Many thanks to Grand Central Publishing, Da Capo, and NetGalley for providing me with an advanced copy of Audrey Golden’s comprehensive and insightful Shouting Out Loud: The Lives of the Raincoats. This was a fascinating book about a band that I’ve heard of, but never really listened to. I’m glad that Golden’s interviews and archival work with the members of the band have prompted me to seek out The Raincoats’ work and learn more about their influence on many bands in the 90s and beyond. Like The Raincoats, Shouting Out Loud is hard to categorize as a specific genre of music writing. Golden has a great introduction in which she lays out her methodology for gathering the artifacts and interviews and organizing and analyzing them. Furthermore, members of the band, particularly Ana da Silva, had a rich archive of material from the band’s formation and initial run of shows and recordings from the late 70s and early 80s. Da Silva’s artifacts, along with those of other members and fans, provide excellent visual documentation that Golden also includes in her book. Golden explains that this synthesis of oral history and archival work allows for a rich layering that blends the various perspectives that memory brings with the artifacts that remain from that time-period. I also loved that Golden references Bakhtin in the book’s introduction to identify that The Raincoats’ music is part of its own unique chronotope, that is both shaped by the specific time and space of its time and has gone on to further influence other artists, particularly Kurt Cobain, Tobi Vail, and Kathleen Hanna among others. This is a really fascinating way to approach music scholarship, to show both how music is influenced by and further influences others.
The book is organized into 3 sections that examine different stages of the lives of The Raincoats. The first section examines how Gina and Ana met in the late 70s in London. Golden provides considerable context to different factors that led Ana and Gina to meet. I grew to appreciate some of these deep dives that provide a fuller context. For example, Golden details some of the history of Hornsey College of Art and how it was the center of leftist protest in the 60s and 70s. She also dives into squat life in 70s London, and how houses abandoned after WWII led to a creative scene in art and music that helped lead to British punk’s birth. This was cool to see as The Raincoats early years intertwined with not just the more well-known bands like The Clash (and the 101ers, Joe Strummer’s pre-Clash band), but also bands like The Slits, who seemed to influence Gina and Ana to form The Raincoats, X-Ray Specs, and This Heat. Not only does Golden’s research and archival work provide a richer context, but it helped to show how some of these other bands were more influential on the sound and spirit of The Raincoats and other bands of the time. Sometimes British punk’s origins are simplified and distilled to explain how The Ramones played England in the mid-70s, and that led to bands like The Clash and The Sex Pistols forming in order to play faster and louder than The Ramones. However, Golden’s analysis shows that British punk was not only tied to music, but also visual and performance arts, and was much more nuanced and expressive, providing voices to female artists who have often been pushed to the back of these short-sighted histories of British punk.
In addition to documenting The Raincoats’ formation, the first life of the band also examines their travels to other countries, in particular being the first punk band to play in Communist Poland, where music and expression were limited and regulated by the government. Again, Golden’s deep dive into the context of this time period provides an important layer to the story of The Raincoats to explore not only the kind of values they had exploring free expression and art, but also the kinds of artistic risks they took. This section of the book also examines their relationship with Rough Trade, the record store/label that recorded and put out their records, and their efforts to work with a drummer, which seemed to be a recurring theme throughout the book. Throughout this section, I also learned much about the process of recording songs and developing the art for their records. Although Rough Trade was an artist friendly organization that ultimately split profits with their bands, the band was still challenged with recording their work and maintaining their distinct sound and vision when working with engineers and producers who didn’t always share the same vision and values. Again, Golden’s contextualization of the music scene and industry in the late 70s and early 80s helps to show how both the need for a kind of commercial audience and the kinds of patriarchal influences in the engineering and production aspects of the music industry presented unique challenges to The Raincoats.
