The Rakes

Back in the day when a pre-fame Franz Ferdinand were attending gallery openings and re-assessing the early works of Klimpt, in proper art-school style, The Rakes were waking in puddles of their own vomit, eating up their overdrafts and re-assessing their decision to drink thirteen pints the night before. From these two pools of experience, from two different ends of the UK, came about two of our island's most exciting young rock bands. Yet while Franz have already captured the imaginations of the British mainstream and are enjoying an ever-steeping curve of success, The Rakes are still ruminating around indie-land, laying foundations of promise, searching for a window to hit it big. If they are to succeed, they'll sit in perfect co-existence with Alex Kapranos and his Glaswegian ilk - if Franz cater to a person's aspirations of art, glamour and high culture, then The Rakes invert this façade and remind us that we've all be on the sicker side of one too many drinks on one too many late nights out.

But just because their songs seem to be preoccupied with the potentially grey and tired themes of work, sex, drinking and clubbing, they are executed with wit, honesty and charm that manages to invert these mundane staples of modern society, adorning them with a sense of previously unrealised reverence. Combine this simple yet effective lyrical insight with some cracking hooks and tunes, and the full force of The Rakes' deceptively plain indie-band set-up is realised.

Tonight's show at the Rescue Rooms is completely sold out, but such is the demand for tickets that people are slipping the bouncers ten-pound notes to turn a blind eye to their unauthorised entry. When the band take the stage the modest auditorium is bursting at the gills and as the opening notes of 'Retreat' kick in, the power of several hundred sweaty, jumping bodies send vibrations through the walls and floor that seem to cause tears at the seams.

Lead singer Alan Donohoe is an eccentric stage presence whose eager eyes and sharp eclectic dance-moves liken him to a hyperactive meercat scouting for mischief. Amusing between song banter show him to be a smart and, more importantly, very likeable character and it's partly through his accessibility as a front man within which their success lies. So while they deal with the obvious trappings of life with which we can all empathise, the band elucidate them in a way that elevates them to more evocative, insightful level. In the same way that Morrissey reminded us that life can be a miserable, hard and misunderstood thing to experience, The Rakes remind us that it's also hugely ridiculous and absurd and that we might as well do our best to get a bit of enjoyment out of it somewhere along the line.

During a set of constant peaks, 'Open Book' and 'Work Work Work (Pub, Club, Sleep)' edge out as the Everests, and by the time the band finish their encore with the riotous '22 Grand Job', they've solidified themselves as one of our country's most talented and purposeful bands about. They're on their way up - the fact that they're supporting Franz Ferdinand on their upcoming tour is just the next step.

FUTURE GIGS

sorry, we currently have no gigs listed for this act.