allow focus but won’t be a concept album per se so it won’t be limited in its breadth of topic. 2006 will mean less touring for the band with (just) a US, French and UK tour and then all the festivals they can possibly blag them and pikey cousins into for free… So that they can record their 2nd album for release early 2007.

From http://www.peta2.com/uk/uk-therakes.asp
If you’ve ever seen The Rakes perform live and not fallen in love, you are not human. We at peta2, on the other hand, are All Too Human (geddit?) and were charmed beyond all control by Alan’s almost magical onstage moves and are now all dedicated trainees at the Alan Rake school of dance. The Rakes blew up the UK scene in 2005 (in a most gentlemanly and charming fashion, of course) when their debut album, Capture/Release, met with gushing reviews, so you’d be forgiven for thinking that you know all there is to know about these boys – but you’d be wrong, because we’ve got a new and exclusive titbit for you. Try this on for size: Rakes lead singer Alan Donohoe once was cautioned by riot police in Spain for taking part in PETA’s annual “Running of the Nudes”. He was naked at the time and very probably surrounded by a bevy of beautiful ladies. How’s that for a news flash?

When we discovered that Alan is a vegan, we were, to put it mildly, quite excited. So here, for your viewing pleasure, Alan talks exclusively to peta2 about success, excess and why animal suffering is a problem worthy of your attention.

Now Showing on peta2 TV:
The Rakes Exclusive Interview
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Picture from http://www.peta2.com/uk/uk-therakes.asp Alan is second from left