Enter Shikari have revealed that they will headline the 2023 edition of Slam Dunk Festival.
The band announced the news in the wake of their appearances on the main stage at Reading and Leeds festivals at the weekend. The quartet have also released the video for their new single, The Void Stares Back, recorded in collaboration with Wargasm.
Speaking about the band's Slam Dunk booking, Shikari frontman Rou Reynolds says,
"I’ve been intoxicated by the idea of headlining Slam Dunk again ever since our Take To The Skies celebration headline set back in 2017. It’s such a great festival, always nails its bills, and has the added bonus that us lads can actually cycle to the Southern date, being that Hatfield is a neighbouring town to us!
"In fact, essentially, this will be our biggest 'hometown' show ever, now that the festival has grown even more. I cannot wait. In fact, I will not wait. I demand we play this tomorrow!
"I think playing outdoors is my favourite thing to do in life," Reynolds adds. "Just being able to look up and see the sky, with the expanse of people underneath it, all sharing the same emotions and experience, it’s just such a raw, beautiful, and reifying thing.
"Slam Dunk is a festival I try to attend every year regardless of whether we’re playing it. I love both the sites, and it’s always full of mates and has such a convivial vibe. (That’s my word of the week). We’re already thinking about stage production ideas, we’re going to do everything we can to make this our biggest show yet."
Reynolds describes the band's new single, The Void Stares Back, as "a roisterous journey".
"Thematically, the piece is about the forward march of social progress," the singer states, "and how, often, those with a more conventional archaic outlook on sexuality, gender, social design, economics etc, see those with differing ideas like bewildering, depraved creatures from another dimension."
Speaking about the collaboration, Wargasm say "Shikari were a big part of our growing up, so it was an absolute honour to be asked to collaborate with such an incredible and well-spoken band. They stand for the right things - we're a little more pessimistic. It was fun playing the darker devil's advocate to Rou's light...where we're going, you won't need eyes to see..."
Watch the Elliot Gonzo-directed video for The Void Stares Back below:
