It turns out you’ll have an extra reason to check out The Rakes when the London quartet hit the road this month to support their latest effort, Klang. The upcoming dates, which include stops in both the U.S. and U.K., will be band’s final performances for sometime, as the foursome has announced plans for a hiatus.
In a recent interview with BBC 6, The Rakes revealed they will be taking lengthy break after their upcoming global trek in an attempt to “overhaul their writing style” for the followup to Klang.
“I think now is the time for us to take a break and think about what we want to do next,” said singer Alan Donohoe.
“(Guitarist) Matthew (Swinnerton) and I are going to start a different style of writing,” Donohoe continued. “It won’t be how The Rakes have always written music which usually involves coming in with a couple of ideas and bashing it out in a rehearsal room in east London. We will try and make something which for us, is a little bit out there.”
Donohe went on to point to Danger Mouse’s iconic The Grey Album as a basis for his inspiration. “I’m not a massive hip hop fan and we’re not going to make a hip hop record but I started studying that album and breaking it down into what, for me, makes it a very dynamic and novel sounding LP,” he explained.
The band gave no timetable for how long this hiatus might last or when we should be expecting what is already being billed as a “completely novel and refreshing” new studio album. However, what we do know is there will be plenty of opportunities to check out in the coming weeks before they say goodbye.
The Rakes 2009 Tour Dates:
09/12 – Molina De Segura, ES @ B-Side Festival
09/18 – Porto, PT @ Casa De Musica
09/19 – Belgrade, RS @ Jelen Live Fest
09/20 – Zagreb, HR @ Mars Festival
09/26 – Corunna, ES @ 981 Festival
10/03 – Hannover, DE @ Faust
10/04 – Darmstadt, DE @ Centralstation
10/06 – Treviso, IT @ New Age Club
10/07 – Rome, IT @ Circolo Degli Artisti
10/08 – Florence, IT @ Viper
10/09 – Bologne, IT @ Covo Club
10/10 – Kaiserslautern, DE @ Kammgarn
10/11 – Cologne, DE @ E-Werk
10/13 – Dresden, DE @ Beatpol
10/14 – Erlangen, DE @ E-Werk
10/16 – Utrecht, NL @ Faust
10/26 – Leeds, UK @ Cockpit
10/27 – Bristol, UK @ Academy
10/28 – Birmingham, UK @ Academy
10/29 – London, UK @ The Forum
10/31 – Los Angeles, CA @ The Roxy
11/01 – San Francisco, CA @ Slims
11/03 – Salt Lake City, UT @ The Urban Lounge
11/04 – Denver, CO @ The Bluebird
11/06 – Minneapolis, MN @ Triple Rock
11/07 – Chicago, IL @ Double Door
11/09 – Montreal, QC @ Petit Campus
11/11 – Boston, MA @ Great Scott
11/12 – New York, NY @ Highline Ballroom
