Racoon

PIAS (Play It Again Sam)

Van Diemenstraat 158
1013 CN AMSTERDAM
T  020-3031300
E  playit@pias.nl
W  www.pias.nl

Summary

Biography

Band that plays a mixture of melodic rock and pop. Their big break comes with the release of the album 'Till Monkeys Fly'. The single 'Feel Like Flying' is a huge radio hit.
Full biography

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Members

Paul Bukkens   drums
Stefan De Kroon   basgitaar
Dennis Huige   gitaar
Bart van der Weide   zang

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News archive

Popronde breidt uit met vier steden en maakt selectie 2011 bekend (5/4/11) 
MCN lanceert online Handboek voor Popmuzikant (5/11/09) 
Moke, Voicst, zZz naar Popkomm in Berlijn (9/18/08) 
Selectie bekend negende Unsigned editie (9/17/08) 
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Concerts & Festivals

by Podiuminfo / Festivalinfo

3/26/12, Paard van Troje, Den Haag
3/31/12, Heineken Music Hall, Amsterdam
4/6/12, Paaspop Schijndel, Schijndel
6/1/12, Parkfeest Oosterhout, Slotpark, Oosterhout NB
6/16/12, Indian Summer Festival, Broek op Langedijk
More results Less results

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Biography

Band that plays a mixture of melodic rock and pop. Their big break comes with the release of the album 'Till Monkeys Fly'. The single 'Feel Like Flying' is a huge radio hit.

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1997

Racoon starts as an acoustic duo: singer Bart van der Weide and guitarist Dennis Huige. They release three songs on the singer/songwriter compilation album 'Characters,' released by the Dutch Rock & Pop Institute.

ViCT'eM

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1998

Van der Weide and Huige are joined by bassist Stefan de Kroon and drummer Paul Bukkens and the band moves to Utrecht. Racoon plays at the Heineken X-pl'oor-festival in the Melkweg and in Rotterdam. Their self-released demo 'It's An Ice Cream Day' earns them the attention of several record companies and many positive reviews from the Dutch press.

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1999

Racoon is opening act at the annual Noorderslag festival. They sign to Sony's S.M.A.R.T. label and at the end of this year they go into the studio to record their full-length debut.

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2000

In January Racoon plays at the Eurosonic festival in Groningen. This month also sees the release of the long expected debut album 'Till Monkeys Fly', which was recorded at the ICP-studios in Brussels. 'Till Monkees Fly' is produced by Michel "Magic Stick" Schoots from Urban Dance Squad; the end mix was done by Phil Nicolo (ZZ Top, Aerosmith, Urge Overkill) and Bob Ludwig was responsible for the mastering of the album. The band is being touted as the next big thing and the single 'Feel Like Flying' is power played on Radio 3 FM. Racoon plays at the Parkpop and Lowlands festivals.

Michel Schoots

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2001

The singles 'Smoothly' and 'Eric's Bar' are released, the latter appears on Racoon's new album 'Here We Go, Stereo'.

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2002

In February Racoon tours the country performing songs from Faith No More for the 'Marlboro Flashback Tour'.

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2003

Racoon plays at the Europe Day festival in Kiev. Other bands on the bill include Alphaville (Germany), The Blueberries (Denmark), K-System (Finland) and bands from Poland, Lithuania, the Czech Republic and the Ukraine. The festival is organised by the European Union.

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2004

Racoon signs a recording deal with PIAS. Its song Feel Like Flying is runner up in the Top 100 Best Dutch Pop Songs. Voted by the listenership of public Radio 3FM, it is trailing behind Van Dik Hout's Stil In Mij. Snippets of the track Reach are used in two Calvé TV ads.

