Enter Shikari

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From L to R: Rory, Rou, Rob, Chris

Enter Shikari are a British four-piece band. They could probably be described as post-hardcore, although they also have elements of punk, metal and many different sub-genres of electronic music.

Members:

• Roughton 'Rou' Reynolds - Lead vocals and electronics
• Liam 'Rory' Clewlow - Guitar and backing vocals
• Chris 'Batty C' Batten - Bass and backing vocals
• Rob Rolfe - Drums

As of this writing, they've released three albums, Take To The Skies in 2007, Common Dreads in 2009, and A Flash Flood Of Colour in 2012. They also released two compilations of B-sides and demos, The Zone in 2007 and Tribalism in 2010.

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Enter Shikari have examples of:

• A Good Name for a Rock Band: They're named after a boat that Rou's uncle had. It also means 'the hunter' in Indian.
• Album Title Drop: Common Dreads is title dropped in both the eponymous intro track and "Solidarity" ("Here tonight / I clock a thousand heads / Here to unite / Through common dreads"). The previous album, Take To The Skies, also gets mentioned in "No Sleep Tonight" ("You and me, we're gonna take / To the skies, for a common sake").
  • Take To The Skies is also title dropped in a non-album single from 2007, "Kickin' Back On The Surface Of Your Cheek".
  • A Flash Flood Of Colour gets one in "Warm Smiles Do Not Make You Welcome Here".
• Animated Music Video: Thumper is a black-and-white performance video, with (fairly terrifying) doodle-style drawings of the band rotoscoped over it.
• Arc Words: And still we will be here, standing like statues.
• Atomic F-Bomb: The very first word on Take to the Skies.
• Audience Participation Song: You are legally obligated to join in with the famous three claps to 'Sorry, You're Not a Winner'.
• Badass Creed: From "Juggernauts". This is also a Crowning Moment of Awesome.

We'll do what we've always done Shut our eyes and hope for the best... NO! We're gonna face this And step out onto the tracks Stare it right in the face THOU SHALL NOT PASS!

• • In the opening section of "Sssnakepit" this definitely counts:

What's the one thing that has more speed More strength And goes deeper than us? A NUCLEAR SUBMARINE.

• The Backwards R: Greek, actually. See Xtreme Kool Letterz further down the page.
• Call Back: The song "Solidarity" off Common Dreads ends with a chorus singing "and still we will be here / standing like statues", a phrase which is repeated multiple times during Take To The Skies.
  • "System...", the intro to A Flash Flood Of Colour starts with the same synth as "Common Dreads", which is the same synth that closed Take To The Skies.
  • The vocal effect on the line "OPEN THEIR MINDS" from "Gandhi Mate, Gandhi" is the same as "AND NOW THE FLOODGATES WILL OPEN" from "Solidarity".
  • The line "This is no white abode" from "Wall" on Common Dreads harks back to "My white abode, do you remember my white abode" from "Sorry, You're Not A Winner".
• Continuity Nod: "Havoc A" has one to "Acid Nation".

