Interview with Rou and Rory at Columbiaclub Berlin - English Version

(Enter Shikari)

10.10.2007 von Melanie Schupp

On a warm October's day we meet Rou and Rory from Enter Shikari - one the biggest newcomer this year. In the catering room filled with food and sweets we talk to each other. Obviously hungry after the soundcheck they are very patient and friendly guys.

Okay I’m sorry for maybe boring you with my first question; take it as a warm up question: Who came up with the idea for the band name?

Rou: We first came aware of the word “Shikari” from my uncle ‘cos he had a boat he called “Shikari” and he told me that “Shikari” means “the hunter” in Indian. I thought “this is really cool!” and then we were playing with the character including “Shikari” in it. So it’s from playing with the word “Shikari” that we called our band “Enter Shikari”.

Did you ever think about changing it, because last time I went to the record store asking for your record the guy said “Oh think that might be something esoteric….?!”

Rou: Well the first and only one who ever said we need to change the name now before we get big and because no-one’s gonna like it and no-one’s gonna remember it, was my dad.

It’s not that long ago since you last played in Germany. In light of your success do you feel the audience have changed?

Rou: Well they got bigger.

Rory: It just increased. More people know us now and they learned the lyrics and songs and stuff, and they are a bit crazier.

Where would you say your largest audience is nowadays?

Rory: Do you mean in Germany?

No everywhere.

Rory: So everywhere in the world…

Rou: In Japan (laughs)

Rory: Yeah the biggest crowd we’ve played in front of was in Japan, and maybe in England.

Was it a festival in Japan?

Rou: Yes it was a big festival; it was basically the biggest festival we’ve ever played. There were the Pet Shop Boys for example.

You will release an EP in November, so what can we expect?

Rou: It’s called “The Zone” and it basically contains all our B-Sides so far. We are quite proud of our B-Sides, we don’t just write them just to fill a single. We make sure that everyone can find special songs contained on one CD. Some live versions of a few songs will be included and also remix I did.

What’s the most embarrassing thing that ever happened on stage?

Rory: Aahm. This is probably not embarrassing for me it’s more embarrassing for Rob: there was a show a couple of years ago, and Rob was climbing on the lights. He slipped and fell straight on the electronics.

Rou: It was completely broken. That was annoying

Did he hurt himself?

Rou: Yeah he has had massive bruises on his back and his arse.

It’s not that long ago since you left school. There are always typical characters like nerds, popular ones and so on. Which role did you play in school?

Rou: We were like completely different roles… Chris was like a jock. He was into sports. He always wants sports all day and we take it as some kind of joke: “come on come on do it guys”.

Rory: Rob… his nickname was “Psycho Rob” and he hasn’t changed a bit. I was kind of friends with everyone. Of course I had a couple of enemies but I was mostly friends with everyone.

Rou: I had like one group and pretty much hated everybody in the end.

Did it calm down? Do you still keep in contact?

Rou: Some of them. It was quite a big group so…

Is it hard to stay in touch with your friends?

Rou: Ahm, every time we’re not on tour we always meet up with them. Thing is that loads of them are at university at the moment so if we had time to travel to their uni then we could see them but it’s quite hard.

Do you actually make new friends on tour or is it more like they just see you as band / famous persons?

Rou: It’s kind of hard to make friends of people. There are loads of people who just wanna be our friend just so that they can get backstage to impress a girl they are with or something like that.

Rory (laughs): That happened yesterday.

Rou (laughs): This guy was like: Please can I come backstage only for 10 minutes? Cause he wanted to impress his girl.

Rory: Well yeah but we make friends with promoters and people who work at the venue, people that we meet when we come back when we tour again.

How long did recording take and did anything extraordinary happen while recording?

Rou: Why… did you hear something extraordinary before?

No…

Rou: We actually recorded our first album in 2 weeks, because it was right in-between two tours. And we were touring with a band called “Blessed by a Broken Heart”. And then we went to the studio the next day and then it came out and then we went on tour. So it was very rushed.

Rory: I remember Rob did all the drum tracks within 2 days, and it was so hot in there that he did it completely naked.

Did you get any sleep within those 2 weeks?

Rou: Yes a bit. We had to get up at 7a.m., had to drive about 2 hours and then finished recording about 7p.m. and then drove back again, that for 2 weeks. Whenever anyone of us did no recording for a while he was sleeping on the sofa.

Are you satisfied with your results… ‘cause I mean 2 weeks is not that much time…?

Rou: Yeah I mean it sounds very raw; I mean that’s how most of the band’s first albums sound like, but we are proud of it.

What was the first thing you did after signing your record deal?

Rory: In England we haven’t actually signed a record deal. We did some licensing things for Japan and America, but in England we made our own label. We never really had to sign anything.

