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Enter Shikari

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Enter Shikari

Enter Shikari are an English post-hardcore band with an electronic twist, formed in St. Albans, Hertfordshire in 2003.

Biography

The band formed as an evolution from an earlier band, Hybryd [1] and are notable for combining elements of Trance and post-hardcore in many of their songs. All four members are from St Albans, England.

Enter Shikari are known for their dedication to touring, already having taken part in hundreds of shows. They secured a spot on the Gibson/MySpace stage at 2006's Download Festival. They have also had interviews and garnered positive press from popular music press such as Kerrang! and Rock Sound, further augmenting their reputation as one of Britain's fastest-rising unsigned bands. On the November 4 2006, they became only the second unsigned band to ever sell out London Astoria (the first being The Darkness).

Their first physical single was a double A-side of re-recorded versions of "Sorry You're Not A Winner" and "OK Time For Plan B", released on October 30, 2006 which was limited to 1000 copies of each format, sold out within the first week of release. In late 2006, despite many huge offers from major labels, the band announced that they had decided to 'go it alone' on their own label, Ambush Reality, with assistance from their distributor Vital [2].

In January 2007, Enter Shikari came 5th in BBC online's "Sound of 2007" poll, which compiles the views of numerous music critics on who they predict will achieve success in 2007[3]. 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 (previous years lists have included the likes of Arcade Fire, Hot Chip and Bloc Party). The band have played a set (and were interviewed) for the fourth edition of the radio version of The Tube[4]

In mid January 2007 (week ending 13 Jan 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 (Week ending 20 Jan 2007) by Sorry You're Not A Winner/OK Time For Plan B, which charted at number 182 on the singles chart (despite its physical formats being chart inelligable at the band's request) and number 146 in the Download Chart.

The next single released was "Anything Can Happen In The Next Half Hour", on March 5, 2007 and made it to 27 in the Official UK chart. The band's debut album, Take to the Skies, was released on March 19 2007. On March 14th the album was leaked onto Peer-to-peer networks.

On March 6, 2007 it was announced they would be playing at Download festival 2007. On March 19, 2007 it was announced that they would be playing at the Reading and Leeds Festivals 2007 on the NME/Radio 1 stage.

Discography

Albums

Demo EPs (only sold at shows / via website)

Singles

Year Title Chart Positions Album
UK Singles Chart UK Download Chart UK Rock Chart
2006 "Mothership" 151 - - Mothership (Download only single)
2006 "Sorry You're Not A Winner" 166 146 - Sorry You're Not a Winner/OK Time for Plan B double-A side single
2007 "Anything Can Happen In The Next Half Hour" 27

[5]

- 1 Take To The Skies

Other tracks (demos, streaming, etc.)

  • "Warm Smiles Do Not Make You Welcome Here" (2004)
  • "Kickin' Back On The Surface Of Your Cheek" (2004)
  • "Keep It On Ice" (2004)
  • "Empty" (2005)
  • "Labyrinth" (2005)
  • "OK! Time for Plan B" (original) (2005)
  • "Return to Energizer" (2005)
  • "We Can Breathe in Space, They Just Don't Want Us to Escape" (2005)
  • "Enter Shikari" (Demo) (2006)
  • "The Feast" (demo) (2006)

Videography

  • "Anything Can Happen in the Next Half Hour" [6]
  • "Mothership" [7]
  • "Sorry You're Not a Winner" (2006 version) [8]
  • "OK! Time for Plan B" [9]
  • "Anything Can Happen in the Next Half Hour" (2007 version) [10]

Ambush Reality

Ambush Reality is an independent record label started in July 2006. For the time being, Ambush Reality will only be releasing music by Enter Shikari, their hope is to add other bands to the "gang" as time goes by. Ambush Reality is co-owned and run by the members of Enter Shikari and their friends.[11]

Achievements

  • Kerrang! Awards: Best British Newcomer nomination (2006)
  • Achieved the number 1 spot on MTV2's Rock Top Ten in November 2006 and March 2007 with "Sorry, You're Not A Winner" and "Anything Can Happen In The Next Half Hour" respectively.
  • Recent television release of "Sorry You're Not a Winner" Video on mainstream channels such as Scuzz, MTV2, Kerrang etc.
  • Live performance given 4/5 stars by Guardian writer Helen Pidd[12]
  • Kerrang! Readers Poll: Best British Newcomer (2006)
  • NME Awards: John Peel Award for Musical Innovation (2007) - The award was given to the band when they supported lostprophets at an NME Awards Show on Thursday 15th February 2007.
  • HMV described Enter Shikari as 'one of the fastest-rising unsigned bands' in their Artists to watch in 2007 list [13]
  • Took over MTV2, on "Enter Shikari Takeover" on March 8th 2007.
  • Kerrang! magazine gave Take To The Skies 4/5 K's.

Trivia

  • Previous names for the band include Bleach, Elemental and Hybryd.
  • Rob was once kicked out of his own show, mid song, for climbing a balcony.
  • The video for their first physical single, "Sorry You're Not A Winner" was shot in Chris' parents front room.
  • Rory's full name is Liam Rory Gerard Clewlow. [14]
  • The word "Shikari" means "The Hunter" in Hindi.
  • Actress June Brown, who plays Dot Branning in Eastenders, has been to several Enter Shikari gigs. [15]
  • Both videos for Anything Can Happen In The Next Half Hour were shot at the same location in Hertfordshire.
  • At Download Festival 2006, they were mislabeled as Enter Shikira. [citation needed]
  • The song 'Jonny Sniper' is described in the March 10th issue of Kerrang! magazine Rou said this of the song "It's about people having no respect for the earth. The lyrics are about the earth crying out, telling us to fucking behave!". This description somewhat jars with the interpretations given at several live shows by the band themselves, claiming him to be a character from a sex education video they watched in school.
  • The original version of 'Anything Can Happen In The Next Half Hour' has the title quoted half way through the song and is taken from the introduction of the series Stingray.
  • Following their John Peel award, Enter Shikari were mentioned in The Times newspaper on 2 March 2007. Unfortunately the article was illustrated with a photo of the Colombian singer Shakira.

See also

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