This is going to sound extremely pretentious, but Enter Shikari have pretty much changed my life. Maybe not in a very noticeable way, but my outlook on pretty much everything has been changed drastically. They've opened my eyes to the state our society is in, and how fragile our economy, our government, our world is.
My friends, if they ever read this, will mock me for this post, I know they will, but I don't really care, because I just need to say what I'm about to write. I used to absolutely hate Shikari, back in 2006 or something when my friend had their demos and I said 'The singer can't sing and he uses the crappy emo scream'. I hated the electronics, I hated Rou's vocals, I hated the guitar and everything. Then, one day in 2010, my brother came home from uni, sat on my bed and said 'Enter Shikari are really good'. I mocked him and laughed at this ridiculous statement, and thought nothing of it. Then we were going to Matalan or something and he brought Take to the Skies in the car. I didn't really enjoy much of it, till mum went into the shop on her own and it was just me and Jon. He put on the end of Enter Shikari and Interlude 2, saying stuff like 'This "Standing like Statues" theme recurs through the whole album', and stuff like that. I still was being a stubborn little arsehole, until he put on OK, Time for Plan B, and at first I thought 'Yeah yeah, same old Shitkari', but then the bridge came on, and I remember looking up a bit, then the breakdown hit and Jon had put the bass on the car's speakers as high as they could go (and subsequently broke them). I was pretty much blown away by how mental it was, and then when Closing came on and the recurring lyrics hit home, I was taken aback at how well thought out the album actually was. Still, mum then came back and I still said that the band were shit.
It was only in about November 2010, when Jon was back at uni, that I kept catching myself humming the synth of OK, Time for Plan B and the chorus of Sorry, You're Not a Winner. I did what I never thought I'd do and bought Plan B on iTunes, and listened to it properly. Safe to say I was fucking hooked. I loved every part of the song, and my outlook on the band changed significantly. I waited and waited, just listening to that one song till Jon came back from uni for Christmas, and he brought TTTS. I put it onto my iTunes and remember listening to it on my paper round. There were a few songs I really hated at the time (No Sssweat springs to mind), but others I loved and I was pretty glad I'd discovered a decent band. I still hated Common Dreads and Destabilise when Jon showed me it; I thought it just sounded like Who Wants to be a Millionaire. I said that they were too focused on the electronics and weren't heavy enough. This was all until I was just scanning the iTunes store one day and I came across Zzzonked, and listened to the 30 second preview of it and I was rather impressed, to say the least. I bought it and like Plan B listened to it for hours on end until Jon came back with Common Dreads and whacked it on my iTunes. The bit, the bit in Solidarity changed my outlook of Common Dreads, because I realised it was just as good as Take to the Skies. So by then I considered myself a fan of Shikari, though I didn't listen to the message of their songs.
It was only when Quelle Surprise was released and Jon went to an intimate gig (ONE WEEK BEFORE MY SIXTEENTH BIRTHDAY) that I actually listened to the band. I was suddenly in tune with their message, their values, and my respect for them, and for Rou in particular, sky rocketed. They became my favourite band, and I became slightly obsessed, and still am now I guess.
My first proper gig was for Enter Shikari, and that was on the 23rd March 2012. I will never forget it, I know I won't. It was by far the best night of my life, despite almost passing out twice. It struck a chord with me, their energy, their lyrics, their ideals, they all just made so much sense. And the first of the encore songs - Return to Energiser with a reworked dubsteppy bridge and amazing acoustic outro, I can't even describe it, it was just unbelievable. The passion in Rou's voice, how everyone went silent when his acoustic came in, then suddenly sang along when they realised what was going on, it changed me. Actually changed me.
Now, because of Enter Shikari, I've got goals and aspirations in life. I want to change this society, help build a new community that doesn't focus on money but on unity and real issues. When I meet them I don't know what I'll say to them. I'll probably be a blabbering wreck, but I don't care. I'll tell them how much they've changed my life, and how much they mean to me, and it will be glorious.
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