“WE’RE not a metal band. We’re from England,” Alan Danahoe proclaimed, and proceeded to adjust his collar. Perhaps when faced with a half-enthusiastic crowd, The Rakes felt the need for formal introduction midway into the set.
UK indie band The Rakes made their debut performance at Heineken Green Room’s (HGR) latest session at Zouk last Thursday night. As Heineken’s exclusive community organizes nightlife events that are limited to invite-only entries, it has gotten common music lovers in Singapore worked up and frustrated.
Alan Jemeny, 22, has been a fan of The Rakes since they were in the early stages  of fame. He felt it was a shame to deprive other supporters from getting into the gig, and considers himself a very lucky fan.
“My colleague and I are both fans, but we had a very hard time attaining the tickets, and I’m sure others were not as lucky as us. I got the invites through HGR’s Facebook group by partially harassing the organisers. They kindly gave in after a while. I thought that a limited amount of tickets should have been available to the public, to ensure genuine fans who weren't in the media or HGR members could mix in as well.”
Skinny Alan Danahoe, lead vocals for The Rakes
As HGR members are mainly made up of people in the music scene, the creative people of Singapore turned up at the event sporting vintage dresses, big retro glasses, tight black pants, and vests. In contrast with the much older majority who were chilling out and catching up with their industry friends over bottles of beer, there were excited students who waiting up front at the stage, eagerly awaiting The Rakes to appear. That pretty much stayed the same throughout The Rakes’ performance, with the front three rows enjoying every minute of the live music, head banging and jumping to each beat while the rest of the club stood still, watching the band with a bottle of Heineken in one hand.
The Rakes’ hour-long set was tight, well executed, and straight-up rock and roll. Its skinny members came right up to the edge of the stage, and played each track with the enthusiasm to match the screaming fans in front of them. They played so hard one of their supporting guitarist ripped his shirt by the second song.
As the fans actively danced to the music, Alan Danahoe responded by imitating a couple of their hand gestures. Clearly under alcohol influence, Alan continued to pop his shoulders, sway his hips, and wiggle his arms wildly throughout the performance. His sober band mates also matched up with his zeal by raising their hands in unison to clap along in the middle of a song.
The Rakes also took advantage of their small-scale show to test out their new songs, one of which was named “Sometimes you can’t smell the shit till you’re in it”. The crowd responded positively to each unheard song, which is pretty rare for live performances.
Guitarists rocking the small stage
One satisfied fan amongst the crowd was 19-year-old Linh Tran, who won tickets to the event through HGR’s online contest. “ Waiting 2 hours for the show to start was not fun, but I really enjoyed the event, only because The Rakes gave a great performance. Winning the opportunity to see this amazing band at such an intimate venue made it even more special for me. ”
The door to the event was indeed opened at 10pm, and as the crowd filtered in early, they got impatient for having to wait till 11:45pm before the gig commenced. However, organisers explained that the highlight act for HGR sessions always go on after 11:30pm.
HGR’s newly formed sound council also revealed its members that night. Made up of musicians, DJs, and artists, it strives to work closely with HGR to elevate Singapore’s music and nightlife scene into new unexplored heights.
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