Enter Shikari Release Album and Announce US West Coast Tour Dates

Press release
Source: Magnum PR

Despite mounting pressure to make their lives easy with all the desirable lunches, dinners and A&R expense accounts brought Enter Shikari, in November ’06 this St. Albans (U.K.) band took it upon themselves to make the (possibly reckless, we’ll see) decision not to sign to a major label. Instead, they took a loan from their distributor, Vital / Integral, and announced they would be releasing their debut album on their own Ambush Reality label.

Enter Shikari's debut album Take To The Skies was released in the UK, Europe and Japan in March 2007 and quickly slammed into the Number 3 spot on the UK album charts - not to mention two singles hitting the number one spot. Then, in true punk form, Enter Shikari rejected US label options and partnered with label imprint Tiny Evil Records (Jimmy Eat World, Brand New, AFI) for the October 30th stateside release of Take To The Skies. The main benefits of this route are that Enter Shikari has never had to listen to anyone else’s advice but their own.

They (Rou Renyolds, voice and electronics; Chris Batten, bass and voice; Rory Clewlow, guitar and backing voice; and Rob Rolfe, drums) have taken themselves from ‘one man and his dog’ to capacity crowds. All without ever having to wait for a‘tastemaker’ to deem them this afternoon’s ‘next big thing’. Not bad for a bunch of St. Albans lads.

Edges that were once rough (and would surely have been smoothed over and dulled by advice from those with an interest in shifting ‘product’) have instead been sharpened by the road, turning Enter Shikari into one of the most exciting, brutal and explosive live bands on Britain’s screamo / post-hardcore / whatthefuckever ‘scene’ to this date. After playing a packed-to-rafter tent at 2006’s Download Festival and then opening up for My Chemical Romance, the loyal “Army of Shikari” was steadily growing at a rapid pace. Validating all their hard work, perseverance and a no compromise attitude, the lads went on to sell out the London Astoria, being the second band ever in the world to achieve such a feat without a record deal or album out.

When the late and greatly missed Tony Wilson walked into the Manchester Lesser Free Trade Show town hall, one evening back in June 1976, he stumbled across a little known band called Sex Pistols playing to a half-empty room consisting of a bunch unenthused northern union workers and overeager junior industry folk. At that very moment, Wilson knew he’d just discovered a band utterly groundbreaking, exciting and ultimately inspiring upon that stage. A band that had credible music critics baffled and scratching their heads, ranting what a joke they were, soon became genre defining icons, symbolic of a subculture that still resonates in various forms to this very day.

Last summer, Tony Wilson, himself, was ranting away to many about another band he’d also found in the UK in the summer of 2006. In came Enter Shikari…two parts post-hardcore, the other half synth-rock trance. With obvious nods to the '90s UK rave scene along with another to punk and hardcore, they’ve managed to rally up even the most stoic of fans to mosh like madmen and wave their hands in the air like the most dedicated of ravers!

Enter Shikari has been called everything from punk to trancecore, trance emo to flat out screamo. UK press labeling aside, what we have here is another groundbreaking and genre defying band. High in energy, defiantly independent, unabashedly ambitious and equipped with a wealth of musical knowledge and a thirst for more.

Collectively as a band and individually, each member offers a little something special to the “Mothership” that is Enter Shikari. Onstage, they’re like un-caged animals, roaming the stage and climbing the equipment, simply reaffirming this is where they are most at home, with their fans. In true Keith Moon fashion, Rolfe is quite possibly the wildest member in the band, he is blatantly unable to physically stay behind his drum kit through out the set, continually moving stage front during the synthesized parts of songs – he’s a key element into what gets the crowd excited and what makes this band so utterly unique in their performances. Says Blender: "Rou Reynolds's snarled verses give way to choruses that are literally choral-unison vocals whose sustained notes and purity of tone uplift the spirit like sunlight pouring through stained glass."

“We want to do things differently’, says Reynolds, … ‘we always have. We want to do things ourselves and we want to take responsibility for the things we do. We want to make something that’s personal, because otherwise how can people be expected to relate to it? How can they be expected to like us?’”

Finally bowing to pressure from the fans they’ve collected online, this past spring they embarked on their first ever US tour. Without any label behind them they managed to wow the crowds in North America all on their own, with a short run of dates in Anaheim, Pomona, San Francisco, Seattle, Portland, Vancouver, Toronto, Worcester and New Jersey to start. When they recently played here in NYC at an all-ages Bowery Show, over 300 kids who moshed and raved, broke out the windmills, oozing the angst so familiar to audiences who went to see the Pistols back in the late '70s. The enthusiasm of the Bowery crowd is a testament to Enter Shikari’s loyal fan base and, importantly, their ability to put on a kick-ass live show. The live performance this band delivers is supreme- complete with glow sticks and a heart-felt rapport with the audience.

In December they embark on a West Coast tour from Portland to San Diego to celebrate the long-anticipated release of Take To The Skies. But if this tour is anything like their previous New York show, fans will be screaming every lyric back at the band, despite an official album release duration of only one month.

Enter Shikari formed while still in school in 2003. As soon as the summer came around, they climbed in the van and hit the road. They’ve pretty much never come home since - it seems nothing will stop them and they have no plans of doing such a thing. Catch the intensity and infamous notoriety that is, Enter Shikari.

WINTER 2007 NORTH AMERICAN TOUR DATES:

Nov. 30th - Portland - Satyricon
Dec 01st - Vancouver, Canada - Plaza Club
Dec 02nd - Seattle - Chop Suey
Dec 04th - San Francisco - Bottom Of The Hill
Dec 05th - Los Angeles - Troubadour
Dec 06th - Anaheim - Chain Reaction
Dec 07th - San Diego – Soma

For more information, visit:
www.entershikari.com
www.myspace.com/entershikari
www.youtube.com/profile_videos?user=AmbushReality

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