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So your new album is out now! What's your state of mind at the moment? Buzzing really, it's quite surreal to have it finally out after working on it since early 2016, so yeah it seems to be going down really well so far. Yeah man, I have heard a few tracks of it, sounds awesome. What changed within the band with this album to go in that direction? A few things I guess, first of all, I became a little bit, not bored but lightly fed up with, I suppose heavier music, metal in particular. I think punk and post-punk were a big influence on this album. In terms of metal influences, there wasn't really that much there at all. I think it just feels a bit sort of stagnant at the moment, that scene. Yeah, I know what you are saying. Is it more a bit of a rebellion against yourself? Yeah maybe, a few sorts of other things. I wanted to make an album that was a bit more focused. A lot of the time Enter Shikari tunes they can sound like 5 songs in one. I wanted to concentrate on lucidity and just try and improve the songwriting and focus on melody more. The last few years I have become a lot more confident as a vocalist. As a singer, I've always shied away from calling myself a singer. I was always the kid that was into punk that would be more comfortable shouting perhaps. I have never really had any sort of singing tuition or anything like that. So yeah, it's only the last few years after the death of David Bowie that have inspired me to really want to push things vocally and use melody as the real focus. Yeah man, I totally get that. You worked with David Kosten on this album, what is he like? Bit of a nutter? Ha-ha, what makes you say that? I don't know, some of the records he puts out, all the producers are out there and a bit odd. They can't be normal to sit with a band all day! He's a funny guy, we just got on with him really well as soon as we met him. He seemed to sort of get exactly where we were coming from, but also has a lot of experience in lots of other areas within music that we didn't. He had an amazing vintage synth collection as well. Ah sweet. Yeah, so it was a bit of a no-brainer to go with him. We love his output, the stuff he has done with Everything Everything and Bat for Lashes was amazing. Also, his enthusiasm for what we were doing, when I was demoing a few tracks I was a bit sort of, not hesitant but I didn't really know if they were any good. But he was just so passionate about the demos and it really rubbed off on us. Yeah its really nice to have that sometimes, especially when the song is barely put together and someone can come along and just see where you are going with it, it's amazing. Yeah definitely. Nice one. I imagine you would have smashed it with him. Yeah, it was brilliant, we are so happy with it. So have you always been a Big Narstie fan then? Yeah, we met a few years ago very briefly. We have quite a few mutual friends. I think we met at a house party a few years ago and I was talking to one of our mates, can't even remember what we were talking After four seminal albums, Enter Shikari release their latest LP The Spark. Since the release of their first single 'Live Outside' which saw the band playing at Annie Mac's Radio 1 show as 'Hottest Record In The World', The Spark has been raved about by critics worldwide. 12 years into their booming career, Guestlist catch up with singer Rou for a chat about the band's journey so far. 48 ISSUE 104 / 2017 INDIE INTERVIEW: ENTER SHIKARI Marc Burford | Guestlist