_Rob Rolfe - Enter Shikari (28/01/2012)
_ After releasing their third studio album ‘A Flash Flood of Colour’ on the 16th of January and with a Soundwave tour coming up, we were eager to speak to Rob Rolfe, the drummer of Enter Shikari. The 59th Sound spoke to Enter Shikari about their new album, recording in Thailand and their recent success at #1 on the charts.
You started out as a band called Hybryd in 1999. How was the sound then compared to what we now know as Enter Shikari?
It is completely different I suppose. We changed the lineup. We decided to get a different guitarist and we introduced a lot of electronics into our music. Also, at that time we were playing quite a few covers and had not really started our journey as Enter Shikari. I don’t think anyone would have recognized any of our material or what we were playing back then. And I think people now know what we are now.
Yeah, so it has been a long journey?
Yeah, it is amazing. We have been Enter Shikari since 2003, so we have all kind of grown up a little bit. Or no, gotten older. I don’t know about growing up.
Was it always your childhood dream to start a band?
Rou, Chris and I, we knew each other from school and just started playing together and it was just like a hobby really. Just having fun and playing music. Then it got more and more serious and Rory joined the band and they actually started requesting us quite a hell of a lot. We were getting a little bit of success around the UK. And then suddenly we got to a point when we thought: Wow, this could actually go somewhere. We have never really been thinking that this is where we want to be. We kind off just took everything as it came and enjoyed everything for what it was at the moment.
How old were you when you started playing the drums?
I started to play the drums when I was about seven years old.
I know that Shikari means Hunter in Persian and also in some other languages. It made me curious to why you chose to name your band Enter Shikari? Could you please tell us a bit more about what’s behind that?
Basically, Rous uncle had a fishing boat called Shikari and we thought it was a cool and mysterious word that no one really knows what means, well I mean not immediately anyway. And yeah, it just sort of suited to our music and it suited to our personalities. It is about going out and getting what you want.
I think it is a good name. It is so different from other band names.
So a question for the readers that are new to Enter Shikari. Who writes your lyrics and who writes the music? Do you have specific roles in the band or do you just write it all together?
Well, the majority of the music is written by Rou. He will come up with the main ideas, he is the big fish, so he is kind of setting the shell of the song and then he will bring it to us and we will work on it and we will round it up into a finished piece. And he will then write the lyrics but we all have the input into it.
You have played alongside bands like Linkin Park, Pendulum and The Devil wWears Prada . How does it feel to have shared the stage with big names like that? I guess you never thought that you would go so far.
Well no. As I said before we never really had the motivation or really wanted to be able to say that we played on music stages. We just kind of took every day as it came. The one day when it really hit us was when we got a tour around Europe with the Prodigy, because they have always been one of our greatest influences and one of my, personally, favorite bands of all times. And I think when that came around I literally had to slap myself.
It must have felt unreal right?
I could not believe that it was actually happening.
So where do you see yourself in 5 years? Do you have any goals that you are aiming for right now?
Not really. Obviously the new album has just been released and I presume we will just carry on doing what we do now. Carry on being creative, writing new music, being able to tour and just being able to be in the industry because we have so much passion for music. To be honest I can’t see that far ahead.
In 2008 you played your first show in Australia at the Big Day Out. Do you remember how the crowd was then? I mean, do you remember the show?
They were absolutely amazing.
So now you are returning to Australia in February to perform at the Soundwave festivals different stages around the country. Are you expecting more fans this time and a wilder crowd?
We have actually been back a couple of times before, playing the Soundwave festival and so on and the Australian fans have all been fantastic to us. So yeah, hopefully we will get another good reaction this time around.
You seem excited then?
Yes, I am. We love the Australian tours, especially now that it is Summer as well. It is nice to get away and come home with a nice tan.
You released your third studio album, ‘A Flash flood of Colour’ on the 16th of January, which actually was this Monday! You must be so excited about the response it is getting right now. Have you heard any response up to this date that you can tell us about?
