Enter Shikari
Enter Shikari are an English rock band formed in St Albans in 1999 by bassist Chris Batten, lead vocalist and keyboardist Rou Reynolds, and drummer Rob Rolfe. In 2003, guitarist Rory Clewlow joined the band to complete its current line-up, and it adopted its current name.
In 2006, they performed to a growing fanbase at Download Festival as well as a sold-out concert at the London Astoria. Their debut studio album, Take to the Skies, was released on 19 March 2007 and reached number 4 in the Official UK Album Chart, and has since been certified gold in the UK. Their second, Common Dreads, was released on 15 June 2009 and debuted on the UK Albums Chart at number 16; while their third, A Flash Flood of Colour, was released on 16 Jan 2012 and debuted on the chart at number 4. Both have since been certified silver in the UK. The band spent a considerable amount of time supporting the latter release through the A Flash Flood of Colour World Tour, before beginning work on a fourth studio album, The Mindsweep, which was released on 19 Jan 2015. Their fifth studio album The Spark was released on 22 September 2017. Their sixth album Nothing Is True & Everything Is Possible was released on 17 April 2020. Their seventh and latest album, A Kiss for the Whole World, was released on 21 April 2023 which gave them their first-ever No. 1 album.
Enter Shikari have their own record label, Ambush Reality. However, they have also signed distribution deals with several major labels to help with worldwide distribution. Their eccentric musical style combines influences from rock music genres with those from various electronic music genres.
History
Beginnings (1999–2006)
In 1999 a band named Hybryd formed, consisting of Rou Reynolds on guitar and vocals, Chris Batten on bass guitar, and Rob Rolfe on drums. They released an EP called Commit No Nuisance, which featured the tracks "Perfect Pygmalion", "Look Inside", "Torch Song", "Honesty Box" and "Fake". In 2003, with the addition of guitarist Rory Clewlow, Hybryd became Enter Shikari. The band was named after Shikari, a boat belonging to Reynolds' uncle. In a 2011 interview, Rolfe explained that: "Shikari is a Hindi word for hunter." After the band's line-up and name change, Reynolds focused his musical efforts on vocals and electronics instead of guitar.During 2003 and 2004, the band released three demo EPs that were available from their gigs and their website, featuring original versions of some songs that were eventually re-recorded for their debut album, Take to the Skies. They would frequently make appearances at their local music venue, The Pioneer Club, where they would play alongside other local bands. They had another demo EP planned for release in 2005. For this the first versions of "Return To Energiser" and "Labyrinth" were recorded. Early versions of "OK Time for Plan B" and "We Can Breathe in Space" were also recorded around this time but it's unclear if these were destined for the EP. It was at this time that Kerrang! Radio's Alex Baker picked up on the band, and as he didn't have a physical release to play, he streamed "OK Time For Plan B" off the band's Myspace page, straight onto the airwaves.
In August 2006 they released a video of the single "Mothership" which became the single of the week on the iTunes Store. Their first physical single featured re-recorded versions of "Sorry You're Not a Winner/OK Time for Plan B", which had previously been featured on one of the demo EPs. It was released on 30 October 2006. It was limited to 1000 copies of each format and sold out within the first week of release. In mid January 2007, Enter Shikari's first single, "Mothership", entered the UK singles chart for one week at number 151, on Downloads only. This was followed a week later by "Sorry You're Not a Winner/OK Time for Plan B", which charted at number 182 on the singles chart and number 146 in the Download Chart. In addition "Sorry You're Not a Winner/OK Time for Plan B" featured on the EA Sports video game titles NHL 08 and Madden 08. Enter Shikari secured a spot on the Gibson/Myspace stage at 2006's Download Festival.
They also had interviews with popular music press such as Kerrang! and Rock Sound. On 4 November 2006, they became only the second unsigned band to ever sell out London Astoria.
They also made the NME's "New Noise 2007", a list of the bands it considers most likely to achieve success in the coming year.
The next single released was "Anything Can Happen in the Next Half Hour", on 5 March 2007. This was the band's second single to be released from their forthcoming debut album. It contained a re-recorded version of the song "Anything Can Happen in the Next Half Hour". It reached 27 in the Official UK chart.
The band released a compilation album titled The Zone just after the debut album, this contained various demo tracks and previously released singles.
''Take to the Skies'' (2007–08)
The band's debut album, Take to the Skies, was released on 19 March 2007 and on 25 March it reached number 4 in the UK Official Album Charts. It contained re-recordings of many of the songs that had featured on the demo EPs and singles that were released prior to the release of the album.During the month of March 2007 it was announced they would be playing at Download Festival, Reading and Leeds Festivals, Give it a Name, Glastonbury Festival, Oxegen festival in Ireland and Rock am Ring in Germany. On 30 March 2007, Enter Shikari announced that their next single would be "Jonny Sniper" and would be released on 18 June. The song's video was premiered on 21 May. The single received bad reviews from NME.