The middle section focuses on the 2nd life of The Raincoats, and not only examines what the members were up to after they disbanded around 1984, but also how their albums and music eventually made its way to the US and ended up in Olympia, WA, home of Evergreen State, whose students included Bruce Pavitt, Slim Moon, Kathleen Hanna, Corin Tucker, and Carrie Brownstein, among others. It was at Evergreen where Pavitt eventually discovered The Raincoats and began playing them on his radio show. It was so interesting to see how a band’s influence spread over analog methods pre-internet, and how a band could have such an influence on others. Eventually, Kurt Cobain came to discover The Raincoats, and his story documenting his meeting Ana da Silva in London was included in the liner notes for Incesticide. This 2nd life of The Raincoats was also fascinating since Kurt’s proclamations about the band helped to renew interest and eventually led to new distribution deals and tour plans with Nirvana, that sadly never materialized after Cobain’s death. Furthermore, it was interesting to learn more about the record industry as DGC signed The Raincoats, but the band again were challenged by the commercial aims of a major label like DGC who were looking for the next Nirvana. In addition to the influence on Nirvana, Golden also examines how The Raincoats influenced other bands from the 80s and 90s, including Sonic Youth and bands from Kill Rock Stars. While sonically there may be differences, it was more the ethos and spirit of The Raincoats, making music and art in their own distinct voices and challenging the dominant systems of the music industry, that appealed to so many artists and fans in the 90s. Although their initial plans for touring ended after Cobain’s death, The reformed Raincoats were able to tour later in the 90s and create new music while also re-releasing their original albums with new distribution deals. I also found it interesting to learn how democratic they remained in decision making for their original albums, keeping in contact with other musicians who contributed to their earliest albums.
The last section focuses on the 3rd life of The Raincoats, which seems to take place within the last 25 years or so. This section also focuses on the band’s legacy, but also how the current members have continued to keep active in the art world and continue to produce and record art and music. It also examines their influence on more recent musicians, and how much of their work has become collaborative with other bands and artists, especially as they seem to continually be in search of drummers. There’s a fascinating story about their quest for a producer for a new album, that eventually leads them to John Cale. Given the similarities with some of the earlier Velvet Underground work and Cale’s unique artistic vision, I was a little surprised to hear about his production requirements. Yet, I think it also showed how The Raincoats continually faced challenges from producers and engineers to try to record their unique sound. Furthermore, it seemed like this anecdote reinforced the strength and intuition of the band to maintain their vision and voice. Furthermore, it’s interesting to see the band’s inclusion in art retrospectives in galleries and museums that capture not only the birth of punk, but also clearly emphasize women’s unique roles in this art and cultural movement. Golden emphasizes here that these elements are not separate strands, but rather intertwined threads within punk, clearly demonstrating how The Raincoats strengthened those bonds between art, culture, and music. I loved learning more about how Gina and Ana continued to make music on their own, frequently learning new instruments and using new technology. There’s a quote from one of Gina’s daughters towards the end of the book where she summarizes her mom’s ethos as “there’s never been a question of, ‘Could I do it?’ The mantra is always, ‘You’re trying to do something you’ve never done before? Well, why not!’…Because of my mum and dad, my brain has been wired not to question whether I could do something, but to try to figure out how to do it. And that’s super punk.” I loved this quote since it provides a great way to think not only the spirit of punk rock, but more importantly the influence of The Raincoats that helped to shape much of the music from the 90s and beyond. To paraphrase Q-Tip, it’s like this book is about your favorite band’s favorite band. I highly recommend this look at the influence of The Raincoats, and I’m so grateful to Golden for her layered and detailed look at not just the band but the various influences both on and from the band.

