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Formed in 1999 as a band called Hybryd, with Rou Reynolds on guitar and vocals, Chris Batten on bass guitar and Rob Rolfe on drums. They release and EP entitled “Commit No Nuisance”, and played gigs up and down the country, in 2003, they inducted Liam “Rory” Clewlow into the band and changed their name to Enter Shikari. The name, Shikari, is derived from a boat that belonged to frontman Rou’s uncle, and a fictitious character in a before founding and forming the rock outfit.
Enter Shikari are a band who stick to their guns, continuing to build their career with their balance of business knowledge and creativity, so much so that their first album, “Take to the Skies”, released on their own label, Ambush Reality on March 25th 2007, was certified Gold in the UK after selling over 100,000 copies. Made up of a mixture of brand new and older songs that they had written over the course of the four years prior to the album release, they kept their loyal following happy with re-recordings of songs such as “Jonny Sniper”, “Mothership” and “Anything Can Happen in the Next Half Hour” and of course “Sorry You’re Not a Winner”. Due to the huge number of sales, it debuted at number 4 in the UK Album Chart. They even made it to number 27 in the UK Singles Chart with “Anything Can Happen in the Next Half Hour”, which was released on March 7th 2007, prior to the release of the album.
Their critical acclaim has built up exceptionally over the years, seeing the band win numerous awards, in 2007 alone, they won the ‘NME: John Peel Award for Musical Innovation’, and the Kerrang! Awards for ‘Spirit of Independence’ and ‘Best Live Band’. Most recently, they picked up the AIM Award for ‘Best Live Band’ in 2013.
They have toured relentlessly over the course of their career, starting off in what was once a Royal Mail van, featured in the music video for 'Jonny Sniper', and have visited countries as far as New Zealand, to play at the Big Day Out festival, and Tokyo. They have continued to maintain chart success with their latter two albums after “Take to the Skies”, with “Common Dreads”, released on June 15th 2009 and “A Flash Flood of Colour” released on January 16th 2012, both of which making it to the UK Top 20.
I'm sure any avid Shikari connoisseur will preach to every passer-by on the merits of their live show, their incomparable energy and their ridiculously impressive stage presence.
As a convert to the almost cult-like fanbase that is Enter Shikari's, and a loving patron of five of their live shows (Soon to be six), I can only fully endorse this notion with every undying whim of my being. Whether it's the crowds pleading for them to enter the stage with the roars of 'And still we will be here, standing like statues', lyrics from their aged self-titled song, or the intense shenanigans that the band get up to onstage; it adds together to make a phenomenal experience.
One experience at their recent Hatfield Forum show summarises this perfectly. Rob, the passionate drummer, marched from behind his drum kit to the centre microphone and proclaimed 'Hello ladies and gentlemen! My name's Simple Simon! Just making sure you guys stay safe!', before returning to his drum kit. This ushered in chants of 'Simple Simon!' from the audience and many references to this throughout the gig, aswell as bassist Rory pondering 'How can just telling the crowd to stay safe actually keep them safe?', rendering applause and laughs from the audience. The band have energy that I could only dream of possessing. From the moment they grace the stage with their presence, they feed from the crowd's energy and volition to ensure that Rou keeps screaming his vocals, Rob keeps hammering his kit, Rory keeps abusing his Bass and Chris keeps wailing his guitar. This comes despite them constantly clambering over their amps and diving headfirst into the audience. But the crowd really is the fifth member of the band. With memorable hooks and lyrics, audiences will always clap three times in time to the intro to 'Sorry, you're not a winner', the groups breakout hit. Audiences will yell 'I can't fucking believe this' in 'Destabilise', when Rou asks Rory about his thesis. Audiences will be fully willing to serenade one another when slower acoustic songs are recited from the setlist. The audience crowdsurf and yearn to reach the boys in the band as much as Shikari strive to jump into the audience and be with their fans. The outstanding nature of Enter Shikari's live shows can only be seen from the fact that it's taken up until now to mention their actual music. The distinctive nature of Enter Shikari's music makes it difficult to push them into one single subgenre. They seamlessly blend the Post-Hardcore genre with Metal and Electronic music. It leads to a cluster of influences and the notion that one song can rapidly change from a straight Rock song with simple rhythm to a complex section of Trance music interwoven into a deviously deceptive brutal drum beat. Enter Shikari bring a reinvigoration to the music industry; with their monstrous live energy and extensive repertoire of lovingly hectic tracks coming together to form what is likely to be the greatest live band hailing from England in many years.
Hanaelysereid
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