A banquet of rock for us all to feast on

ENTER SHIKARI

O2 ACADEMY, BIRMINGHAM – Feb 1

The soaring career of Enter Shikari is continuing, as the British alt-rockers gear up for their longest headline run to date. The band’s Stop The Clocks tour will give fans a chance to witness the award-winning alt-rock outfit in an intimate and direct setting, as they perform much of their accomplished fifth album, The Spark. The Spark was announced in August 2017 and released a month later, entering the UK album chart at number five. Reluctant frontman Rou Reynolds said the record was one of the band’s most personal.

On August 1, 2017, Enter Shikari announced a new album to be titled The Spark which came with the release of the single “Live Outside”. The album was released on September 22. “I don’t think I could have done it before this record,” he says. “So much happened over those two years, globally and in my personal life. I was kind of comfortable. I have a very finely attuned cringe muscle, I don’t like writing about things that have been written about a thousand times. Some of it is maybe even a self-confidence thing, feeling as though I don’t have much to offer in terms of art that helps other people. But seeing as 2015 was the year of hell for me, it wasn’t just that I wanted to write a more personal record, I had to. There was no way of not doing it.”

KAISER CHIEFS

O2 ACADEMY, BIRMINGHAM – Feb 2

Amidst the hullabaloo of Brexit, The Kaiser Chiefs offer welcome respite. Frontman Ricky Wilson knows it and revels in the fact his band provide respite and an opportunity for escapism. “I don’t want to start spouting and go on Question Time because I’d be out of my depth. I’m a pop star and basically all politicians want to be is famous, often for the wrong reasons – even though there are some good ones that want to change things. Politics is just like the X Factor for ugly people, isn’t it?”

The band’s forthcoming tour will give them the opportunity to play songs from their forthcoming seventh record #KC7. The band will be hoping to maintain their perfect run of always hitting the UK top 10 – and maybe repeating the number one success of their second and fifth albums, respectively Yours Truly and Education, Education, Education and War.

Wilson is looking forward to getting the record out. “We’re my favourite band. I get to hear new songs first and write all the words. It’s not like we have a particularly stressful job. It’s just writing songs and recording them. It’s nice to have a few days at the weekend to let your hair down and play a gig or two. Not only that but you get a dressing room with loads of free beer. It’s weird. Because I’m super excited about the record, I’m thinking about that less and less. A lot of people get carried away with it. You see it all the time. They end up doing things they don’t really want to do because they think that they have to. Nick, who used to be in the band, gave me some good advice once. He said, ‘If you’re not 100% sure about something then you shouldn’t do it’.”

RIVAL SONS

O2 ACADEMY, BIRMINGHAM – Feb 2

Blues-rock quartet, Rival Sons are kicking off 2019 with a return to the UK. The Californian rockers formed in 2009 and have released five albums and one EP. They originated from the remnants of a previous band of guitarist Scott Holiday and are signed to Low Country Sound, an imprint of Elektra. They’ll be playing their recent single, Do Your Worst, and giving fans a taste of their forthcoming album, Feral Roots.

KING KING

TOWN HALL BIRMINGHAM – Feb 1

King King will kick off their spring tour by inviting special guest, American blues rock singer, Sari Schorr, to open up. The 10-date tour will include shows at London Koko and Glasgow O2 Academy as well as Birmingham Town Hall.

Fans can look forward to seeing one of the UK’s best live bands as they beat the winter blues with some amazing blues rock. 2018 was a great year for one of the best blues rock bands in the world. They won the awards for Blues Band of the Year, Blues Songwriter of the Year (Alan Nimmo) and Blues Album of the Year (Exile & Grace) at the UK Blues Awards, toured with Europe and played the iconic Royal Albert Hall in London, to name just a few highlights.

Now the band are ready for 2019 having just signed Siren Artist Management for a world-wide management deal. Siren also represents Europe, Saxon, Uriah Heep and Black Star Riders amongst others.

King King remain the band to beat. Glasgow’s favourite sons have released four stunning studio albums – Take My Hand (2011), Standing In The Shadows (2013), Reaching For The Light (2015) and Exile & Grace (2017) – as well as the acclaimed live album, King King: Live (2016). 2019 promises to be another exciting year for the band and their fans.

BEHEMOTH

O2 ACADEMY INSTITUTE, BIRMINGHAM – Feb 2

Crushing riffs and hellish rhythms will be the order of the day when Behemoth bring their thunderous new tunes to Birmingham’s O2 Academy Institute. The Polish black metal band will preview their new record, I Loved You At Your Darkest, when they bring it to our shores for the first time.

The band formed in Gdańsk in 1991 and are one of Europe’s most influential metal bands. With the release of Satanica, the band demonstrated their presence in the death metal scene, while retaining their own signature style characterized by the drum work of Inferno.