Updates now on:
The Enemy - The Story So Far.........
Stuck in dead end jobs, drinking the night away - three lads from Coventry meet up in a pub and form The Enemy. Writing songs on the shop floor and practicing in Liam's brothers bedroom, it wasn't long before they got noticed and within a few months had a record contract. The first release "40 Days and 40 Nights" was limited to 1,000 vinyl copies and sold out within a day. This was followed up with a limited 5,000 copies of "It's Not OK", these sold out within a week.
Now Tom, Andy and Liam were ready to hit the big time after months of touring they released their first chart eligible single "Away From Here", which entered the UK charts at #8 in April 2007. They followed this up the #4 hit, "Had Enough" in July. The following week the debut album "We'll Live And Die In These Towns" shot straight into the #1 position and remained 14 weeks in the UK album chart, eventually selling almost 500,000 copies. The third single "You're Not Alone" entered the UK charts at #18.
The Enemy supported the Stereophonics during November and then flew off to Japan again in December with one final gig in London mid December. The latest single - "We'll Live And Die In These Towns" went into the UK charts at #21 on December 9th, 2007.
In January 2008, The Enemy won the XFM "Best New Music" Award and have been nominated for "Best New Band" and "Best Album" at the NME Awards
In March The Enemy toured the UK then broke Blur's record for consecutive night at the Astoria with a six night residency. Cov's Ricoh Arena welcomed Tom, Andy and Liam back home with 8,000 fans packing out the Jaguar Hall each night.
The Enemy released their fifth single "This Song Is About You" on March 17th,2008 (charted at #41). The album climbed to #15 on the same week, having already spent 35 weeks in the UK Top 100 - already selling over 300,000 copies, not bad for a debut album!
Having been lined up for many of the top festivals over the summer, life was far from quiet for The Enemy. They performed another home coming gig in Coventry on Saturday 5th July in front of over 10,000 fans in the pouring rain as well as T in the Park in Scotland.
Pic from: www.theenemy.com
In August - Tom, Liam and Andy headed to the USA for their first tour, appearing at Lollapolla in Chicago and Download Festival in New Jersey. The Enemy UK won over a whole new bunch of fans as the debut album saw it's release in the USA.
The end of 2008 saw The Enemy back in the studio as they recorded their second album, as well as returning to Coventry for a charity gig at the Kasbah.
This year The Enemy returned with a new UK tour in March/April and a brand new album. The first single "No Time For Tears" was released on April 13th 2009, selling 12,606 copies in it's first week - entering the UK charts at #16. The album "Music For The People" came out April 27th 2009 and charted in the UK at #2, selling 35,363 during the first seven days.
In February 2009, The Enemy played some free secret gigs up and down the country, getting up close and personal with the people who buy their music. Tom even spent time calling fans to let them know they had won tickets! This was an opportunity to play the new tracks and get back out on the road - but this time without the comfort of a dressing room! A stark contrast as the lads have been touring with Oasis in June/July.
If you happen to be young, intelligent and restless, Coventry is a surprisingly inspiring place to be today- if only for all the wrong reasons. What was a once proud, vibrant town that was known around the world for its motoring exports (Jaguar, Peugeot) has succumbed to economic progress and is fast becoming an identikit British city of chain stores, franchised nightlife and abundant apathy. After spending the first 18 years of life watching the soul get ripped out of their hometown, the three members of The Enemy are determined to connect their own frustrations up with that of an entire country.
Already mutual friends beforehand, The Enemy became genuine music allies in February of 2006. Andy Hopkins brought along his bass and boyish good looks, Liam Watts added a fearsome drumming prowess that blows away tub-thumpers twice his age and the young Mark E. Smith look-a-like Tom Clarke provided all the swagger and sneer that anyone could possibly expect from someone who has to sing and play guitar at the same time. Initially, the main motivation for the band was simply boredom in its many forms. “There’s nothing to do,” states Tom bluntly. “Although I did most of my growing up in Birmingham, it’s still very similar to Coventry when it comes to being bored. You’re either down the pub or you’re not so starting a band represented doing something a bit different to everyone else we know.” What started out as an exercise in keeping yourselves occupied soon developed into something more serious as the band realized that a) what they were doing was really, really good and b) they preferred it more to their day jobs by a distance of several light years.
Just eight months (eight months!) later, The Enemy are releasing their sinister yet pulverizing first single ‘40 Days, 40 Nights’ on the newly rejuvenated punk label Stiff records that once brought the world of the seminal early work of The Damned and Elvis Costello. Proof that they are already making a racket loud enough and impressive enough to awaken a sleeping giant. With the songs continuing to come thick and fast and the lofty comparisons to such luminaries as Oasis and Kasabian adding an element of early vindication, sticking with it seems like the only sensible option because as Tom continues, the alternative is a painfully stifling one. “It’s either this or get some *** 9-5 job, work your *** off for a relatively small amount of money and not have any real aims or ambitions… just like everyone else. If you look at most people that you know, they work in jobs that they either dislike or hate and their only goals are to get a decent girl and settle down in an average house. Everyone just seems to think ‘that’s life’ but it doesn’t have to be at all.” Having seen various members of their families live and work to this unsatisfying blueprint (until the grave in the case of Tom’s grandfather who worked at the recently closed Browns Lane Jaguar factory), The Enemy intend to reiterate that being working class doesn’t have to be merely another incarnation of adult slavery. “Why should you just accept that life is just work and work and work until you die? If you actually stop to question your regular routine, you’d be pissed off. All you’re doing is making someone else a lot of money. I’m not trying to be Billy Bragg or even to be political necessarily, we just want people to wake up.”
The time to rise, has been engaged.
- Hardeep Phull, 2006.
