HB: Let\u2019s start talking about your last studio album, \u201cThe Mindsweep\u201d, what was the main inspiration behind it?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Rory: There wasn\u2019t really one specific point of inspiration, it\u2019s an accumulated knowledge, and experience of 10 years as a band. It\u2019s very difficult for us to pinpoint exactly where our inspiration comes from because we love so many different things.<\/p>\n

HB: How was the writing process? Was it different from previous albums?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Rory: No, it was pretty similar. [Usually] Rou makes demos, and we write on the computer. It\u2019s constantly evolving. We pass around the sessions to each other, and make little changes. Rou is the main songwriter, and he oversees all. Then we all take the session on the laptop, and add our own bits.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s the way it\u2019s been for all of our albums, except the first one [\u201cTake to the Skies\u201d (2007)], we didn\u2019t have the technology to do that [then].<\/p>\n

HB: What about the lyrics? Your songs talk about current affairs, science, politics, environmental issues\u2026 What message do you want your fans to take when they listen to your music?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Rou: I think the biggest message that we carried through every album is the importance of unity. We live in a world where everywhere you turn there are all sorts of things trying either persuade or trying to initiate division between everyone. There are not many things that promulgate unity, and community. As religion is being forgotten into history, there is nothing really taking this place, and music is really the only thing that still indiscriminately brings people together to celebrate the best things about being alive. It\u2019s an honour to be able to play music, and initiate that sense of community that\u2019s been lost.<\/p>\n

\n
\u201cThe biggest message that we carried through every album is the importance of unity.\u201d<\/em><\/span><\/h2>\n<\/blockquote>\n
HB: Let\u2019s talk about the current tour. What can we expect from your live shows? We\u2019ve heard that you are using technology that you\u2019ve never used before.<\/strong><\/p>\n
Rory: On the UK leg of this tour, we had a lot of bigger room, so we could afford to bring in more production, we had screens, surround sound, and lots of lighting, but unfortunately [in here] we could only bring in a limited amount of production. Hopefully, next time we come back, will be able to bring the surround sound, the screens, and stuff.<\/p>\n
HB: In the past, you played a cover of Muse\u2019s Supermassive Blackhole<\/em>, and we\u2019ve heard that for you Rou, they were one of your influences when growing up. Who is your main musical influence nowadays?<\/strong><\/p>\n
Rou: With the last album I was listening to a lot of classical music: Tchaikovsky, Stravinsky, and stuff like that. Also a lot of hip hop, old school hardcore punk, electronica, house, drum\u2019n\u2019bass.<\/p>\n
Rory: I generally listen to more drum\u2019n\u2019bass than anything else, and every now and then I get obsessed with a certain band, but just random things.<\/p>\n
$\"Enter$ <\/a><\/p>\n
HB: Besides Enter Shikari, you have some side projects. Are we going to see any new music coming soon?<\/strong><\/p>\n
Rou: At the end of the summer, it might be time to do other stuff; Shikari Sound System is something we want to do more with.<\/p>\n
HB: The band Baby Godzilla released some music under your own label, Ambush Reality. Are you thinking about releasing music from other bands?<\/strong><\/p>\n
Rou: It\u2019d be lovely, but that would mean employing a lot more people, which is fine, but [at the moment] we are focusing on other stuff.<\/p>\n
HB: Enter Shikari focuses more on synths and electronics, but talking about guitar parts, Rory, how would you define your style as a guitarist?<\/strong><\/p>\n
Rory: Because Enter Shikari is heavily electronic based, I kind of see the electronics as the lead instrument, and the guitar as a rhythm instrument. It\u2019s mostly quite simple parts, add[ing] texture to the overall sound.<\/p>\n
Rou: I think that\u2019s a bit humble! (both laugh)<\/p>\n
Rory: Yeah! I reckon [my style] it\u2019s versatile. Stuff with effects, tapping, a bit of everything.<\/p>\n
HB: When you are not touring or recording, what do you love to do?<\/strong><\/p>\n
Rou: Reading. At the moment I am reading \u201cThe Consolation of Philosophy\u201d.<\/p>\n
I just had a few weeks that I [also] became obsessed with cosmology, the massive advances in cosmology during the 21st century. The advances in technology that they were able to inform us about how the universe is expanding, and accelerating its expansion. Actually, we are really lucky to be living at this point of the universe\u2019s timeline, age.<\/p>\n
Rory: I have two young children, so when I am off tour, I am literally just changing nappies; spending time with them.<\/p>\n
\n
\u201cWe live in a world where everywhere you turn there are all sorts of things trying to initiate division between everyone. It\u2019s an honour to be able to play music, and initiate that sense of community that\u2019s been lost.\u201d<\/em><\/span><\/h2>\n<\/blockquote>\n
HB: If you weren\u2019t in Enter Shikari, what would you be doing as a career?<\/strong><\/p>\n
Rory: My last \u201creal\u201d job was a lab technician at an optician, making glasses, so I might still doing that. I like to think that I would be doing something musically.<\/p>\n
Rou: Interesting question. If you frame it as: \u201cWhat do you think you\u2019ll be doing?\u201d [Being] an astronaut, a marine biologist, a pirate (laughs!), but what would I probably be doing? Well, something a lot less glamorous, hopefully something with the music.<\/p>\n
HB: Being in Enter Shikari may be seen as a glamorous thing\u2026<\/strong><\/p>\n
(Both laugh)<\/p>\n
Rou: Wow!<\/p>\n
Rory: I think glamorous is definitely not the word.<\/p>\n
Rou: To the outsider it may be thought of as glamorous, but that is not how I meant it, in reality\u2026<\/p>\n
HB: We know, just joking. Here\u2019s our last question: Where do you see Enter Shikari in say 5 years time?<\/strong><\/p>\n
Rory: The arena tour that we just had in the UK for the first time certainly has given me ambition, just because of the amount of creative doors opened up, we can do so much more in bigger venues, whether it\u2019s screens, lightning, putting surround sound, all these things. A lot of bands from our world when they get to that stage they continue doing the same shows, and we wouldn\u2019t do that. We want to try everything. Hopefully the next five years will see us playing in bigger venues.<\/p>\n
You can grab your copy of \u00a0\u201cThe Mindsweep\u201d or\u00a0the remixed album, \u201cThe Mindsweep: Hospitalised\u201d here<\/span><\/a><\/span><\/strong>.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
About one year ago, the post-hardcore quartet Enter Shikari released their fourth (and most ambitious to date) studio album, \u201cThe Mindsweep\u201d. The Hertfordshire rockers are currently out on the road with the electronic-based group The Qemists, and the dubstep and electronic rock band Modestep to promote their new LP across Europe. The band recently […] More<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":6670,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[11],"tags":[3598,3599,3600,2550,1026,2551,3601,577,3602,122,3603,3604,3183,3279,3605,3606,3607,2557,3608,3609,2558,3610,3611],"reaction":[],"adace-sponsor":[],"class_list":["post-6648","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-musica","tag-ambush-reality","tag-baby-godzilla","tag-drumnbass","tag-dubstep","tag-electronica","tag-enter-shikari","tag-hip-hop","tag-house","tag-modestep","tag-muse","tag-old-school-hardcore-punk","tag-rory-clewlow","tag-rou-reynolds","tag-sala-apolo-1-barcelona","tag-shikari-sound-system","tag-stravinsky","tag-supermassive-blackhole","tag-take-to-the-skies","tag-tchaikovsky","tag-the-consolation-of-philosophy","tag-the-mindsweep","tag-the-mindsweep-hospitalised","tag-the-qemists"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t