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Biography
For|the Seinfeld episode|The Raincoats (Seinfeld)Infobox musical artist| name = The Raincoats| image =| background = group_or_band| origin = London, England| genre = Alternative rock Art punk Neo-psychedelia Post-punk | years_active = 1977–1984 1993–present| label = Rough Trade Records|Rough Trade , ROIR , Blast First , Smells Like Records|Smells Like , DGC Records|DGC | associated_acts =| website = http://www.theraincoats.net www.TheRaincoats.net| current_members = Ana da Silva Gina Birch Anne Wood| past_members = Richard Dudanski Ross Crighton Nick Turner Kate Korus Jeremie Frank Palmolive (musician)|Palmolive Vicky Aspinall Ingrid Weiss The Raincoats are a British post-punk band. Ana da Silva ( singer|vocals , guitar ) and Gina Birch (vocals, bass guitar|bass ) formed the group in 1977 while they were students at Hornsey College of Art , London, England. http://www.open.ac.uk/Arts/gender-in-humanities/archive.htm “Women and the Rock Business, and the story of the Raincoats” The Open University 7 February, 2005 open.ac.uk - Retrieved: 28 July 2007
Career
The line-up included Ross Crighton on guitar and Nick Turner on drums for the band’s first concert|gig on 9 November 1977. Kate Korus, from The Slits and later The Mo-dettes , joined briefly but was replaced by Jeremie Frank. Nick Turner left to form The Barracudas and Richard Dudanski (ex The 101ers|The 101'ers and later Public Image Ltd. ) sat in on drums and film maker Patrick Keiller replaced Jeremie Frank on guitar.
Late in 1978, The Raincoats became an all-women band|all female post-punk band, when joined by Palmolive (musician)|Palmolive of The Slits ( drum s), Vicky Aspinall ( violin ) and manager Shirley O'Loughlin . The band went on their first UK tour with Switzerland|Swiss female band Kleenex (band)|Kleenex , in May 1979 after Rough Trade Records released their first single (music)|single , "Fairytale in the Supermarket"/ "In Love"/ "Adventures Close to Home".
Palmolive left the band after their seminal first album The Raincoats (album)|The Raincoats and Ingrid Weiss joined in 1980, when the band began recording their second album Odyshape , and toured Europe and the east coast of the United States. Guest musicians on Odyshape included Robert Wyatt , This Heat 's Charles Hayward (musician)|Charles Hayward and Richard Dudanski .
In New York, in December 1982, The Raincoats recorded a live album at the arts space The Kitchen. The Kitchen Tapes (The Raincoats)|The Kitchen Tapes (live) was released on ROIR in 1983. http://www.roir-usa.com/8238.htm The Kitchen Tapes roir-usa.com - Retrieved: 28 July 2007
The band recorded Moving (The Raincoats album)|Moving in 1984 and began work on solo projects shortly after the release of this album. Gina Birch and Vicky Aspinall formed Dorothy and Ana da Silva worked with choreographer Gaby Agis on a series of dance projects and formed Roseland with Charles Hayward.
In 1992 Kurt Cobain of Nirvana (band)|Nirvana went into the Rough Trade Shop in Talbot Road, London in search of a new copy of The Raincoats (album)|The Raincoats and Jude Crighton sent him round the corner to see Ana da Silva at her cousin's antique shop. Cobain wrote passionately about this meeting in the liner notes of Nirvana’s Incesticide album. In late 1993 Rough Trade and DGC Records released the three albums with liner notes by Cobain and Kim Gordon .
Shirley O'Loughlin persuaded Ana da Silva and Gina Birch to play a show at the Garage in London in March 1994 with Steve Shelley of Sonic Youth on drums and Anne Wood on violin to celebrate the album releases. They recorded a session for BBC Radio 1 's John Peel , which was released on Paul Smith's Blast First and Steve Shelley’s record label Smells Like Records . Cobain invited them to play on the tour Nirvana planned for the UK in April, but he died a week before the tour began. da Silva and Birch had written some new material and released a new album Looking in the Shadows on DGC Records and Rough Trade Records in 1996 in music|1996 , produced by Britpop record producer|producer Ed Buller (who had previously worked with Suede (band)|Suede and Pulp (band)|Pulp ). Musicians included Anne Wood (violin, bass), Heather Dunn (drums) and Pete Shelley ( Buzzcocks and solo artist).
