Tag: enter shikari

Dec312015December 31, 2015November 17, 2016NoCommentby dan

10 of the most METAL things to happen in 2015

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From the boom of Bring Me The Horizon to some of the greatest co-headline tours in recent years, metal blogger Dan Hudson looks back on the most outrageously rock things that 2015 had to offer.

1. That’s The Spirit

Like them or not, because of Bring Me The Horizon’s fifth album That’s The Spirit, we’re closer than we’ve ever been to having a legitimate metal headliner that can contend with the likes of Iron Maiden and Metallica. If you don’t believe me…

2. Rock albums all over the charts

…including Enter Shikari’s The Mindsweep at No. 6, Five Finger Death Punch also at No. 6 with Got Your Six and Lamb of God’s VII: Sturm und Drang reaching No. 7; showing how metalheads continue to buck the trend of music fans not paying for music.

3. That’s Not Metal Podcast

Two blokes talk about metal for two hours every week with an obscene amount of knowledge and passion. In no time at all they’ve built up a loyal following and regularly feature highly in the iTunes music podcast chart. Get involved now at thatsnotmetal.net and @NotMetalPod.

4. THAT Drum solo

If you were lucky enough to go to one of Mötley Crüe’s last ever UK shows, there’s really no need for you to see another drum solo ever again.

5. Barack Obama confirms he is not the singer from Korn

In one of the more bizarre stories of the year, a war veteran meets Korn frontman Jonathan Davis but thinks he is hallucinating. When he then subsequently meets Obama, The President stated: “I want to assure you, you are not hallucinating. You are actually in the White House. Those cameras are on. I am not the lead singer from Korn.” Davis says ‘he couldn’t believe it.’

6. Korn perform their debut album in full

In other Korn news, 2015 was the year that Jonathan Davis resurrected some past demons in London and Manchester, as the California titans performed their debut album in its entirety, including an emotional Daddy.

7. Limp Bizkit play in a tent

After several years of playing festival stages, Fred Durst’s nu metal heroes played in a tent. He wore pyjamas. We moshed. A lot.

8. John Coffey singer seamlessly catches beer at festival.

Possibly the coolest thing ever happened this year at Pinkpop in Holland.

9. Slam Dunk’s continued rise

To give you an idea of just how big Slam Dunk now is, in Leeds the festival totally dominated the city, and the after-party took place in the Leeds Arena. An actual 13,500 capacity arena. We already can’t wait for 2016!

10. Monstrous co-headline tours

2015 was the year of huge co-headline rock tours. Slipknot, Korn and King 810, Mötley Crüe and Alice Cooper, Def Leppard and Whitesnake, AND the Pop Punk’s Not Dead tour ensured no headliner left home this year without a monstrous support act.


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Dec282015December 28, 2015November 17, 2016NoCommentby dan

The Theory of Enter Shikari: Six reasons the St Albans rockers rule

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enter_shikari

In 2006, I went to see an unsigned band open the 3rd stage at Download, quite possibly because it was unbearably hot outside and the half-empty tent provided some much-needed shade. As it turns out, their set was mind-blowing, and the next 12 months were a complete whirlwind for Enter Shikari and by the following year, they were back at Donington Park as main support to Korn on the second stage.

I worried at the time that such a meteoric rise could only be matched by a meteoric downfall when the NME and Kerrang! moved on to the next band to hype. Certainly, if anyone had suggested back then that nearly 10 years later the St Albans four-piece would be headlining the 10,000 capacity Alexandra Palace, and would release comfortably my favourite rock album of 2015 in The Mindsweep, I’d never have believed you.

How on earth did they manage it? Here are my six potential theories…

1. The Enter Shikari Album Theory

This is still to be confirmed as an actual scientific theory, but basically every Shikari album to date is better than their previous one.

…or expressed as an equation.

ES = TM > AFFOC > CD > TTTS

2. They are incredible live

Whether they’re doing mega intimate shows, closing Warped Tour UK, or headlining the second stage at Download, no two Shikari gigs are the same. The only constant is the energy between both crowd and band (and when they’re not touring as the main band, the four members of Enter Shikari continue to play live dance sets under the alias, Shikari Sound System).

3. They always bring amazing support acts with them

There’s never any danger of Enter Shikari being upstaged, (see Point 2) so they don’t have any issue taking amazing bands out on the road with them, including letlive., Hundred Reasons, Young Guns, The King Blues, Cancer Bats and Stray From The Path. Next February they’ll have The Wonder Years and The King Blues out with them.

4. They mean what they say

…and it’s not just ‘F**k the system’ either. 2015’s The Mindsweep contains their opinions on everything from the privatisation of the NHS and global warming, to the banking crisis and Greek philosophy. In fact, earlier this month frontman Rou Reynolds wrote an articulate, thought-provoking blog on the UK’s airstrikes in Syria via Rock Sound.

5. When they started, people thought they were a joke

Back in 2007, unfairly lumped in with the awful ‘New Rave’ trend of the time, nobody would have thought their rock/rave hybrid was more than a passing phase. All of those bands are now long gone, whereas Enter Shikari have never been bigger or better.

6. They’ve maintained their DIY ethic

The band run a label Ambush Reality which put out their early releases, and have also signed the noisy, Nottingham four-piece, Heck.

