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ON THE COUCH WITH: Enter Shikari

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ARTIST INTERVIEW

Access All Areas.net.au: How have things been for you guys so far?
Rob: Yeah, awesome! We just spent the last few days in the US actually, we just had a trip there and we were doing some small supports at small capacity clubs and they’ve been going really well with the Americans.

Access All Areas.net.au: Enter Shikari is a very strange sort of name, where did the bands name come from?
Rob: Well the first time we ever heard the of the name ‘Shikari’ was… Rowans Uncle actually owns fishing boats and they’re called Shikari 1 and Shikari 2 and so we looked into it and Shikari is another word for hunter and we liked the mystery about it and we liked the name. No one knows what it means and it asks a lot of questions which we thought suited our music and the ‘Enter’ came from using it like Shikari as a character… as like a word in a play script and it added that little extra.

Access All Areas.net.au: The bands debut album ‘Take To The Skies’ hit No. 4 in the UK. How does it feel to be so greatly recognised in your own country?
Rob: Oh mental! It’s really weird. We had no idea what to expect from it. We first found out that we were number three in the mid week charts and even then we didn’t know how to take the news. It was like do we get a medal, do we get drunk… we didn’t know what to do with it. We are still 20, 21 year olds who have just left Uni and yeah we got very drunk that night anyway. We definitely celebrated!

Access All Areas.net.au: Your live shows are famous for crazy antics, and have even had human pyramids in the audience. Why do you think this is?
Rob: Well basically we really strive to get as much crowd participation going as possible. We get so much of our influences from live shows ourselves even when we were growing up we were always going to small hardcore shows and going to see these live acts play so we try to make them as interesting and as fun as possible because the audience is us. We don’t want to detach ourselves form the audience and we do anything to make it more fun and try and get them actively contributing to the show as a whole so we go out there and push ourselves and get the audience to push themselves as well and go away thinking that they had a great time so we don’t like to play just as gigs, we like to play a show and make it as loud and as exciting as possible.

Access All Areas.net.au: Do you think it’s important for bands to be close with fans, instead of being a mystery to them?
Rob: Yeah definitely! I’ve always thought that bands shouldn’t detach themselves from the audience because the audience is what makes it possible for the band to stand on stage there and then and we write music that we enjoy that we hope other people will enjoy. If the band detaches itself from the audience then there is a block between you and them!

Access All Areas.net.au: You guys used a strong DIY method for a long time. Do you think it’s important for band to have a sense of where they came from?
Rob: Yeah definitely – I mean to be honest our DIY came about because we had to do it ourselves because we came from a small town called St Kilda near London and we played at this crappy youth club called the Pioneer and it was run down, it was run by the council so it was never run well. We knew no one was going to come around and sign us for a million pounds and with the help of Myspace and the internet we got in touch with promoters and other bands, we started touring and the only reason we did it ourselves was that no one else was going to do it for us.

Rob: It seems to have really worked out and now with owning our own record label, it’s just naturally progressed in to that and it seems like the right thing to do instead of passing it all on to a company now we have got our hand in every part of our business and we have the final word on everything that happens, anything anyone sees of ours is what we want them to see not what a record label wants us to look like to sell more. We are representing ourselves in our own way.

Access All Areas.net.au: What are you guys currently listening to?
Rob: All sorts really. At the moment we didn’t bring any CD’s with us but when we’re at home we’ve all got a really wide selection of music taste and then each of us have our own preferred genre, I myself prefer hardcore dance.

Rob: It’s funny because I am in a rock band yet I have not one rock song on my iPod.

Access All Areas.net.au: The band is touring America at the moment. How are you finding the crowds compared to back home in the UK?
Rob: Mental there! They’re crazy! The real difference, and we were only having a discussion about this yesterday, the kids here… they are all underage shows so they don’t have any alcohol at the shows and kids are going really crazy and they have so much energy in to it and they’ve got no alcohol so its all about the music here and it’s for all the right reasons because they really like the music and want to be in this scene!

