Racoon

Dutch alternative rock band Racoon from Goes (Zeeland) started life in 1997 as an acoustic duo consisting of singer Bart van der Weide and guitarist Dennis Huige. The following year, they added Paul Bukkens on drums, Stefan De Kroon on bass and their four-piece band was born. Their debut, self-released single "It's an Ice Cream Day" got them noticed in the industry and, after performing at the Noorderslag Festival, they received an offer of a recording contract from Sony. In 2000 their debut album - Til Monkeys Fly - was released, featuring the singles "Feel Like Flying", "Smoothly" and "Eric's Bar". The band's second and third albums - Here We Go, Stereo! (2001) and Another Day (2005) - helped to build their reputation and fan base, and by the time of their fourth album titled Before You Leave (2008), the band was regularly being invited to perform at popular festivals including Eurosonic, Heineken X-pl'oor and Rockin Park. Their fifth album, Liverpool Rain (2011), was recorded with Andrew Powell in London's Abbey Road Studios and features performances with the London Chamber Orchestra. This album helped to bring their music to the UK and consequently caused the British people to take notice of this previously unheard of Dutch group. In 2012, their first Dutch-language song "Oceaan" was recorded for the soundtrack to the film Alles is familie and peaked at Number six in the charts. Their sixth album All in Good Time was released in 2015 and went Number one. This was followed by Look Around and See the Distance (2017), the last album with bassist Stefan De Kroon, replaced by Maartne van Damme, formerly of the bands Abel and Rosemary's Sons. In 2020, their first Dutch-language album Spjit is iets voor later reached Number one again and featured the hit single "Het is al laat toch" (Number 2). The band returned to English songs with It Is What It Is in 2024.