British band Enter Shikari visit Verulam School

ST ALBANS band Enter Shikari credit persistence, playing lots of gigs and a bit of old fashioned good luck for its huge success across the globe.

The quartet visited Verulam School in St Albans ahead of this month’s release of new album “A Flash Flood Of Colour” and a world tour which begins in Brisbane, Australia, in February and ends in Krasnodar, Russia in August.

The band will be in HMV, St Albans, for an in-store signing from 5pm on Friday January 20.

Band members, Rou Reynolds, Rory Clewlow, Chris Batten and Rob Rolfe, all of St Albans, discussed their experience of the music industry with pupils as part of the secondary school’s “engaging minds” programme.

Rou and Chris, both aged 25, are former Verulam pupils, while Rory, 25, and Rob, once attended Sandringham School.

Enter Shikari spoke at length about playing gigs, being “discovered,” and the cut-throat music industry.

When asked by a pupil if there was ever a “Plan B,” Rou replied that although the band started as a hobby and went on to become a success, “we never went into it as a career; we never thought about having a back-up plan.”

Asked about the impact of music piracy, Rory said the band was well aware it occurred and there was little point getting upset about it. However playing live shows was a vital part of their success.

Enter Shikari’s “A Flash Flood Of Colour” is being released on January 16 on Ambush Reality Records.

It has been described as an album about community, love, friendship, self-determination and self-respect.

Musician Jim Rodford, who played with The Kinks and is a current member of The Zombies, attended the talk as he was once a pupil of Verulam, when it was formerly called St Albans Grammar School for Boys.