Since 1996, The Raincoats have played some special events such as Robert Wyatt 's Meltdown (festival)|Meltdown in 2001, at Chicks on Speed 's 99 Cents album release in Berlin in December 2003. da Silva and Birch recently recorded a cover version of "Monk Chant" for a compilation album of The Monks songs called Silver Monk Time , and performed the song live with the Monks in the Volksbuehne, Berlin in October 2006. They played at Ladyfest Leeds in April 2007 and the Nuits Sonores Festival in Lyon on 18 May 2007 on the Girl Monster stage with Chicks on Speed. On 28 March 2009 The Raincoats-Fairytales-A Work in Progress, directed by Gina Birch and produced by The Raincoats was screened at the BFI in London and the band performed at Donaufestival on the Girl Monster stage with Girl Monster Orchestra on 25 April. The band performed at the Matt Groening edition of the All Tomorrow's Parties (music festival)|All Tomorrow's Parties festival in May 2010 in Minehead, England.
On Nov. 21 2010 The Raincoats performed a concert as part of the PopRally series at Museum of Modern Art|MoMA in New York City. http://www.youtube.com/watch? v=Lg3UN7nYpJM The band have been chosen by Jeff Mangum of Neutral Milk Hotel to perform their debut album live at the All Tomorrow's Parties (music festival)|All Tomorrow's Parties festival that he will curate in March 2012 in Minehead, England. http://www.atpfestival.com/events/jeffmangum.php ATP curated by Jeff Mangum
In December 2011, it was announced that The Raincoats would appear at the 35 Conferette|35 Denton music festival in Texas in March 2012.cite web|url= http://frontrow.dmagazine.com/2011/12/the-raincoats-to-make-historic-first-ever-appearance-at-35d-in-march-other-notable-acts-also-announced-it-list-for-december-5|title=The Raincoats to Make Historic First Ever Appearance at 35D in March; Other Notable Acts also Announced|author=Anthony Riley|date=December 5, 2011|publisher= D Magazine |accessdate=2011-12-11
Discography
Chart placings shown are from the UK Indie Chart .Lazell, Barry (1997) Indie Hits 1980 - 1989 , Cherry Red Books, ISBN 0-9517206-9-4
Albums
1979 - The Raincoats (album)|The Raincoats http://blogs.guardian.co.uk/music/2007/07/forgotten_punk.html Guardian review of "Little-known records with big influence" 20 July 2007 guardian.co.uk - Retrieved: 28 July 2007 http://observer.guardian.co.uk/omm/story/0,,1241217,00.html Stuart Murdoch: My Top 10 albums observer.guardian.co.uk - Retrieved: 28 July 2007 (#5)
1981 - Odyshape (#5)
1983 - The Kitchen Tapes (The Raincoats)|The Kitchen Tapes (live)
1984 - Moving (The Raincoats album)|Moving (#5)
1996 - Looking in the Shadows
EPs
1983 - Animal Rhapsody
1994 - Extended Play
Singles
1979 - "Fairytale in the Supermarket" / "In Love" / "Adventures Close to Home"
1982 - "No One's Little Girl" / "Running Away" (#47)
1983 - "Animal Rhapsody" / "No One's Little Girl" / "Honey Mad Woman"
1996 – "Don’t Be Mean" / "Vicious" / "I Keep Walking"
Tracks on compilations
1980 - "In Love" on Wanna Buy A Bridge? - Rough Trade Records|Rough Trade
1990 - "No One's Little Girl" on A Constant Source of Interruption - Rough Trade Records|Rough Trade
1993 - "In Love" on Lipstick Traces - compiled by Greil Marcus author of In the Fascist Bathroom - Rough Trade Records|Rough Trade
1995 - "Off Duty Trip" on Razor and Tie Music - Razor and Tie
1995 - "In Love" on Upsalapalooza - WFMU
1996 - "Pretty" on Buy Product 2 - Geffen Records
1999 - "No One's Little Girl" on Postpunk Chronicles: Left of the Dial - Rhino Records
2001 - "Fairytale in the Supermarket" on Rough Trade Shops 25 years - Rough Trade Records|Rough Trade
2003 - "Lola" on Rough Trade Shops Post Punk 01 - Rough Trade Records|Rough Trade
2003 - "Animal Rhapsody" on Chicken Lips DJ Kicks - Studio !K7|!K7
2004 - "Fairytale in the Supermarket" on '' Left of the Dial: Dispatches from the '80s Underground
2006 - "Only Loved at Night" on Rip it Up - compiled by Simon Reynolds author of Rip it Up and Start Again
2006 - "Monk Chant" on Silver Monk Time
2006 - "Shouting Out Loud" on Girl Monster - Chicks on Speed
Notes
reflist
http://books.guardian.co.uk/departments/artsandentertainment/story/0,,2143791,00.html Guardian Online review of book relating to female punk musicians/groups including Gina Birch and Ana da Silva
External links
http://www.myspace.com/theraincoats The Raincoats official myspace site
http://www.theraincoats.net The Raincoats official web site
DEFAULTSORT:Raincoats, The Category:English punk rock groups Category:Musical groups established in 1977 Category:Musical groups from London Category:British post-punk music groups Category:Rough Trade Records artists Category:All-female bands