Access All Areas.net.au: Can we expect a tour in Australia anytime soon?
Rob: Oh yes definitely! I’m not sure exactly when, you’ll have to ask our booking agent, but we always planned to go over there and I think next time we’re out to Japan I hope we do another seven hour flight to get there but we’ll definitely be coming!

Access All Areas.net.au: So what’s ahead for the band from here?
Rob: Pretty much the same that’s behind us, touring, bit more touring, and more touring. Getting our album out there as much as possible and just touring again. We want as many people to hear us as possible so that they can judge it and if they like it great, if they don’t that’s ok, we want to give people that chance of making their own decisions.

Access All Areas.net.au: Sounds like you’ve got a busy couple of years ahead of you!
Rob: [laughs] Yeah I don’t think we’re getting a break for a long time!

ARTIST BIOGRAPHY

This may well be the first time you have heard Enter Shikari but rest assured there are thousands of kids the length and breadth of the country (and beyond), from city to suburb to siding that have been moshing, windmilling and, hell, even human-pyramidding to their music for the best part few months.... that’s why ‘Take To The Skies’ debut at # 4 in the UK albums chart.
The Myspace phenomenon is well documented and Enter Shikari have certainly never pimped themselves on it, but its hard to argue with over 5-million plays. Rather it helps document the growth of a band that has long been the definition of independent.

Going about the important business of being in a band the good old fashioned way, singer Rou Reynolds, bassist Chris Batten, drummer Rob Rolfe and guitarist Rory Clewlow bought a van and went out on the road in search of action, adventure and teeth-cutting as soon as they officially formed in 2003. Honing both sound and live show in such a public way has helped the thousands of kids that religiously check for the next time the band is in town feel a part of that development, and can in part explain the importance with which they still hold interaction with their audience. It’s a mutual relationship – the mid-set human pyramid that occasionally forms in the middle of the crowd is an unbelievable spectacle for the unexpecting, and blowing an entire gig fee on lazers isn’t the kind of behaviour you’d expect from a skint group.

‘Take To The Skies’ is the sound of a band that have obviously never had to pander to the creative over-seeing of a record label marketing department. Not that its disorganised or unkempt, just so gloriously unblemished from outside influence and so unapologetically euphoric that it could only be the product of four mates loving every moment of making music. It is made up of two styles rarely lumped together but in this context seem made for each other. The endorphin rush of a sweat-soaked gurning headcase reaching for the lazers is the same as that of a kid at a hardcore show windmilling his way through a moshpit after all, and with 500 inter-city journeys from gig to gig under their belts soundtracked by the likes of Faithless, 36 Crazyfists, The Prodigy and Comeback Kid, to Enter Shikari the combination is the most natural thing in the world.

The band’s debut single, ‘Sorry, You’re Not A Winner’ catches the band at some of their most powerful screamo-trance energetic best, replete with maniacal breakdowns and eyes-rolling synths. The video is a brilliant example of DIY... them in a room with their friends.

‘Take To The Skies ’was produced by the band and recorded in two short weeks in Reading, Berkshire in the Autumn of 2006. Despite a lack of time and money, or a big name producer to tell them how to sound, Enter Shikari have managed to turn in potentially the most powerful, and yet uplifting, album you are likely to hear this year.

www.entershikari.com

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MY FESTIVAL EXPERIENCE

Hockey
Your most memorable Festival moment or experience?
Playing in Norway at Hove festival was great. We were on boats all day People seemed to know us a lot more than they should and we played before the fleet foxes.

Favourite Artist you’ve seen at a Music Festival?
Fleet Foxes. Passion Pit.

What’s your ideal Festival line-up?
The Mystery Jets. The xx. Friendly Fires. Radiohead.

What are your tips for attending Music Festivals?
Make friends with someone in a band so you can get back to where things are free and relatively speaking; comfortable.