Enter Shikari tour the UK with The Wonder Years and The King Blues between 18 – 27 February 2016

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Feb252015February 25, 2015November 17, 2016NoCommentby dan

Five Bands Not To Miss At Download 2015

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If you’re already on board it’s highly likely you’ll be trawling through the line-up, putting provisional plans in your head and worrying how you can make it work so that somehow you can see Andrew W.K. and all of Muse. To make that decision slightly easier, here are my top 5 acts that you CANNOT miss at Download 2015.

Slipknot, Main Stage, Friday
Against all odds they are still an absolutely enormous proposition. Their 2009 headline set was one of the best sets I’ve ever seen at any festival, ever and even if this is half as good (it won’t be) you won’t want to miss it.

Enter Shikari, Zippo Encore Stage, Friday
The genre-defying St Albans four-piece are returning to Donington with the intention to ‘upturn the furniture in your mind’. Following numerous five-star reviews of their career-best The Mindsweep, and their current UK tour, there’s every chance that will actually happen.

Body Count, Zippo Encore Stage, Saturday
There really, really is nothing like standing in a tent shouting ‘BC!!’ and ‘Body Count’ at a stage every two seconds. Give it a try this June, trust me.

Mötley Crüe, Main Stage, Sunday
Every time they play, they bring the party. Not only that but this will be your last possible chance to see Mötley Crüe at a UK festival. Seriously, they’ve signed a contract and everything so even if you’re not their biggest fan, you’ll still want to say you were there for this. Plus, if you’re close enough, you may even get a shot of Jager from Nikki Sixx who regularly dishes them out throughout the set!

King 810, third stage, Sunday
This will be the Flint mob’s biggest opportunity yet to justify the hype surrounding them. Go easy on Saturday night’s partying, you’ll need to be up early to see if they do!


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Jan162015January 16, 2015January 16, 2015NoCommentby dan

Shikari or Shakira

Posted in music, radio

shikari
Last week I caught up with Rou and Chris from Enter Shikari and played a game of ‘Shikari or Shakira’

Is it a lyric by Enter Shikari or Shakira?

I made this as hard as I possibly could but it turns out the guys do actually know their lyrics pretty well…

On the show this week I also caught up with Loz Taylor from While She Sleeps on the phone. Their co-headline show tour with Cancer Bats this coming May looks set to be an absolute banger and I wanted to check in with the progress of their new album ‘Brainwashed’, which is out March 23rd.

It’s relatively quiet on the gig-front at the minute. I’m pretty much saving myself for the ‘Prepare For Hell’ tour featuring Slipknot, Korn, and King 810 at Wembley Arena next week. I haven’t seen the 18-legged monster since their incredible headline performance at Download 2009 so i literally can’t wait.


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Nov212013November 21, 2013November 21, 2013NoCommentby dan

While She Sleeps interview @ Alexandra Palace

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OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERALast weekend I attended my debut Vans Warped Tour, and I was completely blown away. It truly is a festival like no other, with bands and fans of all sub-genres running around a totally packed Alexandra Palace – incidentally, my favourite venue in London – and blistering sets from Parkway Drive, Rise Against, The Hype Theory, Sonic Boom Six, Hatebreed and Enter Shikari.

You can hear my interviews with The Hype Theory, The Maine and Max Raptor on my Kerrang! Radio show this Saturday – but for now here’s my chat with Loz and Matt from While She Sleeps. Last time I saw these guys they quite literally decimated the Vans shoe store on Camden High Street, causing enormous moshpits both inside and outside the shop (see pic) and the police turning up. Needless to say this was the first thing I asked them about…


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Oct022013October 2, 2013October 2, 2013NoCommentby dan

Building Bridges

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Recently Myles Kennedy and Mark Tremonti from Alter Bridge joined me on the show. We talked about the new album, their imminent UK arena tour, their joint solo for ‘Blackbird’ being voted ‘the best solo of all-time’, their ventures outside of the band (Myles is the vocalist in Slash’s current band, and Mark plays guitar for Creed, and has also recently released a solo record) and their take on the controversial issue of band ‘meet and greets’.

This last subject, in particular, has been covered in depth in Kerrang! Magazine lately, with Rou Reynolds of Enter Shikari (‘For a human to charge another human money to meet them is just wrong‘) and Oli Sykes from Bring Me The Horizon (‘Next USA tour! Oli Sykes special polaroid package! Take a photo with me! Special price! Absolutely no charge at all! Fucking cockstars‘) expressing particularly forthright views. With this in mind, I was keen to ask the band, who do offer such VIP ‘meet and greet’ packages, for their views on the subject.

You can listen again to the interview below, and the band’s new album, Fortress is out this week, and currently No. 3 in the iTunes chart. With any luck it should stay in the top 10 this weekend!


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Aug092013August 9, 2013August 9, 2013NoCommentby dan

‘You know how many sick trainers I own?’

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Hacktivist

I’m not normally one to bang on about novelty cover versions, but I’m happy to make an exception in the case of UK grime / metal crossover act Hacktivist.

They’ve been bubbling under the surface for a few months now, and as you can see from the video, have been sending audiences into a frenzy this summer at Download and Germany’s Rock am Ring festival. They’ve been performing this cover of Jay-Z and Kanye West’s Paris in their sets for a while, and due to fan demand have released a video and free download:

They’re touring with Enter Shikari later in the year (whose cover of Insomnia by Faithless, incidentally, is well worth a listen..)

The climax of which will undoubtedly be the Vans Warped Tour show on November 17th at London’s Alexandra Palace alongside Rise Against, Billy Talent, Anberlin and many others. It’s also right by my flat, so I may well hold an afterparty. Watch this space 😉


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