The Raincoats

The Raincoats

The Raincoats are a London-based British experimental post-punk group formed in 1977 by Ana da Silva and Gina Birch, who meet while studying at Hornsey College of Art. The band begins as a post-punk act with a changing line-up and becomes an all-female group in late 1978. Its early members include Ross Crighton on guitar, Nick Turner on drums, Kate Korus, Jeremie Frank, Richard Dudanski on drums, Palmolive, Vicky Aspinall on violin, and manager Shirley O’Loughlin. The group is active from 1977 to the present.

Early releases and first period

The Raincoats play their first gig in November 1977. Rough Trade Records issues their first single, “Fairytale in the Supermarket” / “In Love” / “Adventures Close to Home”, and the band tours the UK with the Swiss group Kleenex in May 1979. Their first album, The Raincoats, is followed by Odyshape in 1980, after Palmolive leaves and Ingrid Weiss joins on drums. On Odyshape, guest musicians include Robert Wyatt, Charles Hayward of This Heat, and Richard Dudanski. The band also tours Europe and the east coast of the United States during this period.

Live work, split and later activity

In December 1982, the band records a live album at The Kitchen in New York; The Kitchen Tapes is released on ROIR in 1983. The group then splits after the 1984 album Moving. Interest in the band later grows again after Kurt Cobain writes about meeting Ana da Silva and cites the group in the liner notes to Nirvana’s Incesticide. In 1993, Rough Trade and DGC Records reissue the three albums with liner notes by Cobain and Kim Gordon.

Reunion and later recordings

In March 1994, Ana da Silva and Gina Birch play a London show with Steve Shelley on drums and Anne Wood on violin to mark the reissues. They also record a John Peel session, later released on Paul Smith’s Blast First and Shelley’s Smells Like Records. Kurt Cobain invites the band to appear on Nirvana’s planned UK tour, but he dies before it begins. In 1996, Ana da Silva and Gina Birch release Looking in the Shadows on DGC Records and Rough Trade, produced by Ed Buller. Musicians on the album include Anne Wood, Heather Dunn on drums, and Pete Shelley. Since then, the band plays selected special events, including Robert Wyatt’s Meltdown in 2001 and Chicks on Speed’s 99 Cents album release in Berlin in 2003.

Style and personnel

The Raincoats are associated with post-punk, new wave, art pop, art punk, avant-garde pop, experimental rock, indie rock and lo-fi. Across their history, members and collaborators include Ana da Silva, Gina Birch, Ross Crighton, Nick Turner, Palmolive, Vicky Aspinall, Ingrid Weiss, Richard Dudanski and Anne Wood.