History
Racoon started in 1997 as an acoustic duo made up of singer Bart van der Weide and guitarist Dennis Huige. The two previously played in a hardcore punk named Vict'em, but left to make a different style of music. As a duo, they released three songs for a compilation by The Dutch Rock & Pop Institute. The band relocated to Utrecht in 1998, adding bassist Stefan de Kroon and drummer Paul Bukkens. [5] Bukkens came up with the band name Racoon after watching a documentary about raccoons. [6]
After self-releasing the demo It's an Ice Cream Day and playing the Noorderslag festival in 1999, the band received several offers and signed to Sony Music. [6] They released two albums on Sony: Till Monkeys Fly (2000) and Here We Go, Stereo (2001). They had a few minor radio hits, but the band would later say that they view their second album with mixed feelings, as the label insisted on releasing a follow-up soon. [2] When Marlboro asked Racoon to cover a favourite band for a "flashback tour", they chose Faith No More. [7]
In 2002, Sony dropped Racoon because their head office in the United States wanted the label to dump all the Dutch bands. Now unsigned, singer Van der Weide worked as a garbage man for a year and a half before Racoon were picked up by an independent label, Play It Again Sam. Their third album, Another Day, was released in 2005 and sold 60,000 copies in the first year, more than their first two combined. [7] The single "Love You More" reached number three on the Dutch Top 40, and was followed up by further top 40 hits "Laugh About It" and "Brother". [8] Racoon played the main stage of the Pinkpop Festival in 2006. [9] In 2007, they embarked on their first American tour, opening for The Lemonheads. [10]
Racoon released their fourth album Before You Leave in 2008. Their fifth album Liverpool Rain, was released in 2011 and featured string arrangements recorded in Abbey Road Studios with the London Chamber Orchestra, arranged by Andrew Powell. [11] The lead single "No Mercy" reached number three on the Dutch Top 40. In 2012, Racoon recorded "Oceaan", their first Dutch-language song, for the soundtrack to the film Alles is familie. [12] It became their third top ten hit, peaking at number six. [13] In 2013, they made the song "Shoes of Lighting" for NPO 3FM's Serious Request fundraiser, against child mortality from diarrhea. [14] Their sixth album, All in Good Time, was released in 2015 and also went to number one on the Dutch Albums Chart. [15] This was followed by Look Around and See the Distance in 2017, which was their last album with bassist Stefan de Kroon, who announced he would leave the band at the end of the year. [16] De Kroon was succeeded by Maarten van Damme, formerly of the bands Abel and Rosemary's Sons. [17]
In 2020, Racoon announced their first Dutch-language album, inspired by the death of Van der Weide's sister. Its lead single, "Het is al laat toch", peaked at number two on the Dutch Top 40 in 2020, their biggest hit yet. [13] The album Spijt is iets voor later (2021) reached number one again. [18] For their ninth album It Is What It Is (2024), the band returned to English songs, supported by the lead single "Nickel for Goodbye". [19] [20]
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