Enter Shikari’s Rou Reynolds has spoken to NME backstage at Download 2024, and told us how the upcoming general election could be vital in the survival of the UK’s grassroots music venues.
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The frontman caught up with us while at this year’s edition of the Donington Park Festival, shortly before Enter Shikari kicked off their first performance on the Apex Stage (barring the post-COVID pilot edition).
The set came following the hugely positive response to their latest album ‘A Kiss For The Whole World’, and ahead of the band’s upcoming run of UK live shows – which will be a much more intimate affair after their recent arena tour.
The band have been vocal champions of grassroots gig spaces and the Music Venue Trust. Last year, various figures from the UK grassroots live music scene told NME about how 2023 was the “worst year for venue closures” – with 125 grassroots venues shutting down. This caused a loss of 4,000 jobs, with 14,500 events no longer possible and 193,230 opportunities lost to musicians.
Last year, in a bid to protect the sector, Enter Shikari made one of the biggest pushes to help support grassroots music spaces so far – introducing a £1 ticket levy to their arena shows, which was then donated to the MVT. They were one of the leading artists to prove how larger venues could help support its smaller counterparts at no extra cost to fans. Other artists have since followed suit (including CKY and Alien Ant Farm, who confirmed earlier this year that they would be introducing the same levy) and a nationwide scheme of arenas and stadiums paying back into the grassroots has been recommended by MPs.
Speaking to NME before their Download set, Reynolds shared his views on how the upcoming general election may be pivotal in the survival of local music venues, as well as the band’s plans for new material.
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NME: Hi Rou! What’s it like to be here at Download again?
Rou Reynolds: “The atmosphere backstage is miserable, everyone’s wet! No, it’s fine, but I do think everyone is a bit exhausted. We’re all tired coming from different festivals and different places, but it’s nice to see different bands and friends that we haven’t seen in ages. Sometimes festivals are the only times you get to hang out with people that you really respect and really enjoy hanging out with. It’s been a really nice vibe so far. We’re just going to try and not slip over and ruin our outfits. It has yet to happen, but I’m sure it will.”
Enter Shikari were one of the bands really leading the charge in supporting grassroots music venues in the UK. What’s it been like to see more artists getting involved?
“It feels like in the last year there’s been like so much more support for everything that Music Venue Trust is doing. Even for just creating awareness of the plight of independent music venues in this country.
“Over the last few years it’s got worse and worse. We’ve lost more grassroots spaces, and we have the bad luck of not being in Scandinavia or in Germany, or so many other places where these venues are actually funded and supported. In many places, art is something that is celebrated and encouraged. Whereas in our country, that isn’t really at all at the moment. So it’s great to see this resurgence of enthusiasm and the groundswell of support.”
It seems like there is still a long way to go. Do you think the upcoming general election could make a difference?
“A change of government will definitely help. At the moment, there’s a real kind of push towards building new arenas in this country and creating jobs that way. That’s great, but in order to have the artists that are eventually going to fill those arenas, you need to support the venues which are going to give them their first steps. The places where they’re going to learn their craft, where they’re going to play, where they’re going to create a community.
“Hopefully, we’ll see a lot more action in this realm from a Labour government. I don’t think you can do any worse than what the Tories have been doing in, in that respect. So a new government will be really helpful and voting is the only way to achieve that.”
You recently a UK tour for later in the year. What can we expect from those shows?
“I’m refraining from calling them intimate shows, but they are more intimate than the arena shows that we just did. In terms of what to expect, I don’t know yet. We haven’t even started thinking about it, but it’s on the to-do list while we get through festival season. They’re going to be a bit more straight and narrow this time. Back to these sweatier, vibe-ier venues. We’re really looking forward to it because we’re getting to play some cities that we haven’t been to in ages, and some new ones that we haven’t visited before. I can’t wait.”
Why was it important for you to make stops at venues that aren’t in major cities this time around?
“Often when you get to the position that we’re in, it’s expected that you only do the major cities — Birmingham, London, Glasgow, then that’s it. But we’ve never really done that; almost every other tour we do in the UK we try to do either a back-to-grassroots tour or play venues off the beaten track.
“To be honest I don’t think this tour is quite as extreme as some of the tours that we’ve done in the past! We did a seaside tour one time, playing everywhere from Weston-Super-Mare to all sorts of places that I’d never been before. It was great because I got to see so much more of the country. So I think this tour is more of a middle ground. It’s still sizeable venues where we can bring some production in and really create an atmosphere, but still make it to places that we haven’t been to in ages. I don’t want to expect people to always do the travelling to come and see us. Sometimes we want to travel to come and see them.”
What’s next for Enter Shikari? Have you started thinking about new material at all?
“We have literally just started thinking about new music! It’s very much at the stage where the whiteboard is getting its first few jottings on, but I think once we get through the summer we’ll really get our heads down and write and record properly. We’re really excited about it because there’s a lot of stuff that didn’t get developed in time to be considered for the last album, so we’ve decided to come back to it and find the right time to develop it.”
Enter Shikari’s 2024 UK headline tour kicks off in November. You can find remaining tickets for the dates here.
Last week saw Music Venue Trust urge political parties to “seize the moment” in sharing manifesto for the grassroots ahead of election. Young people have also been reminded to make the most of their “super power” and register to vote before it’s too late.