The Enemy (known as The Enemy UK in the United States) are an English

indie rock Indie rock is a subgenre of rock music that originated in the United States, United Kingdom and New Zealand from the 1970s to the 1980s. Originally used to describe independent record labels, the term became associated with the music they produ ...

band formed in

Coventry Coventry ( or ) is a city in the West Midlands, England. It is on the River Sherbourne. Coventry has been a large settlement for centuries, although it was not founded and given its city status until the Middle Ages. The city is governed b ...

in 2006. The band's debut album ''

We'll Live and Die in These Towns ''We'll Live And Die in These Towns'' is the debut album of British indie rock band The Enemy, released on 9 July 2007. It went to number #1 on its first week of release in the British album charts. It peaked at #34 on the World Album Chart. ...

'' (2007) went straight to Number 1 in the

UK Albums Chart The Official Albums Chart is a list of albums ranked by physical and digital sales and (from March 2015) audio streaming in the United Kingdom. It was published for the first time on 22 July 1956 and is compiled every week by the Official Charts ...

on release. Their second album '' Music for the People'' (2008) went to Number 2 on the UK Albums Chart. '' Streets in the Sky'', their third studio album, was released on 21 May 2012 and was also their third UK top 10 album. Their fourth studio album, ''It's Automatic'', was released on 9 October 2015. After disbanding in 2016, the band reunited in 2022 for two reunion shows in their hometown of Coventry and a UK tour.

History

Formation and early recordings (2006–07)

Bass player Andy Hopkins and drummer Liam Watts originate from Coventry, while frontman and multi-instrumentalist Tom Clarke is originally from

Birmingham Birmingham ( ) is a city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands in England. It is the second-largest city in the United Kingdom with a population of 1.145 million in the city proper, 2.92 million in the We ...

, later moving to Coventry. Clarke attended Finham Park Secondary School in the city during his teenage years, with Hopkins attending

Heart of England School Heart of England School is a secondary school and sixth form with academy status located in Balsall Common Balsall Common is a large village in the Metropolitan Borough of Solihull, England. It is situated 4.75 miles (7.5 km) northw ...

in nearby

Balsall Common Balsall Common is a large village in the Metropolitan Borough of Solihull, England. It is situated 4.75 miles (7.5 km) northwest of Kenilworth, west of Coventry, east of Solihull and to the southeast of Birmingham, to which it serves a ...

, while Watts studied at the city's Cardinal Newman secondary school. The Enemy met their original manager, John Dawkins, because Watts' aunt worked with one of Dawkins' family members. Dawkins asked producer Matt Terry to do him a favour and give the band cheap studio time. Terry then produced their first set of three songs: 'Heart Attack', 'Had Enough' and '40 Days and 40 Nights'. Dawkins then forwarded the demos to David Bianchi at A&R Warner. In 2006 the band were the opening act at Coventry's

Godiva Festival The Godiva Festival is a three-day music festival held each year in the War Memorial Park, Coventry, England, named after the city's famous former inhabitant Lady Godiva. It first appeared as a day-long event in 1997 and became a 3-day event ...

, an event they would play for the next two years, making their way to the headline slot.

''We'll Live and Die in These Towns'' (2007–08)

They first gained acclaim when they were mentioned in '' NME'' as the act most likely to "break your windows" for 2007. They supported

Oasis In ecology, an oasis (; ) is a fertile area of a desert or semi-desert environment'ksar''with its surrounding feeding source, the palm grove, within a relational and circulatory nomadic system.” The location of oases has been of critical imp ...

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Kasabian Kasabian ( ) are an English rock band formed in Leicester in 1997 by lead vocalist Tom Meighan, guitarist and occasional vocalist Sergio Pizzorno, guitarist Chris Karloff, and bassist Chris Edwards. Drummer Ian Matthews joined in 2004. Ka ...

The Paddingtons The Paddingtons are an English indie rock band from Hull. Between April 2005 and 9 November 2006, they played over 150 live shows, including venues such as Trent Park Golf Club, The Square, Harlow; Jersey Live; Summercase; The Underground ...

Ash Ash or ashes are the solid remnants of fires. Specifically, ''ash'' refers to all non-aqueous, non-gaseous residues that remain after something burns. In analytical chemistry, to analyse the mineral and metal content of chemical samples, ash ...

Manic Street Preachers Manic Street Preachers, also known simply as the Manics, are a Welsh Rock music, rock band formed in Blackwood, Caerphilly, Blackwood in 1986. The band consists of cousins James Dean Bradfield (lead vocals, lead guitar) and Sean Moore (musician ...

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and Stereophonics on their UK tours. In June 2007, The Enemy played twice at

Glastonbury Festival Glastonbury Festival (formally Glastonbury Festival of Contemporary Performing Arts and known colloquially as Glasto) is a five-day festival of contemporary performing arts that takes place in Pilton, Somerset, England. In addition to contemp ...

, first in the 'Guardian Lounge' on Saturday and then the much larger 'Other Stage' on Sunday. They also headlined on the Saturday night of

T in the Park T in the Park festival was a major Scottish music festival that was held annually from 1994 to 2016. It was named after its main sponsor, Tennents. The event was held at Strathclyde Park, Lanarkshire, until 1996. It then moved to the disused B ...

in the 'Futures' tent on 7 July 2007. Their single, " Away From Here" entered the charts at number 8 and its follow-up " Had Enough" entered the charts at number 4. Building on their rapid exposure, The Enemy appeared on the NME 2007 Rock 'N' Roll Riot Tour during September and October 2007 along with

Lethal Bizzle Maxwell Owusu Ansah (born 14 September 1984), known by his stage name Lethal Bizzle, is a British rapper from Walthamstow, London, of Ghanaian origin. He emerged in 2002 as a grime MC as part of More Fire Crew, with their grime single "Oi!" ch ...

and

The Wombats The Wombats are an English indie rock band formed in Liverpool in 2003, consisting of Matthew Murphy (lead vocals, guitar, keyboards), Tord Øverland Knudsen (bass, backing vocals, keyboards), and Dan Haggis (drums, backing vocals, keyboards) ...

as well as the Jersey Live Festival. They also supported

on the last night of their European tour at the

O2 Arena O2 Arena may refer to: *The O2 Arena (London) *O2 Arena (Prague) *The 3Arena The 3Arena (originally The O2) is an indoor amphitheatre located at North Wall Quay in the Dublin Docklands in Dublin, Ireland. The venue opened as The O2 on 16 Decemb ...

. In September 2007, Alex Zane, presenter of the ''Xfm Breakfast Show'' broadcast a statement declaring that the band would not be played on his show again. After playing their single "You're Not Alone" for seven seconds, he reasoned that altercations between himself and the band over a television interview meant that they would no longer be played by him. However, during the Xfm Review of 2008, the presenters Sunta Templeton and Matt Dyson commented on the band and Zane making up. A musical – also titled "We'll Live and Die in These Towns" – featuring and based on the songs from the album, ran in The

Belgrade Theatre The Belgrade Theatre is a live performance venue in Coventry, England. It was the first civic theatre to be built in Britain after the Second World War and is now a Grade II listed building. Background Coventry was the fastest growing city i ...

Coventry from 29 September 2018 to 20 October 2018. Tom Clarke was the musical director of the project.

''Music for the People'' (2008–2009)

March 2008 saw the band start production on their second album and playing six nights in a row at the

London Astoria The London Astoria was a music venue at 157 Charing Cross Road, in London, England. Originally a warehouse during the 1920s, the building became a cinema and ballroom. It was converted for use as a theatre in the 1970s. After further developme ...

. In April 2008 the band played at Coventry's Ricoh Arena, selling out two nights. The next month they supported

Kaiser Chiefs Kaiser Chiefs are an English indie rock band from Leeds who formed in 2000 as Parva, releasing one studio album, ''22'', in 2003, before renaming and establishing themselves in their current name that same year. Since their formation the band h ...

at Elland Road Stadium. They then headlined the

on 5 July 2008, a 30,000 capacity free gig in Coventry's War Memorial Park. They played Reading & Leeds Festivals on the main stage in August. Along with

and

Twisted Wheel The Twisted Wheel was a nightclub in Manchester, England, open from 1963 to 1971. It was one of the first clubs to play the music that became known as Northern Soul. History The nightclub was founded by the brothers Jack, Phillip and Ivor ...

, The Enemy supported

on their 2009

Dig Out Your Soul Tour The Dig Out Your Soul Tour was the final concert tour by English rock band Oasis, in support of their album ''Dig Out Your Soul''. The tour started in Seattle, Washington at the WaMu Theater on 26 August 2008 and was planned to continue until 30 ...

, which included the Ricoh Arena gig in The Enemy's hometown of Coventry. In March and April 2009 the band embarked on their own UK & Ireland tour, playing to 70,000 people, with

as support as well as

Kid British Kid British, often styled as KiD BRiTiSH, were an English 6-piece music group, hailing from Manchester, United Kingdom. The band was composed of Adio Marchant (vocals), Simeon McLean (vocals), Sean Mbaya (vocals/guitar/keyboard), Dominick Allen ...

