RAKES' PROGRESS

Alan Donohue lost a job but gained an inspiration for one of the sunniest singles of the year. Kevin Courtney meets the Rakes' frontman, who - gasp! - likes reading books.

Alan Donohue has known crushing disappointment. He's come within inches of the prize, only to have it snatched away and put forever beyond his reach. He's seen his hopes trampled into the dust, his dreams left lying in the gutter.

Yes, the singer from The Rakes once came that close to getting a cushy job in central London. He'd passed through the interview process, and was confident - almost cocksure - that he had the job. Twenty-two grand a year was the salary - a lot of money to a guy who had previously done menial jobs in offices and hospitals. This was to be his golden ticket, his entree into the heady world of the high-rollers.

OK, he wouldn't exactly be able to act the flash git on 22 grand, and the Porsche would have to be put on hold, but he'd be well made up.

"I didn't get it in the end, but I was whistling this tune," recalls Donohue. "It was a sunny day, I thought I'd be earning loads of money, so I was singing '22 grand job in the city, it's alright'. I brought it into the studio and we worked on it from there. And the rest of the lyrics - there's only two verses, very simple - is about the fact that I didn't get the 22 grand job, I got one for like seven quid an hour."

22 Grand Job is the fabulously catchy new single from The Rakes' debut album, Capture/Release. If it hits the Top 10, then Donohue and his bandmates - guitarist Matthew Swinnerton, bassist Jamie Hornsmith and drummer Lasse Petersen - won't be worrying about their employment prospects anytime soon.

The video was filmed in an office block in Edgeware, North London, near where Donohue was brought up, and features a bevy of beautiful women doing twirls in front of their typewriters. Just a typical day in the office, then. Unsuprisingly, it's getting lots of play on the music video stations. It's also refreshingly brief, clocking in at a mere minute-and-a-half of punk-pop wonderment. With its explosive beat and twisting guitar licks, 22 Grand Job could shape up to be this year's Song 2.

"Yeah, we kind of missed out on the whole intro, and all the strings at the end," laughs Donohue. "It's not a song that's making a point about something. It's not someone saying oh, you think you're cool cos you're in a 22 grand job, but you're rubbish cos we're in a band and we're really cool. It was nothing like that. It was just telling exactly what happened to me in a particular situation.

"When we first got together as a band, I had never been in a band before, and I just knew I hated certain lyrics that sounded really pretentious. I'd go and see bands, and they'd be overly poetic to make out they were really intelligent. It was like oh, 'I was a drop in your sea of testosterone', and I'd be going, what are you talking about, man? So you can still be direct and use your intelligence.

"A lot of songs I write, I approach them like an essay, about things that happen to me during the day. It's not, OK, I'm gonna write a song about how I hate my boss. I hate work, oh, yeah, I hate you. That's a bit lame. And it really lessens the song."

Coming from London, and having a punky sound, The Rakes initially ran the risk of being lumped in with the post-Libertines crowd. Instead, they've been put in the aisle marked "intellectual punk-pop", probably a result of Donohue's voracious appetite for - gasp - books. Apparently the singer reads with alarming regularity, at home, on holiday, even on the tourbus. Certainly, the band's lyrics betray a love of the written word and a penchant for smart, literate turns of phrase.

"People think most people in bands can't read, and if they can, they just read the Sun, so anyone who can read must be a major intellectual. But yeah, I like reading books, when I can find time to, when I can calm down. But it's very hard to read while on tour, for example. It's like a whirlwind, and it's hard to concentrate when you're drinking a lot. Yeah, I read books, I'm sure a lot of people do. It's just one element of what I am."

Donoghue has a degree in biology and would probably have pursued a career in medical research if the opportunity to form a band hadn't come along. He and Hornsmith had been friends at Brighton University and, when the bassist invited him to be the frontman for his new band, Donohue decided to give it a go.

The Rakes began playing support slots with the likes of Art Brut and Bloc Party, quickly graduating to headlining their own gigs, thanks to Donohue's energetic frontman antics, Swinnerton's inventive, forceful guitar playing, and drummer Petersen's maniacal Keith Moon presence. 22 Grand Job was originally released last year but, following the success of singles Strasbourg and Work, Work, Work (Pub, Club, Sleep), and positive reviews for the album, they're giving 22 Grand Job another whirl.

They've also been invited to support Franz Ferdinand on their upcoming tour. Usually, support acts have to challenge the headliner to see who can do the most drugs. With Franz Ferdinand, it could turn into a battle to see who uses the biggest words.

"I haven't met the Franzes but I'm looking forward to it. I have a lot of respect for them because they're very helpful to new bands. They pick support acts that they like rather than acts that are forced upon them.

"So yeah, we feel pretty privileged. They can pick who they like to support them, and they've picked little old us. And yes, I suppose I'll be just a little bit starstruck. I'm hoping when we meet them we can have the odd intelligent chat, talk arty shite through the night. We'll probably set up a University Challenge-type competition.

"I don't know if that's become some kind of a cliche, bands trying to be intelligent, bookish types. But for us, the whole thing of being in a band, doing lots of coke, shagging supermodels, it's such a boring cliche.

"Obviously, though, it's fun. Just put down that we're really rock'n'roll, but that we read the odd Dostoevsky as well."

The Rakes are in the Point, Dublin on November 18th with Franz Ferdinand and The Editors