The Rakes

The emergence of the Rakes on the London music scene in 2004 rested on the strength of one standout track, as “22 Grand Job” arrived as a sharp punk critique targeting low-level office drudgery. The lineup consisted of vocalist/guitarist Alan Donohoe, guitarist Matthew Swinnerton, bassist Jamie Hornsmith, and drummer Lasse Petersen, though accounts of their origins diverged between colorful accounts of an airborne encounter en route to Amsterdam and the simpler narrative of longstanding childhood ties. Following a handful of hometown performances, the group issued the track as a limited-edition 7-inch through Trash Aesthetics—the same imprint that had earlier supported Bloc Party—and the song also surfaced on the Fierce Panda various-artists EP On the Buzzes. Throughout the spring and summer the quartet focused on recording sessions while sharing stages with kindred acts including Bloc Party, the Others, and Art Brut. By autumn they delivered their follow-up single “Strasbourg” via City Rockers and embarked on an initial tour, then secured a deal with V2 that framed a 2005 calendar of live dates and work on a first album. The advance singles “Retreat” and “Work, Work, Work (Pub, Club, Sleep)” paved the way for Capture/Release’s United Kingdom arrival in summer 2005; Dim Mak subsequently issued “Retreat” as an EP stateside that autumn to coincide with the band’s inaugural American tour, while Capture/Release itself reached the United States in spring 2006. A 2007 remix EP set the stage for the second album Ten New Messages, which surfaced that spring, and the noisier Klang followed with a United Kingdom release in spring 2009. The week preceding its American launch that autumn, the group issued a statement announcing their dissolution.