The Rakes were an English indie rock band from London who had a string of top 40 singles and albums in the mid-2000s. Forming in 2003, they split up in October 2009.
The Rakes formed in 2003. Their debut album, Capture/Release, spawned the singles "22 Grand Job", "Work, Work, Work (Pub, Club, Sleep)", and "Retreat". Several of their singles have appeared in the Top 40 of the UK Singles Chart and Capture/Release reached No. 32 in the UK Albums Chart. The final single release from Capture/Release, "All Too Human", was released in the UK on 27 February 2006 and reached their best chart position (No. 22).
The Rakes' second album, Ten New Messages, was released by V2 Records on 19 March 2007. This album was produced by Jim Abiss (who has also worked with Arctic Monkeys, Editors and Kasabian) and Brendan Lynch (who has worked with Primal Scream). It was recorded in Mayfair Studios in London during the autumn of 2006.
The band's third album, Klang, was recorded at Karl-Marx-Allee in Berlin in a studio that was the former East German government's centre for radio broadcasts.
Spent the night in three drinks time
Where the bars were full it was summertime
Punks were hangin out in the park
While someone practised electric guitar
We drank some homemade wine
Now my heads not straight
So I lean for a minute on a cemetery gate
Half expecting to catch a sight
Of the dead Russian soldiers marching into the night
La la la la la laaaaa
Feel the sea like the blood is shed
As the dawn rubs up against our aching head
Girls light up pull there hoods up tight
Stuck the money in your bra that you made last night
Well I spent the night in three drinks time
Bars were full there was no closing time
Punks comparing tattoos and their scars
Now everyone’s waiting for the band to start
La la la la la laaaaaa
(its alright if it all goes wrong in this cold lone
city no one knows where your from)
Woohoo woohoo woohoo
Oh the camera pulls away to show a hidden alleyway
Of broken bags and dreams by Turkish cafes
Where the dirty little pigeon played his inner puddle
By the drip drip drip of an emptying bottle
Of champagne perched on top of a half bombed church
Seeing angels who hear our wounds that make no sounds
The bird flies out to meet the hopes of the dream
And see what such grand stories
He’s in the right to the left wing
He tries so hard
But falls back to earth to the filth of the yard
The singers blood runs cold like the spree
But not this girl not when she was 19
It was 1989
Its alright if it all goes wrong in this cold lone city
no one knows where your from