St. Alban’s quartet Enter Shikari have mashing genres together for well over a decade now. In 2013, the band also unleashed their DJ side-project Shikari Sound System.
If you’ve ever seen either incarnation of the group live, you’ll know that no one starts the party quite like Shikari. So who better to man the decks on New Year’s Eve than their frontman Rou Reynolds?
“I’m tempted to go straight in with Stayin’ Alive by the Bee Gees,” says Reynolds of his set opener. “Or even Night Fever. But that’s not very rock is it? I’m going to get my Spotify up, because this is really hard. I guess you have to start with Party Hard by Andrew W.K…”
Andrew W.K. – Party Hard
Rou: “There’s no escaping this song: it will set the precedent for the rest of the night. I’ve actually done a drum ‘n’ bass remix of it as well, because it’s kind of that speed. It’s basically the track with a drum ‘n’ bass break underneath it, just to give it that extra punch. And if anyone didn’t know what it is they were supposed to be doing on New Year’s Eve, this song would remind them.”
The Dillinger Escape Plan – Party Smasher
“At some point in the night you’re gonna need to hear this. Whenever we throw house parties we always play at least one Dillinger track, so everyone can really let loose and bounce off the walls. Just not pooing on the carpet, otherwise that’ll ruin everyone’s night! I was at Reading festival the year he [Greg Puciato] took a poo on stage, and I was quite close to where he threw it out into the audience. It was very harrowing!”
Dario G – Sunchyme
“For me, this is a classic ‘90s dance track. It’s got African choral vocals and steel drums, and it’s just a great party track. It’s one that always brings a smile to my face, not just because of the nostalgia but because it’s such a happy track, and it sounds like sunshine.”
M People – Movin’ On Up
“I think my mum introduced me to M People when I was a kid. My dad had a lot of soul records, and my mum listened to stuff like this: almost like workout music. This song is still a call to the dance floor when you hear that intro being played.”
Harold Faltermeyer – Axel F
“I copied this party CD off a mate years and years ago, and because it was just a blank compilation CD that he’d made there was no track listing. So I just named the songs what I thought they were called, and there’s one that I’ve still got on my iTunes called ‘Beverly Hills Cop’. This song will forever be called that to me. It’s another track that when you hear it out at night, you have to creep over to the dance floor. You can’t beat that lovely ‘80s synth sound either.”
System Of A Down – Chop Suey
“We covered this song with Enter Shikari and we did a Shikari Soundsystem remix of it as well, which always goes down really well. It’d be a crime to not play this song on New Year’s Eve.”
Edwin Starr – War
“This is a political party classic, and there aren’t many of those around. We always play this during our Shikari Soundsystem sets, and we’ve got an acapela version of it too, which we remix against Machine Gun by Chase & Status. It always goes down great. It’s important to get the anti-war sentiment out there, even on New Year’s Eve.”
Sham 69 – If The Kids Are United
“You’ve gotta get a bit of the old Cockney punk in there as well. I remember seeing an old video of this being played at one of the first Reading festivals, and it’s amazing. Sham 69 were never overtly political, but they got caught up in the neo-fascist thing in the punk scene and a lot of Nazi punks claimed Sham 69 as one of their bands. But they were very much against all of that, and that’s what this song is all about. There’s this beautiful moment during their set at Reading, and the stage is full of people singing along. He just walks off at the end of it and you can see that he’s really emotional. It was a great moment, and it’s a wicked track. I’d really like to cover this one day.”
The Trammps – Disco Inferno
“If anything is going to get people on the dance floor body popping like David Brent then it’s going to be this.”
Steve Winwood – Valerie
“A track that me and my mates always used to play when it was getting close to New Year’s Eve was Valerie by Steve Winwood. It’s got a classic ‘80s sound, and it’s the one that Eric Prydz remixed for Call On Me. This is some original and best material though. When I first started DJing when I was around 17 I used to only buy drum ‘n’ bass records, and then I slowly started digging into my dad’s collection, and one night one of my mates brought over Steve Winwood’s album. We just sat there getting pissed and listening to it all night. You can’t beat a good bit of ‘80s synth pop. And believe it or not Steve Winwood has been a big influence on Shikari, particularly on a song of ours called Labyrinth. Listen to Valerie then listen to Labyrinth, and see if you can spot some similarities.”