Well, it is currently in the album charts sitting as number one in the UK, which is just absolutely unbelievable. We never thought it would get anywhere near that, of actually sitting in the top of the charts. So it has just been unbelievable and we can’t really believe that this is happening right now. All our fans have been so enthusiastic about it and we have had lots of cute reviews been written about it, so it has really been quite overwhelming, the fantastic response it has received.
So, Australia will be among the first countries to hear your new record played live and I know your fans are extremely excited about that. I read that you recorded this album in Thailand. Can you tell us a bit more about how you got this opportunity?
Well our producer, Dan Weller, had a contact that owned a studio in Thailand and we were kind of joking when we had a conversation about why we couldn’t record the album in Thailand. At the time we were recording our music at Old street in London, which is quite the opposite. I mean rainy, central London compared to the tropical paradise Thailand. And the more we talked about it, the more it actually became a possibility. And then we found ourselves sitting in the sunshine in an absolutely amazing studio.
So did you record the whole thing in Thailand, or bits of it in the UK too?
Well we did the most of it in Thailand and then we came back and finished up the vocals and other little bits and pieces.
I think the first song of the album called System, is very interesting. It starts almost like a poem and ends up asking everyone to stand up and fight for our future. Is it important for you that your lyrics have a deep meaning? What do you wish to mediate with your music?
I think it is really important to have meaning within the music. Obviously not all the time, there is absolutely an argument to just having music for the sake of being music and it don’t need any kind of message behind it. We are in a time now when there is so much going on around us and there is so much inequality in the world. People are rising up all over the world and shouting. Like the whole 99 percent of occupying Wall street that is going on. People are really figuring out their motives. And it puzzles me that not all people are expressing these kinds of issues through music. The charts are just filled with the most boring crap, talking about their girl or their love or similar things.
That seems to be very important for you then!
Yes, definitely.
So could you go so far to say that this is like the core of your band?
I mean like musically it is just music that is there to be enjoyed and then behind that there is also something meaningful. You can also just accept it as music and not really “listen” to the music.
So do you like the idea of your music getting people to react and act?
Well, we are not politicians. We are musicians. But the fact is that whether we like it or not we are up on a pedestal and what we say people are going to listen to, so we might as well have something positive and something people can take away and use. And then if this leads to one person finding out what is actually going on in the world that is absolutely fantastic!
That is great. I really like that thought.
Well, you are famous for your wild live shows and how you try your best to narrow the divide between the band and the fans. How important is this for you? I have seen some live shows and the crowd seems to go absolutely crazy.
Well, we do have fun together! I guess, we growing up were going to shows and playing our live shows, and we just wanted you to enjoy it so much. We didn’t do it because we wanted to stand there and look cool or become famous or anything like that. We did it because we enjoy it so much and for us it is the main thing that we have fun when we are on stage. I think that really speaks to the audience and they get so excited and adrenalin pumped and they do all these kind of crazy things which points back to us and we give it back. So I think it is a bit of a cycle going on. And it sort of rounds up and gets bigger and crazier. And it is kind of the important thing about music, that it is there to be enjoyed. You got to have fun with it.
So I am curious. What are your short-term plans for this year? Is it mostly touring or can we except any new material too?
No, it is pretty much going to be touring. It is going to be Soundwave and we’ve got a European and UK tour and after that we got an American headliner and then the European festivals in the summer and it is just going to be nonstop touring pretty much for the next 18 months.
What is your advice to other bands out there that have the same dreams as you guys of succeeding with getting their music out there?
Hard work. Put all your effort into it and do it for the passion and love for music and not for earning more money.
Enter Shikari will be performing at Soundwave 2012 and two exclusive sidewaves.
