Design by Félicité Landrivon
Since they first got together in the late 1970s, The Raincoats’ Ana da Silva and Gina Birch have been a living embodiment of the post-punk spirit, forever questioning the establishment and embracing an experimental ethos. One of the genre’s most venerated all-female acts, they’ve had a lasting influence on artists such as Sonic Youth’s Kim Gordon and the late Kurt Cobain, who once wrote that their debut album, “made me happier than playing in front of thousands of people each night, rock-god idolization from fans, music industry plankton kissing my ass, and the million dollars I made last year.” Here, they share their 10 rules for life, creativity, and activism.
Singer-guitarist Ana da Silva and bassist Gina Birch founded pioneering post-punk band The Raincoats in the late 1970s, as students at the Hornsey College of Art in London. Over the decades, the band has fully embodied the spirit of the genre by questioning the establishment and embracing an experimental ethos.One of the genre’s most venerated all-female acts, they’ve had a lasting influence on artists such as Sonic Youth’s Kim Gordon and the late Kurt Cobain, who once wrote that their debut album, “made me happier than playing in front of thousands of people each night, rock-god idolization from fans, music industry plankton kissing my ass, and the million dollars I made last year.” In 2023, da Silva and Birch shared their 10 rules for life, creativity, and activism as part of our Manifesto series.
Manifesto is a series on WePresent which invites activists and creatives with something to say to write 10 rules to live by, in order to help spread their message. The artwork on this page was created by Félicité Landrivon. The photo of Gina and Ana used in the design of the poster was shot by Rocco in 1979.