You’ve released your album and you’re still quite young, was there ever a time you felt high pressure on yourself?

Rou: Yeah, like, I mean for 3 years we didn’t have a proper release. That’s why we just squeezed the recordings within these 2 weeks. It was high pressure just to get the album out quickly, but I think besides that there was never a real pressure on us, ‘cause we have been playing these songs for 3 years and we knew we could do the recordings quite quickly.

Your music is quite hyperactive; are you as hyperactive as your music in person or are you more the relaxed one? Is the music some kind of outlet for you?

Rory: We’ve got our moments.

Rou (laughs): If I was to go around shouting at people’s faces and climbing on things all the time I might get arrested. Doing that on stage you can get away with it. So yes it’s kind of an outlet. Doing the crazy things you wanna do all the time.

How come you mixed such different styles of music? Was there maybe one of you who was keen on hardcore music and the other one preferred trance and then you decided to mix it?

Rory: The town were we are from is kind of eclectic. It has a very eclectic scene. The same clubs have like dance nights and rock nights, so loads of the kids are into dance and rock. We came out of this background so it was natural for us.

What was the weirdest question you’ve been asked in an interview?

Rou: Hmmm… I haven’t been asked any weird questions yet.

Never?

Rou: I did a weird interview, and it was like loads of crazy and weird questions – very mental. But actually… it wasn’t that weird. So no, no weird questions.

So maybe it’s time for weird questions. But I don’t have any I’m afraid.

Rou: Well one guy asked what the meaning of life was, I didn’t know what to say to that.

What was the craziest or coolest thing a fan ever did?

Rou: At one festival on an island we played in a tent, and you know tents have those poles. One kid just climbed half way up and jumped off, and he got chucked out the whole festival. He was pretty cool.
Another time in Sheffield in England we played in a club, this kid was climbing up the speakers. You know speakers have a grill, and he had his fingers in the grill. He was crawling on his legs trying to get his fingers out of it, and when he made it he left about that much (shows us about half of a fingertip) of his finger in the grill.

How do you prepare for a tour?

Rou: We have no time to prepare anymore. We’ve only got like 2 days at home ‘cause we’re trying to do as many shows as we can get.

As you are touring a lot… did anything extraordinary or maybe funny happen while touring?

Rory: We went out to some Karaoke bars in Japan, and Rob called a girl a slut or a bitch. She threw the microphone into the plasma screen and smashed it.

Rou: He was only joking but…

Rory: Well, she WAS kind of a bitch, and then we got thrown out of the club and we were going half down the street and we were missing Chris. So we got back and Chris was there with some beer and a bag trying to fill the bag with beer. He was like “We can’t waste the beer!” – 8a.m. in the morning…! Then we got a taxi and he was throwing the beer over the seat. It looked like something happened, and we were taking 3 taxis to 3 different hotels before we realised that the address of the hotel was on the back of the key.
Then we got back and there were all these fans waiting outside the hotel for us to come out. And Chris doesn’t even remember scribbling his signature.

Rou: I came down in the morning after I got up… ‘cause I hadn’t gone out. I saw all these fans waiting for autographs, and I saw the other guys had already signed them and I was like “have they already got up?” and I saw Chris’ really drunk scribble.

What are the best and worst things about touring?

Rory: In my opinion the best thing about touring is playing a good show. The worst is probably not having the freedom to do what you want when you wanna do it, but obviously it’s not that bad ‘cause you always see cool places.

Do you often argue when you’re touring?

Rou: No, maybe a bit.

Imagine – if you had enough money to do the live show you’ve ever dreamt of; what would it be like?

Rory: Probably in a stadium with the stage in the middle of it, and we’re flying on kind of boards to the stage.

Didn’t the Backstreet Boys do that?

Rory (laughs): Yeah that’s where we had the idea from.

Rou: But yeah it’s a good idea; maybe lasers, dancers, an orchestra.

Tigers... Girls in cages…

(laughter)

Did you ever think about recording female vocals for one of your songs?

Rou: Yes, on the new stuff is loads of different kinds of parts where we could do that, but I can sing quite well like a female.

Have you ever thought about doing a cover version of a song?

Rou: Yeah, when we get back to the UK we’ll do “Insomnia” from Faithless, but it will sound like an Enter Shikari version of it; quite hardcore.

Will that also be on the EP?

Rou: No.

The tour manager comes in telling us that it’s time for the last question.

So last question: How does it feeling returning back home after a long tour period? What’s the first thing you’re going to do when you’re back home?

Rory: Sleep.

Rou: Yes just fall on your bed like “aaah bed I’ve missed you!” and then get a nice cooked meal by my mum.

Then it's time for the guys to enter the catering to get some energy before they went on stage.
We'd like to thank Rou and Rory for the nice interview. We'd also like to thank the team of Pias Records who made the interview happen!