As the man who provides the energetic rhythmic bedrock for Enter Shikari's uncompromisingly aggressive live sound, Drummer Rob Rolfe is well placed to pass on some crowd-pleasing words of wisdom. Here he distils more than a decade's worth of hard-won road wisdom into just five salient points...
1. Get inspired
"My top number one tip would be to listen to music that gets you going. If you don't listen to new music and feel what gets you pumping and gets you jumping then you won't know what to play on the kit to get other people up and moving."
If a song wants a big dance four-to-the-floor that will get the crowd up and jumping then that is what I'll give it.
2. Feel it
"Feeling it on the kit is always very important. A lot of the time I find there are songs where I'm really feeling the groove and I'm really into it and I'll look over and see that those are the times when the audience is going the most hectic for it. That's always fun."
3. Find what fits
"When it comes to writing grooves, alot of it is programmed electronically first. Then I have to come to the kit and see if it's physically possible to play what has been programmed. Then I have to think how I'm going to match those beats to the live kit and whether I'll keep some of it electronic.
"I've got pads, triggers on my kick and snare and that kind of thing, so I can use the sounds that best fit the song, if a song wants a big dance four-to-the-floor that will get the crowd up and jumping then that is what I'll give it."
4. Be dynamic
"A lot of the time it is the more simple, stripped-back beats that seem to get people moving. But then a lot of it is about mixing it up. If you just play four-to-the-floor the whole time then people will get tired of it. In classical musical you get the big finale, but a big finale isn't anything without the long, drawn-out working up to the finale.
"You need the rhythms and textures to lead up to the big drops that lift everyone up. You need to play with people's moods a little bit and bring them up. You need those dynamics."
5. Build the muscle memory
"We've played these songs so much that it's built into my muscle memory. Sometimes on stage I'll get lost in it and think, 'Oh, s**t, how many choruses have we done?' You find sometimes your hands and feet just do the work for you. I find even if you do get taken away with the moment, my hands and feet always remember where the next verse or chorus is!"