With a foreword from Greil Marcus, we know we're in for a serious read. Meticulously researched, Golden lays out the history of The Raincoats in three distinct sections, paralleling three separate arcs the band took. From their art school days, squatting in London flats, seeing the first shows of The Sex Pistols and hanging out with the big names of punk, Ana da Silva and Gina Birch were pioneers themselves. With their "we can do that" ethos they made it happen. They learned along the way, had members come and go, were in the right (squat) place at the right time, recorded an EP and then an album, sounding like nobody else. I listened to a lot of their music when reading this and every song made me smile.

Golden puts them in the context of the scene. It's not only a history of The Raincoats, but of the punk scene itself. Then in their second arc, when an independent radio station started playing their music in Olympia, Washington, and the rest is more history. That wave includes Sonic Youth, Bikini Kill, and of course Kurt Cubain and Courtney Love - Nirvana and Hole. "Riot Grrrl" Fairy Godmothers.

With their artistic backgrounds, Ana and Gina were involved in their album designs, posters, clothes, and eventually video. Those strengths play out in the third arc.

To call The Raincoats influential is an understatement. To call Shouting Out Loud a band biography is an understatement. This is a history made possible by the depth of material collected and preserved, a genuine archive project that cements these women's places in music history.

The generous number of photos included enhance the trip down memory lane. And it was funny. I think there are around 42 headings that read the same thing: "The Raincoats Need A Drummer". That happened a lot.

My thanks to NetGalley and Grand Central Publishing | Da Capo for the Advance Reader Copy. (pub. date 7/15/2025)

Woah. I was dying for this book when I saw in on NetGalley and I cannot express how excited I am that I was able to read this.

It may have taken me a while to pick it up, but once I did I was sucked back into the punk scene. I had the privilege of watching Punk move from the 80s to the emo bands in the 2000s. It was fantastic and this book was perfect.

My thanks to NetGalley and Grand Central Publishing for an advance copy of this new look at a revolutionary band that has spawned not only imitators, but were inspirations for many who entered music, as well as a comfort, a source of pride, and a reason to keep living and keeping causing good trouble for legions of fans.

Punk was never a music form I was into. The music was sloppy, the bands ugly, the people who liked it weird, and frankly I am not a fan of short songs. Working at a music store when I was older my mind was changed for many reasons. I grew up. Punk was political, punk was about living life, and living life the way you wanted to. Growing up in the suburbs of Connecticut, what did I understand about life. To me it was good. Not great, but good. As I got older, read more, and meet different people, I found that wasn't true for a lot of my fellow humans. In punk there was well not trust, but people who were angry with no way to channel it, mad, but unfocused. The music gave them community. Hope even. Especially for women. I knew a lot of female punk lovers, two of them, maybe three in bands. Were they good, not really. Did they have fun, yes really a lot. My co-worker Katrina was a punk rocker, From her I first read England Dreaming by Jon Savage, and first heard both The Slits and The Raincoats, and how cool they both were. And in the Raincoats continue to be. Shouting Out Loud: Lives of the Raincoats by Audrey Golden is a history, an examination, and tour of the archives of this band, focusing not only on the members, the music and the scene, but on their impact, and all those the Raincoats influenced.

The book begins with the author discussing the ideas behind doing band biographies, and the problems that come from doing oral histories. People have a habit of misremembering. Not out of malice, sometimes, not out of stealing praise, sometimes, but just because people forget. Golden than discusses the fact that their is an archive for the band, kept in a few rooms, one that turned out to be a treasure trove of information, shows, pictures, tapes, and more. Both an archivist's dream and nightmare. What follows is a history of the band starting with the key members. Ana da Silva was born in Madeira, an Portuguese Island. Gina Birch, was born in Nottingham England. Fate brought them together in that both attended the Hornsey College of Art in London, at a time, the mid 70's that England was coming apart. Unemployment was rampant, people were squatting in houses, which was a pressure cooker for change, and for music. Watching The Slits, a female punk band, made both want to form a band, even if instruments were a new things. Members, especially drummers came and left for a variety of reasons. Albums were made, mistakes also. By 1984 the band had broken up, and that would have been that, except that an up-and-coming musician wanted to meet the band, shared his love for them. Kurt Cobain's interest soon made the Raincoats interesting again, sparking a reunion of sorts that continues today.

A really well-written and well-researched book, with lots of photos, and lots information that doesn't only count on fading memories, but real items from the archives that Ana da Silva kept. Golden is really good at setting the scene, why punk, why reunite, why continue, without falling back on clichés. Women in music also seem to get short shrifted by biographers, even the one that profess to enjoy the band. This book does not. Golden writes honestly, not a hagiography, looking at mistakes, attitudes and reasons why problems came about, and what could have been done differently. Golden also looks at the music, and the albums, explaining parts about songs, and why certain songs sound like they do, and how labels interfered, in many ways.

A great book for music historians. Also an instructional book for woman who want to enter the music business. Not much has changed, sadly. A fun reading experience, with a great soundtrack.