Enter Shikari had performed over 500 times by 2007 and played on the Gibson/MySpace stage at 2006's Download Festival. On 14 May 2007, Enter Shikari started their first North America tour. This was followed by three more North American tours.
On 13 May 2008, the band released the first in a series of videos called "Enter Shikari: In the 'Low". The videos, posted on the band's YouTube page, showcased the band as they recorded their new single, "We Can Breathe In Space, They Just Don't Want Us To Escape", and demoed new material. One of the new songs set to feature on the album was "Step Up", which was first performed at Milton Keynes Pitz on 28 June 2008, the warm up show to Projekt Revolution the following day.
''Common Dreads'' (2009–2010)
It was confirmed by NME that Enter Shikari had finished working on their second album, Common Dreads, in March 2009 and announced that they would tour the UK and Europe during 2009. They also made available a free download of a new song, "Antwerpen", from their website. On 15 April 2009 "Juggernauts" was played on Radio 1 as Zane Lowe's "Hottest Track in the World" and was released as a single on 1 June 2009 with "All Eyes on the Saint" as its B side. The band also had help from musician Danny Sneddon who helped with the recording of "Juggernauts". On 1 May Kerrang featured their track-by-track of the album. Metal Hammer were the first to review the album online with a track-by-track.Common Dreads was released through Ambush Reality on 15 June 2009 and debuted at No. 16 on the UK top 40 album chart. The second single to be released from Common Dreads was "No Sleep Tonight". The 7-inch vinyl, CD single and MP3 download was released on 17 August 2009. A slightly modified version of the song "Wall" was released as a radio single, and a video for the song "Zzzonked", made of clips of a live show played at Norwich UEA, was also released.
A 2-disc version of Common Dreads was released in January 2010. Frontman Rou Reynolds announced that "we've got a different artist for each single from Hospital Records to do drum "n" bass remixes so we'll be releasing that as a 12". Then we're doing the same thing with True Tiger who've done a dubstep remix of each single." However it was later said in a Radio 1 interview that in fact they were only having their main singles remixed.
The single "Thumper" was released on 19 January 2010, on BBC Radio One, as well as the new single "Tribalism", which was first played on Radio 1 on 16 February 2010. These songs come off the new B-sides and remixes album Tribalism, which was released on 22 February 2010.
Throughout February–March 2010, Enter Shikari joined the Australian summer festival Soundwave along with other bands such as A Day to Remember and Architects, playing shows in Brisbane, Sydney, Melbourne, Adelaide and Perth. The band then continued to tour Japan with A Day to Remember and Escape the Fate and in April–May 2010, they served as a support act, along with August Burns Red and Silverstein on A Day to Remember's Toursick.
On 18 and 19 December, Enter Shikari hosted two Christmas Party shows at The Forum in Hatfield, Hertfordshire. Special guest supports included Rolo Tomassi, Young Guns, Dark Stares, Don Broco and The Qemists. The audio from the shows was released via the band's limited edition box-set Live from Planet Earth - Bootleg Series Volume 3.
''A Flash Flood of Colour'' (2011–12)
On 14 June 2010, Enter Shikari announced that they had returned to the studio to do a "one off new track" called "Destabilise" which was released as a download on 26 October 2010, and a limited edition coloured 7-inch vinyl on 29 November 2010.In June 2011, the band signed to Hopeless Records in the US, and embarked on the Vans Warped Tour for the second year in a row.
In mid-2011, the band released another one-off single called "Quelle Surprise" before releasing the first single, "Sssnakepit" and "Gandhi Mate, Gandhi" in September and December, respectively, off their third album.
The band released A Flash Flood of Colour on 16 January 2012, and played three album release shows in London, Kingston upon Thames, and Leeds.
At the end of the first week of the album being released, the album reached number four in the U.K charts.
Later that year, the band began their first tour of A Flash Flood of Colour in February by heading out to Tokyo, Japan for one show, before playing Soundwave Festival, including a couple of "sideshows" on their off-days. The band continued their tour across the world, travelling to the United States, South Africa, Europe, Reading and Leeds Festivals, Pukkelpop, FM4 Frequency Festival, Sonisphere in Spain, T in the Park, Rock am Ring and Rock im Park, and many more, ranging from the end of May to the start of September.
In Summer 2012's Kerrang! Awards, the band scooped "Best Live Band" for the second time, along with Rou Reynolds winning 'Hero of the Year.' They were also nominated for best album, but lost out to Mastodon.
In November 2012 the band announced the launch of their own beer "Sssnakepit", a 5% lager brewed in conjunction with Signature Brew, which was launched in Manchester and sold on the "A Flash Flood of Christmas" tour at venues across the UK.
The band were also nominated for Best British Band and Best Live Band at the Kerrang! Awards 2013, but lost out to Bring Me the Horizon and Black Veil Brides respectively.