Enter Shikari’s Rou speaks out over punch video

Enter Shikari frontman Rou Reynolds has spoken out after a fan video showed him throwing punches at a member of the crowd on their current UK tour.

He was midway through the band’s first show, which took place in Portsmouth on February 16, when the incident occurred. The brief clip shows Reynolds delivering a series of blows to an unidentified person in the audience below him.

Reynolds says: “After performing the end of Radiate in the crowd, some people behind me began trying to pull my trousers down. I tried to push them away but it didn’t work.

“It then progressed – I began to have my buttocks and my, er, undercarriage groped. I spun round, pretty shocked and intimidated.

“I asked angrily if they ‘wanted a punch,’ hoping this would stop it. That seemed to do the opposite and gave them more vigour. I defy anyone to have their scrotum grabbed and not lash out instinctively.”

Reynolds accepts that “violence is never the answer” and admits he’s “very unhappy” with his behaviour. He adds: “I should have left the crowd and headed back to the stage. But I’m only human.”

And he has a message for those who might think “they paid to see you so it doesn’t matter what they did.” He states: “The ticket price for an Enter Shikari show doesn’t include free access to my gonads.

“We appreciate and respect every single person that supports us. All we ask in return is respect back.”

The band end their current tour – in support of fourth album The Mindsweep – with two shows at London’s Roundhouse tonight (February 26) and tomorrow.

Not only is one-time online news editor Martin an established rock journalist and drummer, but he’s also penned several books on music history, including SAHB Story: The Tale of the Sensational Alex Harvey Band, a band he once managed, and the best-selling Apollo Memories about the history of the legendary and infamous Glasgow Apollo. Martin has written for Classic Rock and Prog and at one time had written more articles for Louder than anyone else (we think he's second now). He’s appeared on TV and when not delving intro all things music, can be found travelling along the UK’s vast canal network.