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Playlist from 13/4/2006

• Gina Birch
• (The Raincoats/The Hangovers)
• and
• Chris Knox & The Nothing
• Thu 13 April
• Odeon Lounge
• Auckland
• The Raincoats
• were formed in 1977 by Ana da Silva (vocals, guitar) and Gina Birch (vocals, bass) while they were students at Hornsey College of Art, London, England. The first line-up included Ross Crighton on guitar and Nick Turner on drums for the band�s first gig in November 1977. Kate Korris, from The Slits and later The Modettes, joined briefly and was replaced by Jeremie Frank. Nick Turner left to form The Barracudas and Richard Dudanski (exThe 101'ers and later PIL) sat in on drums and film maker Patrick Keiller replaced Jeremie on guitar.
• Late in 1978, The Raincoats became an all female post-punk band, when joined by Palmolive of The Slits (drums), Vicky Aspinall (violin) and manager Shirley O'Loughlin. The band went on their first UK tour with female band Kleenex, in May 1979 after Rough Trade Records released their first single "Fairytale in the Supermarket"/ "In Love"/ "Adventures Close to Home".
• Palmolive left the band after their seminal first album The Raincoats and Ingrid Weiss joined in 1980, when the band began recording their second album Odyshape, and toured Europe and the east coast of the USA. Guest musicians on Odyshape included Robert Wyatt, This Heat's Charles Hayward and Richard Dudanski.
• In New York, December 1982, The Raincoats recorded a live album at the arts space The Kitchen. The Kitchen Tapes (live) was released on ROIR in 1983. The band split after 1984�s Moving LP.
• The Red Krayola
• Gina Birch worked with Mayo Thompson on The Red Krayola's 1981 Kangaroo LP and in 1988, Gina and Vicky formed Dorothy, and released a series of 12" singles.
• The Raincoats Return
• In 1992 Kurt Cobain of Nirvana went into the Rough Trade shop in London in search of a new copy of The Raincoats and Jude Crighton sent him round the corner to see Ana da Silva. Kurt wrote passionately about this meeting in the liner notes of Nirvana�s Incesticide album. riot grrrl was at its height and bands like Bikini Kill, Huggy Bear and Hole, who covered Cobain�s favourite Raincoats� track �The Void�, prompted interest in the bands� back catalogue.
• In late 1993 Rough Trade and DGC Records rereleased the three albums with liner notes by Kurt Cobain and Kim Gordon.
• Shirley (Raincoats Manager) persuaded Ana and Gina to play a show at the Garage in London in March 1994 with Steve Shelley of Sonic Youth on drums and Anne Wood on violin to celebrate the album releases. They recorded a session for John Peel, which was released on Paul Smith�s Blast First and Steve Shelley�s label Smells Like Records.
• Kurt invited them to play on Nirvana�s planned UK tour in April, but sadly he died a week before the tour began. Ana and Gina had written some new material and released a new album on DGC Records and Rough Trade in 1996, produced by Britpop producer Ed Buller (who'd previously worked with Suede and Pulp)
• Since 1996, The Raincoats have played a couple of special events such as Robert Wyatt�s Meltdown (festival) in 2001 and at Chicks on Speed's �99 cents� album release in Berlin in December 2003.
• The Hangovers
• Gina Birch formed the band The Hangovers after The Handsome Foundation asked her to write and record some music for their show, The Fear Show. This was performed at the Institute of Contemporary Arts in London. Gina who directs music videos worked with The Handsome Foundation (performance artists, stylists, designers), Craig Sheppard and Spencer, on a variety of videos in the 90s. Gina wrote Sitting on "Top of the World", "Monster", "Hello Moon" (with lyrical contributions from Craig), and several other pieces for the show.
• This led to Gina writing and recording other material and then releasing two singles on vinyl on her own label. Slim Moon of Kill Rock Stars heard and liked the singles and wanted to put them out. They agreed to finish and release an album, Slow Dirty Tears and this was released in 1998 on Kill Rock Stars.
• They toured in the States as a full band, and in 2000 Gina and Ida performed live at the firstLadyfest in Olympia Washington and in 2002 at the London Ladyfest. The Hangovers played in Moscow in February 2003.
• Gina BIRCH (solo)
• Gina continues to play mainly in London often accompanied by her film and video work. Gina also directs music videos including those for The Libertines, 'Up the Bracket', 'Time for Heroes' and 'I Get Along', two for New Order, Beth Orton, Daisy Chainsaw, the Pogues, the Veils and others.
• Ana and Gina are currently working on a version of �Monk Chant� for a compilation of Monks songs called �Silver Monk Time� due for release in August 2006.