Racoon (band)

Racoon
Racoon at Parkpop, 2008
Background information
Origin	Goes, Zeeland, Netherlands
Genres	Pop rock
Years active	1997–present
Labels	Sony Music, Roadrunner
Members	Bart van der Weide Dennis Huige Maarten van Damme Paul Bukkens
Past members	Stefan de Kroon
Website	www.racoon.nl

Racoon are a Dutch pop rock band from Goes, Zeeland, formed in 1997. The band's current lineup consists of vocalist Bart van der Weide, guitarist Dennis Huige, bassist Maarten van Damme and drummer Paul Bukkens. Stefan de Kroon was the bassist from 1998 to 2017.

The band experienced a breakthrough in 2005 with their third album Another Day and the single "Love You More", which reached number three on the Dutch Top 40 and became one of the biggest hits of the year. They have since recorded four number-one albums on the Dutch Albums Chart alongside the top ten singles "No Mercy", "Oceaan" and "Het is Al Laat Toch". After the success of "Oceaan" in 2012, the band began to record music in their native Dutch language as well.

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. Bukkens came up with the band name Racoon after watching a documentary about raccoons.

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. 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. When Marlboro asked Racoon to cover a favourite band for a "flashback tour", they chose Faith No More.

In 2002, Sony dropped Racoon because their head office in the United States wanted the label to release all of 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. 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". Racoon played the main stage of the Pinkpop Festival in 2006. In 2007, they embarked on their first American tour, opening for The Lemonheads.

In 2008, the band released its fourth album, Before You Leave with the band being present at many Dutch Festivals and playing in front of thousands of visitors during Pinkpop, Rockin Park and Parkpop events. In the fall of the same year, they had a successful tour in Dutch theaters that continued into the following year. In May 2011, Racoon released their fifth album, called Liverpool Rain. It was produced by Wouter Van Belle and recorded in Powertone Studios near Mechelen (Belgium) and in Abbey Road Studios in London where they played together with the London Chamber Orchestra, arranged by Andrew Powell. Some of the vocal takes from those London sessions made it onto the album. Their biggest hit so far came from the album called "No Mercy".

Members

• Bart van der Weide – lead vocals (1997–present)
• Dennis Huige – guitars (1997–present)
• Maarten van Damme – bass (2017–present)
• Paul Bukkens – drums (1998–present)

Live member since 2006:

• Manu van Os – keyboards

Previous member(s)

• Stefan de Kroon – bass (1998–2017)

Discography

Albums

• Till Monkeys Fly (Sony, 2000)
• Here We Go Stereo (Sony, 2001)
• Another Day (Sony, 2005)
• Before You Leave (Sony, 2008)
• Live at Chasse Theatre, Breda (live, 2009)
• Liverpool Rain (2011)
• The Singles Collection (compilation, 2013)
• All in Good Time (2015)
• Live at HML, Amsterdam (live, 2016)
• Look Ahead and See the Distance (2017)
• Spijt is iets voor later (2021)

Singles

• "Feel Like Flying" (2000)
• "Blue Days" (2000)
• "Eric's Bar" (2001)
• "Happy Family" (2005)
• "Love You More" (2005)
• "Laugh About It" (2005)
• "Brother" (2006)
• "Close Your Eyes" (2007)
• "Lucky All My Life" (2008)
• "Clean Again" (2008)
• "No Mercy" (2011)
• "Took a Hit" (2011)
• "Don't Give Up the Fight" (2011)
• "Liverpool Rain" (2012)
• "Freedom" (2012)
• "Oceaan" (2012)
• "Shoes of Lightning" (2013)
• "Brick by Brick" (2014)
• "Guilty" (2015)
• "Bring It On" (2017)
• "Soon" (2018)
• "Het is Al Laat Toch" (2020)
• "De Echte Vent" (2020)
• "Hee Joh Jip" (2021)
• "Geef Je Hart Niet Zomaar Weg" (2021)
• "Nickel for Goodbye" (2023)

Featured in

• "Love You More" – Armin van Buuren featuring Racoon (2006)