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2005

After having picked 13 out of 50 new songs, in March third album Another Day, again produced by Michel Schoots, comes out. Guests include Robin van Vliet and René Merkelbach (ex-Vals Licht). Together with Krezip Racoon represents the Dutch contingent at the one-off Rockin' Park festival (June 26) in Nijmegen, which also features REM and Lenny Kravitz. Corrino Media Corporations produces three videos for the singles Happy Family, Love You More and I Could Laugh About It. Together they make up a 15-minute mini film. They are made available on the dual disc of Love You More; one side contains audio (CD), and the other side contains video (DVD). In August Racoon plays at the Lowlands festival. In September Another Day reaches the gold status, acknowledging sales in excess of 40.000 copies. On October 5 the band gives a special performance at the Dutch Film Festival in Utrecht. First they show aforementioned mini film. Next they play a 40-minute acoustic set in the cinema. In November belatedly Racoon picks up its gold album at 'Racoon Day' on 3FM.

Robin van Vliet Vals Licht

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2006

Racoon's Another Day wins a NightLiveXS Award for Best Album, as voted for by the public, consisting of the readership of Live XS and the listeners of alternative-formatted Kink FM. It gets some 10.000 votes. In February Another Day reaches the platinum status, acknowledging sales in excess of 80.000 copies. At the 3FM Awards in Amsterdam's Melkweg in March, Racoon wins three awards: Best Pop Artist, Best Single plus a Rigter's Scale (named after the late DJ Wim Rigter), acknowledging Love You More's pole position in the station's playlist of 2005. Additionally, on March 15 the band wins an Edison Music Award for Best Dutch Band. By the end of March the CD/DVD Another Night, featuring footage from the two Paradiso Amsterdam shows in December 2005 plus assorted videos. In June Racoon plays at the Pinkpop Festival. In the autumn the band plays 25 shows in the Dutch theatres.

Armin van Buuren

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2007

The song Close Your Eyes can be heard in the Dutch film Kicks which premieres in February. The members of Racoon are 'ambassadors of freedom' and perform at various liberation festivals on 5 May. Racoon and producer Michel Schoots work in the Jet Studios in Brussels on the band's next album Before You Leave. Early October the album Another Day is released in the United States and Canada through the American label Yep Roc Records. The US/Canada release includes the extra track Close Your Eyes from the film Kicks. Starting late November Racoon tours the US with American band The Lemonheads.

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2008

In January, Racoon plays at the Eurosonic festival in Groningen, the Netherlands. In February the band is support act for Flemish group Milow for their Belgian shows. Following this, Racoon kicks off a Dutch club tour. The album Before You Leave is released in March, preceded by the single Lucky All My Life. Even before the new album has hit the shops, Before You Leave has become gold selling over 30.000 copies in the pre-sale. Bart van der Weide can be heard on the charity single Als Je Ooit Nog Eens Terug Kan (If You Could Ever Go Back) which is recorded as part of the Ticket For Tibet festival which takes place on 20 April in Amsterdam. The single enters the Single Top 100 at number one. On 1 June, Racoon plays at the Pinkpop festival. The band shoots a video for the single Clean Again and in the summer Racoon plays at festivals in Belgium and Germany. Before a Dutch theatre tour is kicked off in October, Racoon tours with Norwegian band Minor Majority in Germany. Late September Racoon tours in Europe with The Lemonheads. The two bands play nine shows in Belgium, Germany and Austria.

Bløf

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2009

Early March the single My Town is released. A clubtour is already well on its way by then. Mid-May the band crosses the North Sea for several shows in Brighton, Portsmouth and Liverpool. Due to popular demand the theatre tour is continued later in the year. The show, featuring acoustic songs, kicks off on 31 July and ends 18 December. In September Racoon returns to Germany for twelve shows. The German tour kicks off on 3 September in Hamburg and ends with a show in Dortmund on 14 September. Initially, the live album Live At Chassé Theater, Breda, is available only during the tour. But because demand for the album is high, the CD eventually may also be sold in the shops.

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Discography

In the discography you will find all recordings that have been released listed chronologically. We restrict ourselves to the title, the type of audio, year of publication or recording, label, list of guest musicians, plus any comments on the issue.

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Photos

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Audio/Video

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Video

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