Biography
Emerging as one of the stranger acts amid the British punk surge of the 1970s, the Raincoats adopted a post-punk stance even as punk’s opening chapter remained unfinished. Rather than pursuing the rapid pace favored by the Clash or the Sex Pistols, they favored expansive, fluid structures whose deliberately disordered textures transformed the players’ limited instrumental skills into an expressive strength. Acoustic instruments, especially violin, surfaced from time to time, while percussion drew on reggae and global traditions; their lyrics addressed feminism and private convictions with candor but without rigid doctrine.
Gina Birch and Ane de Silva founded the Raincoats in 1977 while studying at London’s Hornsey School of Art, where Birch worked in video and conceptual art and de Silva pursued three-dimensional painting. Captivated by punk’s “anyone can do it” ethos, the pair formed a band despite scant musical background and gave their debut performance in November 1977. The earliest configuration featured Birch on bass and vocals, de Silva on guitar and vocals, Ross Crighton on guitar, and Nick Turner on drums. Within a year the lineup shifted to an all-female ensemble as Palmolive, formerly of the Slits, took over drums from Turner and violinist Vicki Aspinall replaced Crighton.
In spring 1979 the Raincoats issued their debut single, “Fairytale in the Supermarket,” on the pioneering British indie Rough Trade; their self-titled first album followed later that year. Shortly afterward Palmolive departed, and Ingrid Weiss joined as the new percussionist. This configuration recorded the 1981 album Odyshape, which included contributions from Robert Wyatt and Charles Hayward of This Heat. During a 1982 American tour the band played several concerts at New York City’s noted performance venue The Kitchen; those shows were taped and later issued by the New York cassette label ROIR Records as The Kitchen Tapes in 1983.
Birch and de Silva later acknowledged persistent creative and personal divergences; de Silva once remarked to journalist Maddy Costa, “We broke up after every record,” to which Birch added, “We broke up after every gig.” Their unyielding, confrontational sound limited them to a devoted cult audience. Following the 1984 release of Moving, the group disbanded.
In 1992, while de Silva worked in a London antique shop, Kurt Cobain paid an unexpected visit seeking a replacement for his worn copy of the Raincoats’ debut. After inquiring at the Rough Trade shop, he learned of her nearby location and later recounted the encounter in the liner notes to Nirvana’s Incesticide rarities collection. The renewed attention prompted DGC Records, aided by Cobain and fellow admirer Kim Gordon of Sonic Youth, to reissue the Raincoats’ three studio albums. Cobain also urged the band to reunite for opening slots on Nirvana dates, yet his suicide halted those plans. In 1994 Birch and de Silva assembled a new iteration and released the EP Extended Play on Smells Like Records, the label started by Sonic Youth’s Steve Shelley; a full album, Looking in the Shadows, appeared in 1996 on DGC in the United States and Rough Trade in Europe.
Thereafter Birch and de Silva have reconvened intermittently as the Raincoats when schedules allow, operating their own imprint We Three Records to reissue earlier material while pursuing joint multimedia projects.
Gina Birch and Ane de Silva founded the Raincoats in 1977 while studying at London’s Hornsey School of Art, where Birch worked in video and conceptual art and de Silva pursued three-dimensional painting. Captivated by punk’s “anyone can do it” ethos, the pair formed a band despite scant musical background and gave their debut performance in November 1977. The earliest configuration featured Birch on bass and vocals, de Silva on guitar and vocals, Ross Crighton on guitar, and Nick Turner on drums. Within a year the lineup shifted to an all-female ensemble as Palmolive, formerly of the Slits, took over drums from Turner and violinist Vicki Aspinall replaced Crighton.
In spring 1979 the Raincoats issued their debut single, “Fairytale in the Supermarket,” on the pioneering British indie Rough Trade; their self-titled first album followed later that year. Shortly afterward Palmolive departed, and Ingrid Weiss joined as the new percussionist. This configuration recorded the 1981 album Odyshape, which included contributions from Robert Wyatt and Charles Hayward of This Heat. During a 1982 American tour the band played several concerts at New York City’s noted performance venue The Kitchen; those shows were taped and later issued by the New York cassette label ROIR Records as The Kitchen Tapes in 1983.
Birch and de Silva later acknowledged persistent creative and personal divergences; de Silva once remarked to journalist Maddy Costa, “We broke up after every record,” to which Birch added, “We broke up after every gig.” Their unyielding, confrontational sound limited them to a devoted cult audience. Following the 1984 release of Moving, the group disbanded.
In 1992, while de Silva worked in a London antique shop, Kurt Cobain paid an unexpected visit seeking a replacement for his worn copy of the Raincoats’ debut. After inquiring at the Rough Trade shop, he learned of her nearby location and later recounted the encounter in the liner notes to Nirvana’s Incesticide rarities collection. The renewed attention prompted DGC Records, aided by Cobain and fellow admirer Kim Gordon of Sonic Youth, to reissue the Raincoats’ three studio albums. Cobain also urged the band to reunite for opening slots on Nirvana dates, yet his suicide halted those plans. In 1994 Birch and de Silva assembled a new iteration and released the EP Extended Play on Smells Like Records, the label started by Sonic Youth’s Steve Shelley; a full album, Looking in the Shadows, appeared in 1996 on DGC in the United States and Rough Trade in Europe.
Thereafter Birch and de Silva have reconvened intermittently as the Raincoats when schedules allow, operating their own imprint We Three Records to reissue earlier material while pursuing joint multimedia projects.
Albums
Singles
