Music

With millions glued to every episode of ‘EastEnders’, it’s clear that the British love being reminded how rubbish theirs and everyone else’s lives are. It’s also the reason for the success of soap opera bands like The Streets, Hard-Fi, the Arctic Monkeys and, increasingly, The Rakes. With songs about iPod batteries (‘1 Problem’), dead-end jobs (‘22 Grand Job’) and hangovers (several tracks), each new day provides this four-piece with another muse. And with wit and insight beyond many of their peers, The Rakes perfectly capture the lives of twentysomething Londoners.

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Described in one music rag as the ‘post-punk Monkees’, these ska-infused Cure fans converged on the capital from Staffordshire (guitarist Matthew Swinnerton), Gloucester (bassist Jamie Hornsmith), Sweden (drummer Lasse Petersen) and north London (vocalist Alan Donohoe) in 2002. Since Time Out’s last encounter with the band in November 2004, they’ve released their debut album ‘Capture/Release’ (July 2005) to acclaim on both sides of the Atlantic. The results are better trainers, fancier hair and more glamorous stories. But they’ve retained the everyman charm that gave them such an appeal for young Londoners ‘drifting along with no focus or meaning’ (from their single ‘Work, Work, Work (Pub, Club, Sleep)’). Surprisingly, though, the band insist they’re not hedonists or malcontents.

‘That’s just the way that we’ve been portrayed in the press,’ says a bespectacled Swinnerton. ‘Even in America people tend to pick up on the sardonic, day job/drinking image. What about appealing to a demographic of 18 to 20-year-olds who just want to have a good time?’
In truth, the tales of binge-drinking and mundane jobs do tend to overshadow their more fun-filled and thoughtful moments. But they haven’t exactly dissuaded people from this image, what with their choice of song (‘Just A Man With A Job’) for a recent Serge Gainsbourg tribute album.

‘We were looking at other songs to cover,’ laughs wiry, well-spoken vocalist Donohoe, ‘but the subject matter wasn’t suitable. Singing from the perspective of a 60-year-old man playing around with a 14-year-old girl on the beach isn’t something I know about. So we picked something we could relate to and it turns out it’s about some guy punching holes in tickets. I’ve never had that job, but I can imagine how boring it would be.’

Alongside tales of a nine-to-five existence the band also evoke what it’s like to live in the capital, most notably on the tense, bass-heavy ‘Terror!’, written before the July 7 terrorist attacks. The song contains some almost prophetic lyrics.

‘We were a bit wary about that song,’ says Donohoe. ‘When we wrote it we were still coming together as a band, a couple of years after 9/11. Terrorism in the world still seemed quite distant and easier to write about then.’

‘It was really more about a sense of unease, rather than anything specific,’ adds Swinnerton. ‘Sure, there’s an allusion to a terrorist attack and in the most visceral line, it’s very explicit [‘the network is down’]. But when I started writing it, it was more about the world’s paranoia. Once something has happened, like 9/11, you start looking at everyday things, like suitcases and aeroplanes, in a different way. Their innocence is lost. It was never a specific song to say: “Oh God, we’re going to get blown up!” ’

Not that concerns about terrorism mean the band are planning on leaving London any time soon – the capital is too ingrained in the band’s DNA for that. The setting for today’s interview, Brixton’s marvellous Windmill venue, is where they played their first gigs – in spite of one Irish regular shouting, ‘That’s not music you cunts!’. London provides the material they sing about. This is the city where Donohoe was once confused for Tom Cruise in Argos (‘Where else would that happen?!’).

Now, after successful appearances at Austin’s South By Southwest and California’s Coachella festivals, the band are back in London for two sold-out shows at Shepherd’s Bush Empire. It’s also time to start thinking about another album. New inspiration is again on their doorstep in the shape of the burgeoning ‘grindie’ scene – a hybrid of indie rock and London’s grime MC culture. Its most famous track is Lethal Bizzle’s reworking of the band’s own ‘22 Grand Job’, which features on producer Statik’s upcoming ‘Grindie Vol 1’ compilation.

‘I’m not so happy about all the swearing, but the track’s brilliant,’ says Donohoe. ‘I spoke to Lethal on the phone and he said, “The grindie scene, man, it’s blowing up! I did ‘22 Grand Job’ at the Rock Against Racism gig in Trafalgar Square and 7,000 people went crazy!” Statik’s the brains behind this whole grindie thing. He played me some tunes and they were like nothing I’ve ever heard. I’ve got a song that I think could work with his beats. Maybe indie on top of grime: would that be indie-grrr?’

With Swinnerton also confessing his admiration for Wembley’s Lady Sovereign (‘I love that track that goes, “You’re wearing too much fake tan/ Fucking hell you look like the Tango Man” ’) the band have plenty of avenues to explore. But, after spending much of the last year touring Tokyo, New York and LA, will they still relate to those young Londoners with dull jobs who’ll be bellowing their fizzing punk anthems back at them on Friday and Saturday?

‘Well, we still have to be up in the morning and come to meetings, like this,’ says Donohoe. ‘And we still encounter routine: getting up early, getting up hungover, commuting. What we’re doing now obviously isn’t quite the same as doing photocopying. But, don’t worry, we haven’t forgotten what it’s like to have a normal life.’