TUESDAY 28TH FEBRUARY - MELBOURNE, BILLBOARD- 18+
www.oztix.com.au / www.ticketek.com.au / www.moshtix.com.au
WEDNESDAY 29TH FEBRUARY - SYDNEY, THE METRO - LIC A/A
www.ticketek.com.auTickets on sale now.
Malene Aakre
You started out as a band called Hybryd in 1999. How was the sound then compared to what we now know as Enter Shikari?
It is completely different I suppose. We changed the lineup. We decided to get a different guitarist and we introduced a lot of electronics into our music. Also, at that time we were playing quite a few covers and had not really started our journey as Enter Shikari. I don’t think anyone would have recognized any of our material or what we were playing back then. And I think people now know what we are now.
Yeah, so it has been a long journey?
Yeah, it is amazing. We have been Enter Shikari since 2003, so we have all kind of grown up a little bit. Or no, gotten older. I don’t know about growing up.
Was it always your childhood dream to start a band?
Rou, Chris and I, we knew each other from school and just started playing together and it was just like a hobby really. Just having fun and playing music. Then it got more and more serious and Rory joined the band and they actually started requesting us quite a hell of a lot. We were getting a little bit of success around the UK. And then suddenly we got to a point when we thought: Wow, this could actually go somewhere. We have never really been thinking that this is where we want to be. We kind off just took everything as it came and enjoyed everything for what it was at the moment.
How old were you when you started playing the drums?
I started to play the drums when I was about seven years old.
I know that Shikari means Hunter in Persian and also in some other languages. It made me curious to why you chose to name your band Enter Shikari? Could you please tell us a bit more about what’s behind that?
Basically, Rous uncle had a fishing boat called Shikari and we thought it was a cool and mysterious word that no one really knows what means, well I mean not immediately anyway. And yeah, it just sort of suited to our music and it suited to our personalities. It is about going out and getting what you want.
I think it is a good name. It is so different from other band names.
So a question for the readers that are new to Enter Shikari. Who writes your lyrics and who writes the music? Do you have specific roles in the band or do you just write it all together?
Well, the majority of the music is written by Rou. He will come up with the main ideas, he is the big fish, so he is kind of setting the shell of the song and then he will bring it to us and we will work on it and we will round it up into a finished piece. And he will then write the lyrics but we all have the input into it.
You have played alongside bands like Linkin Park, Pendulum and The Devil wWears Prada . How does it feel to have shared the stage with big names like that? I guess you never thought that you would go so far.
Well no. As I said before we never really had the motivation or really wanted to be able to say that we played on music stages. We just kind of took every day as it came. The one day when it really hit us was when we got a tour around Europe with the Prodigy, because they have always been one of our greatest influences and one of my, personally, favorite bands of all times. And I think when that came around I literally had to slap myself.
It must have felt unreal right?
I could not believe that it was actually happening.
So where do you see yourself in 5 years? Do you have any goals that you are aiming for right now?
Not really. Obviously the new album has just been released and I presume we will just carry on doing what we do now. Carry on being creative, writing new music, being able to tour and just being able to be in the industry because we have so much passion for music. To be honest I can’t see that far ahead.
In 2008 you played your first show in Australia at the Big Day Out. Do you remember how the crowd was then? I mean, do you remember the show?
They were absolutely amazing.
So now you are returning to Australia in February to perform at the Soundwave festivals different stages around the country. Are you expecting more fans this time and a wilder crowd?
We have actually been back a couple of times before, playing the Soundwave festival and so on and the Australian fans have all been fantastic to us. So yeah, hopefully we will get another good reaction this time around.
You seem excited then?
Yes, I am. We love the Australian tours, especially now that it is Summer as well. It is nice to get away and come home with a nice tan.
You released your third studio album, ‘A Flash flood of Colour’ on the 16th of January, which actually was this Monday! You must be so excited about the response it is getting right now. Have you heard any response up to this date that you can tell us about?