It's another day in the acid nation Expected to gulp down hindrance

• Cover Version: They've covered Kid Cudi's "Day N Nite" and Faithless' "Insomnia".
• Fading Into the Next Song: Used a lot by them on both albums, but Take To The Skies is extremely noticeable, due to the Interludes. It's very satisfying to play Interlude 3, a breakcore intro to "Sorry, You're Not A Winner", then the song itself, then Interlude 4, the Jonny Sniper fanfare, and then Jonny Sniper. A nice group of tracks.
• Fan Nickname: The Shikari Ferrari, and the Shikari Shuffle, a brief dance from the "Destabilise" music video.
• Faux Retro: Jonny & the Snipers.
• Feed Me: Rou can get pretty hammy during the intro to "The Jester", as seen here (footage from the Live from Planet Earth DVD).
• Genre Roulette
• Genre Shift: Arguably. Common Dreads is a lot lighter musically than Take To The Skies.
  • Then there's A Flash Flood Of Colour, which is heavily Dubstep influenced and has a lot more of an electronic dance feel.
• Green Aesop: Common Dreads has a very environmental message running through it. The song "Jonny Sniper" is also about protecting the Earth.
• Harsh Vocals: Rou does this a lot.
• Ironic Nickname: Fans dubbed the band's old tour van as the Shikari Ferrari. It's hardly a Ferrari, more a battered old Post Office van.
• Johnny McCoolname: "Ladies and gentlemen, show your appreciaion for JONNY SNNNIPEEEERRRRR!"
• Last Note Hilarity: Rory laughing at the end of "Sssnakepit" and the "Louis Armstrong" noise.
• Last-Note Nightmare: The last few seconds of "Labyrinth" are rather... chilling.
• Metal Scream: All three types.
• Mohs Scale of Rock and Metal Hardness: They come in at a 7, possibly crossing over into 8.
• Mood Whiplash: On Take To The Skies, the relatively soft, feelgood "Jonny Sniper" is followed by calm acoustic ballad "Adieu"... and then comes "OK, Time For Plan B", a fast-paced, mosh-worthy heavy tune. It's still awesome, though.
• Neoclassical Punk Zydeco Rockabilly: Their music is... surprisingly hard to pin down to a genre. In fact, they have a shirt that references this. "Enter Shikari Sound System: Abusing Music Genres Worthless Boundaries Since 2003"
• New Sound Album: A Flash Flood Of Colour doesn't sound anything like the two albums before it.
• No Title: Used a few times on Take to the Skies, with tracks 1, 5, 9, 11, 13 and 17 untitled on the track listing. However, track 1 is usually referred to as "Stand Your Ground, This Is Ancient Land", tracks 5, 11 and 13 as Interludes 1, 2 and 3 respectively, and tracks 9 and 17 as "Reprise One" and "Reprise Two", the final track also known as "Closing".
• One of Us: The band really do seem like this. This is evident from the song "Hectic", where a section of the lyrics goes "Convene at mine at 3pm to play Sega Mega Drive, Golden Axe and Sonic all day".
• Performance Video: All of their music videos feature the band performing the song at some point. Some with an audience, some without.
• Precision F-Strike: A pretty good one in "Enter Shikari", the first song (not counting instrumental opener "Stand Your Ground, This Is Ancient Land") on their first album, and the VERY FIRST WORD is Rou screaming "SHIT!".
  • Arguably, the line "We need to FUCKING ERUPT" in "Destabilise".
  • "No Sssweat" with "You do this EVERY FUCKING TIME!"
    • "...do this one more time and I'll bite your FUCKING FINGERS OFF!"
• Soprano and Gravel: At the end of "Sorry, You're Not a Winner", Chris sings the line "Insert your coin" cleanly, then Rou growls it.
• Spoken Word in Music: The intro to Common Dreads.
• Studio Chatter: "Zzzonked" opens with a clip of Rou complaining: "These wars are directly out of order, you get me? They're past their sell-by date serious. I don't think any of you fucking get me. Listen." Cue Metal Scream.
• Stuff Blowing Up: In the video for "Jonny Sniper", the Shikari Ferrari gets blown up.
• Subdued Section: In "Sorry, You're Not a Winner" and "Destabilise", among others. "Adieu" is one for the most part of the song, before the guitars and drums kick in.
• Surprisingly Gentle Song: "Adieu" and "Gap in the Fence".
  • "Constellations" counts as well.
• Title-Only Chorus: "Return to Energizer" and "Warm Smiles Do Not Make You Welcome Here".
• Xtreme Kool Letterz: Their 'Greek' logo from the Common Dreads era counts, in text form looks like ΣΠTΣ℞ S Hᶲ KΔ℞ᶲ. They're also fond of adding extra letters to one song on each album, like "No Sssweat", "Zzzonked" and "Sssnakepit".