Racoon is a Dutch pop-rock band founded in 1997 in Goes, Zeeland. Bart van der Weide (vocals) and Dennis Huige (guitar) were fed up with the sound of their hardcore rockband Vic'tem and decided to go acoustic. Their first writings resulted in a song called Rapid Eye Movement. For their first release, a demo called "It's an Ice Cream Day", Stefan de Kroon (bass) and Paul Bukkens (drums) completed the band's line-up. The band made a breakthrough appearance at the 1999 Noorderslagfestival in Groningen, resulting in lots of record deal offers.