Well, it is currently in the album charts sitting as number one in the UK, which is just absolutely unbelievable. We never thought it would get anywhere near that, of actually sitting in the top of the charts. So it has just been unbelievable and we can’t really believe that this is happening right now. All our fans have been so enthusiastic about it and we have had lots of cute reviews been written about it, so it has really been quite overwhelming, the fantastic response it has received.
So, Australia will be among the first countries to hear your new record played live and I know your fans are extremely excited about that. I read that you recorded this album in Thailand. Can you tell us a bit more about how you got this opportunity?
Well our producer, Dan Weller, had a contact that owned a studio in Thailand and we were kind of joking when we had a conversation about why we couldn’t record the album in Thailand. At the time we were recording our music at Old street in London, which is quite the opposite. I mean rainy, central London compared to the tropical paradise Thailand. And the more we talked about it, the more it actually became a possibility. And then we found ourselves sitting in the sunshine in an absolutely amazing studio.
So did you record the whole thing in Thailand, or bits of it in the UK too?
Well we did the most of it in Thailand and then we came back and finished up the vocals and other little bits and pieces.
I think the first song of the album called System, is very interesting. It starts almost like a poem and ends up asking everyone to stand up and fight for our future. Is it important for you that your lyrics have a deep meaning? What do you wish to mediate with your music?
I think it is really important to have meaning within the music. Obviously not all the time, there is absolutely an argument to just having music for the sake of being music and it don’t need any kind of message behind it. We are in a time now when there is so much going on around us and there is so much inequality in the world. People are rising up all over the world and shouting. Like the whole 99 percent of occupying Wall street that is going on. People are really figuring out their motives. And it puzzles me that not all people are expressing these kinds of issues through music. The charts are just filled with the most boring crap, talking about their girl or their love or similar things.
That seems to be very important for you then!
Yes, definitely.
So could you go so far to say that this is like the core of your band?
I mean like musically it is just music that is there to be enjoyed and then behind that there is also something meaningful. You can also just accept it as music and not really “listen” to the music.
So do you like the idea of your music getting people to react and act?
Well, we are not politicians. We are musicians. But the fact is that whether we like it or not we are up on a pedestal and what we say people are going to listen to, so we might as well have something positive and something people can take away and use. And then if this leads to one person finding out what is actually going on in the world that is absolutely fantastic!
That is great. I really like that thought.
Well, you are famous for your wild live shows and how you try your best to narrow the divide between the band and the fans. How important is this for you? I have seen some live shows and the crowd seems to go absolutely crazy.
Well, we do have fun together! I guess, we growing up were going to shows and playing our live shows, and we just wanted you to enjoy it so much. We didn’t do it because we wanted to stand there and look cool or become famous or anything like that. We did it because we enjoy it so much and for us it is the main thing that we have fun when we are on stage. I think that really speaks to the audience and they get so excited and adrenalin pumped and they do all these kind of crazy things which points back to us and we give it back. So I think it is a bit of a cycle going on. And it sort of rounds up and gets bigger and crazier. And it is kind of the important thing about music, that it is there to be enjoyed. You got to have fun with it.
So I am curious. What are your short-term plans for this year? Is it mostly touring or can we except any new material too?
No, it is pretty much going to be touring. It is going to be Soundwave and we’ve got a European and UK tour and after that we got an American headliner and then the European festivals in the summer and it is just going to be nonstop touring pretty much for the next 18 months.
What is your advice to other bands out there that have the same dreams as you guys of succeeding with getting their music out there?
Hard work. Put all your effort into it and do it for the passion and love for music and not for earning more money.
Enter Shikari will be performing at Soundwave 2012 and two exclusive sidewaves.
TUESDAY 28TH FEBRUARY - MELBOURNE, BILLBOARD- 18+
www.oztix.com.au / www.ticketek.com.au / www.moshtix.com.au
WEDNESDAY 29TH FEBRUARY - SYDNEY, THE METRO - LIC A/A
www.ticketek.com.auTickets on sale now.
Malene Aakre