Proud to announce our partnership with @thepioneerclub and @HeadlinerHub to try and make more things happen in St Albans, and bring more music to the local community.

We’re looking for your help. Head to https://t.co/HME5g5d9hS for more info on how to be involved.
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— ENTER SHIKARI (@ENTERSHIKARI) August 16, 2023

Enter Shikari have firmly planted themselves as one of Britain’s most successful and influential bands over the past few years. The band’s latest studio effort, A Kiss For The Whole World, has even granted the group their first ever number one album and garnered both critical and popular praise. On the back of what has been considerable success, the band have also found themselves at the forefront of important issues facing society and the planet today.

Enter Shikari features notable lyrical content ranging from the political to climate change and has set them apart from their peers in many ways. The band are not just content to speak on social issues either, preferring to take action on what they believe in. Indeed, the band recorded A Kiss For The Whole World using only solar power.

Now, together with St. Albans based media platform Headliner Spacers, the band have now turned their attentions to local site The Pioneer-a venue that helped the band get their start on the music scene. The grassroots venue played a major role for the band upon their formation in the early 2000s, with Enter Shikari promoting many of their earliest performances at the venue. Bring Me The Horizon and Gallows can also count themselves as alumni of The Pioneer.

In addition to music, the venue also features the UK’s oldest indoor skate park. And Enter Shikari are raising funds to not only save The Pioneer but also to make it a premier venue for touring artists as well as a cultural and creative hub complete with rehearsal spaces and recording studio. Thus far, the band have raffled frontman Rou Reynold’s Kaoss Pad, Chris Batten’s bass guitar and guitarist Rory Clewlow’s Gibson SG in order to raise the required funds to take The Pioneer back to its lofty position within the scene.

Surviving multiple threats to its existence, @thepioneerclub in St Albans continues to survive thanks to vital funding from @ENTERSHIKARI. Headliner reviews the venue and @bluehouruk_‘s recent headline gig #livemusic #stalbans #livemusicvenue https://t.co/FbQOQJDapH

— Headliner (@HeadlinerHub) June 18, 2022

Headline Spacers has been leading the renovation of the venue with the platform overseeing the construction of the new studio and bar-a result of a partnership with Signature Brew. The platform will begin on the rehearsal space next as well as an education centre for aspiring musicians, crew members and technicians.

Enter Shikari have also released a new T-shirt with proceeds going to The Pioneer. The band have explained that each shirt that is sold will count as one entry to the raffle. Further information about the raffle and T-shirt sales can be found here.

The t-shirt is £19.99 and feature the bands logo from their April 2020 album – ‘Nothing is True and Everything is Possible’ – as well as the St Albans FC logo. The t-shirt is available for pre-order now and will be distributed on 19th March 2021. All funds will go to the aforementioned charities.

| Saints x Shikari. We’ve been working with @ENTERSHIKARI on this brilliant collaboration t-shirt!

All profits from sales will be split between @Stalbansdistfb and @SFoodbanks!

You can pre-order yours now by heading to https://t.co/LvkVTBVvZ4#SACFC #RightToFood https://t.co/fYpmoGgx7N

— St Albans City FC (@stalbanscityfc) February 23, 2021

This is not the first time the band has teamed up with St Albans FC to create and design football shirts. For the 2020/2021 football season, Enter Shikari have sponsored the tea, having their own logo on their hometown footy team. The bassist of the band, Chris Batten, said “Growing up I was passionate about two things: football and music. The reality is that sport and music go hand-in-hand when it comes to providing a positive outlet for young people, no matter what their background.”

Chairman of SACFC, Lawrence Levy, expressed his glee at the band and footballs teams collaboration saying, “Music and football have a long history of common personalities and with all 4 members of the band born and bred in St Albans and educated in local schools, we have a great platform for working together to improve outcomes for young people in the district.”

The popular British rock group have also been re-working their music video for ‘Warm Smiles Do Not Make You Welcome Here’. The video will incorporate a new green-screen live video for the track. Oleg Rooz, a friend of the band and visual collaborator based in Ukraine, was sent the individual video takes and told to ‘do whatever you like to it’.

The bands frontman, Rou Reynolds stated of the re-worked video, “It was nice to revisit this old track, recording it in front of green screens in our respective front rooms, and then giving the footage to our mate Oleg to create a psychedelic beast of a video for.” Watch below to see the end product.

The club show tour will also coincide nicely with the release of recent single Run for Cover, which will become available to buy on September 2nd. They will be visiting towns and cities that might not normally get seen to by artists doing tours around the UK, with St Albans, Rugby and Bridgend all being fortunate enough to play host to one of the most hotly tipped groups currently circling the UK alternative rock scene.

In addition to this exciting tour, they are also going about putting their setlist together in a slightly different way to most groups. They are letting the fans decide what songs are played, putting together a setlist based on the most popular choices.

All of the shows will be 14+, except the Warrington gig which is 18+. To grab your tickets or more information, go to http://www.songkick.com/artists/2571536-blitz-kids

And to whet your appetite, below is the video for latest single Run for Cover.