Enter Shikari 'have the power' and want 'raw' new album

Enter Shikari frontman Rou Reynolds will produce the band's upcoming album

For their sixth album, Enter Shikari are taking complete control for the first time.

Frontman Rou Reynolds will produce the record and they have signed a new deal with So Recordings to release it.

The band played five sets across the Reading and Leeds weekend.

"We must have played ten times now," Rou tells Radio 1 Newsbeat at Reading.

And he says the festival means a lot to him personally.

"Reading is the one I went to as a kid. It is the only set that I will get really nervous about, I get proper butterflies.

"I've seen so many bands here growing up, so it is still weird to be on the other side."

Now the festival is over, work continues on their upcoming album.

Enter Shikari played five sets across Reading and Leeds festivals

Rou explains that they have learned so much over the years and in keeping with the band's ethos they want to change things up again.

"I am producing for the first time, I have the power," he laughs.

"We are proud of our back catalogue but the one thing we often lost was a rawness to the demos that I made."

That is what Rou hopes they can now bring to their new music.

He co-produced their last album The Spark with David Kosten so feels ready to step up. Rou says the band are excited for the new era.

"We are being given the reins completely of this ship - it is just going to be wild," he says.

Rou says he wants to use their new music to tackle issues, but there is almost too much going on in the world at the moment for them to know what to pick.

"It kind of makes it harder creatively when there is so much you can speak about," he explains.

"The only thing I can say at the moment is that it will probably be a bit more assertive, a bit more overt in its lyrics.

"Whereas The Spark was sort of inward looking, it was a political statement because we talked about vulnerability."

For now they are throwing everything at the wall and seeing what directions start to appear.

And they say they want to be constantly evolving as a band.

"Our music relies on us being passionate. We still sort of consider ourselves a punk band really, at least in mindset.

"The passion, the honesty has to be there in order to trigger those emotions so we have to keep pushing ourselves.

"I couldn't be the type of band that just releases their first album over and over again."

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