MUSIC: We’ll be wild and wicked!

Rave-Metallers Enter Shikari are pumped up about returning to Glasgow – because they reckon playing the Barrowland feels as good as appearing at the legendary Download Festival.

The St Albans quartet are set for two back to back nights in the city, appearing at Barrowland this Sunday then playing an intimate gig at King Tut’s the nect night as part of the venue’s 20th birthday celebrations.

And front man Roughton “Rou” Reynolds, who writes most of the lyrics to the group’s hyperactive mix of happy hardcore, rave, metal and punk, holds their first Barrowland show as one of the greatest moments in the band’s career.

“The first time we did the Download Festival was a stand out moment, but we got the same feeling when we played the Barrowland,” he says, speaking over the phone from Antwerp, where the band were set to play.

“The atmosphere was absolutely unbelievable and people were chanting our names.

Glasgow‘s always been wicked for us. This will be our third or fourth time at the Barrowland, and it‘ll be cool going back to King Tut’s too, as the first time we played there we met our sound guy, who we pretty much stole away from there!”

The band’s gigs are known for wild behaviour, with fans holding a obsessive devotion for the band, who famously refused to ink a deal with a record label. But Rou admits that he hopes things don’t get as out of hand as on a night in Nottingham, were one unlucky fan lost part of his finger.

“A kid was climbing up the speakers, it was a rowdy show, and this kid had his hands in the mesh of the speaker. Security tried to stop him by yanking him down by his legs, and his finger was still stuck in the mesh.

“It was revolting, and a lot of blood came out! It was horrific.”

Such stories sound more like war memoirs than gig tales, but Enter Shikari have always been a combative band. Their first, self-titled album was crammed with full-on shrieking and last year’s Common Dreads expanded the group’s sound even further. Those albums came after the band managed to sell out the famous London Astoria while being unsigned, only the second band ever to manage that.

They’ve continued that DIY punk spirit, meaning that they still retain full control over their music. Key to their success has been continual touring, which is perhaps why Rou enjoys playing in both bigger and smaller venues.

“They‘ve both got their pros and cons – it’s nice to play smaller shows, as they’re more intimate but the bigger shows can have a wicked atmosphere as well, so we always try and do a bit of both.”

Beneath all the noise there’s more than meets the eye to Enter Shikari. For example, for all that Common Dreads takes inspiration from the dance-friendly likes of Klaxons and the fearsome head-banging of Slayer, the band drew on other, more surprising influences too, including one musician who might shoot down their credibility among metal fans.

“We were listening to Stravinsky a lot when recording the album”, says Rou with just a hint of a laugh.

“There’s always a load of stuff that we listen to and hopefully the days of when, if someone listened to metal they could only be a metalhead are going away. I mentioned to someone the other day that I‘d spent the morning listening to Coldplay! They were a bit disgusted by that!”

The band has returned to more straightforward inspirations with their latest release, Tribalism. It collects two brand new songs, Tribalism and Thumper, with a selection of re-mixes of Common Dreads tracks.

“We had two tracks left over after making Common Dreads, and we were really anxious to get them out as soon as possible. So we finished them over Christmas, and thought we’d chuck everything else in, with B-sides, and a load of re-mixes.”

“I’ve been involved in producing some dubstep for a few years now and Rory’s brother is a drum ‘n’ bass DJ so it’s been great to get our stuff remixed along those lines – it’s really cool.”

And Rou is still passionate about Common Dreads, feeling it was a far stronger album that the band’s 2006 debut.

“We’d made the first album in a real hurry, so Common Dreads was a far better representation of how we sound as a band. We had a lot more time to experiment with textures and instruments, and more time to write too – we don’t have any rules about how we write songs.”

Away from the studio, the band enjoyed a huge thrill towards the end of last year, when they were asked to support the Prodigy.

And Keith Flint’s mob have apparently mellowed as the years have gone by.

We toured Europe with the Prodigy. It was pretty incredible, as they were one of our main influences and a band we’ve looked up to since we were about 10.

It was surreal – Keith was really nice and always chatted to us. They’re all family men now though, so they weren’t doing the rock ‘n’ roll party lifestyle!

However, there’s another band who Rou has recently been won over by – Scotland’s very own Twin Atlantic.

“We’ve been touring Europe with Twin Atlantic, which has been going really well,” he says.

“I hadn’t heard much of their stuff until we toured, but after hearing it we’ve been singing along every night now, and really enjoying their stuff.”