. Birmingham singer

Emma Skipp Emma may refer to: * Emma (given name) Film * ''Emma'' (1932 film), a comedy-drama film by Clarence Brown * ''Emma'' (1996 theatrical film), a film starring Gwyneth Paltrow * ''Emma'' (1996 TV film), a British television film starring Kate Be ...

joined them on " No Time for Tears". The Enemy were forced to pull out of Oasis's Heaton Park concert on 4 June due to lead singer/guitarist Tom Clarke suffering from food poisoning. Although the band returned the following night they were replaced on the middle night of Oasis' Wembley Stadium three night run by Reverend and The Makers. The Coventry trio said that they were forced to pull out of their performance on 11 July because their singer Tom fell ill due to lily poisoning.

''Streets in the Sky'' (2012–13)

After they finished touring ''Music for the People'', the band took a two-year break before commencing work on their third album, playing the occasional show in the form of secret gigs. The Enemy announced in 2011 that work had begun on their third album and had around 30 songs already written. They revealed the album was set to be released around late spring 2012, and also revealed that they had returned to their more original style of debut album 'We'll Live And Die In These Towns'. The band have signed to the

Cooking Vinyl Cooking Vinyl is a British independent record label, based in Acton, London, England, founded in 1986 by former manager and booking agent Martin Goldschmidt and business partner Pete Lawrence. Goldschmidt remains the current owner and chairma ...

record label, working with original manager John Dawkins and new album producer Joby Ford (

The Bronx The Bronx () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Bronx County, in the state of New York. It is south of Westchester County; north and east of the New York City borough of Manhattan, across the Harlem River; and north of the New ...

). Tracks for the third album were recorded in

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

and

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world ...

– the band will be touring later in 2012. On 21 February 2012, in a blog post made by lead singer Tom Clarke, the band announced the title of the album would be ' Streets In The Sky', and that they would be releasing a free single, 'Gimme The Sign'. The album is also set to include tracks such as 'This Is Real' (which the band put on their website in demo form), 'Saturday', '1-2-3-4' and 'Bigger Cages (Longer Chains)' .The album was released on 21 May 2012, originally the same day as the first of two gigs in the ruins of

Coventry Cathedral The Cathedral Church of Saint Michael, commonly known as Coventry Cathedral, is the seat of the Bishop of Coventry and the Diocese of Coventry within the Church of England. The cathedral is located in Coventry, West Midlands, England. The cur ...

. However, on 15 May 2012 the venue was changed to the Kasbah nightclub due to health and safety issues. On 10 April it was announced that The Enemy would perform at the

FA Cup Final The FA Cup Final, commonly referred to in England as just the Cup Final, is the last match in the Football Association Challenge Cup. It has regularly been one of the most attended domestic football events in the world, with an official atten ...

at Wembley stadium on 5 May. The band performed two songs from the third album 'Streets In The Sky' before the match, from the roof of the stadium. This was also broadcast live as part of ESPN's 'Talk Of The Terrace' show, along with the game. The album garnered negative reviews; incredulously more so than its predecessor. Some reviews were particularly scathing. In June 2012 they announced a UK Tour, beginning on 28 September in

Weston-super-Mare Weston-super-Mare, also known simply as Weston, is a seaside town in North Somerset, England. It lies by the Bristol Channel south-west of Bristol between Worlebury Hill and Bleadon Hill. It includes the suburbs of Mead Vale, Milton, Oldmix ...

and concluding on 26 October in

, with the band appearing in many major UK cities. It was announced on 6 September 2012 that the single 'Saturday' from '' Streets In The Sky'' was to be featured in the soundtrack of

EA Sports EA Sports is a division of Electronic Arts that develops and publishes sports video games. Formerly a marketing gimmick of Electronic Arts, in which they tried to imitate real-life sports networks by calling themselves the "EA Sports Network ...

game, '' FIFA 13''. The Enemy headlined Crooked Ways Festival in West Yorkshire on 1 June 2013 and performed at Y Not Festival in Derbyshire on 4 August 2013.

''It's Automatic'' (2014–15)

The Enemy announced their fourth and final studio album would be titled ''It's Automatic'' and would be released on 9 October 2015. The first single taken from ''It's Automatic'' was 'Don't Let Nothing Get In The Way', this available from 7 July 2015. ''It's Automatic'' received mixed reviews upon release. An uncredited article in the

Coventry Telegraph The ''Coventry Telegraph'' is a local English tabloid newspaper. It was founded as ''The Midland Daily Telegraph'' in 1891 by William Isaac Iliffe, and was Coventry's first daily newspaper. Sold for half a penny, it was a four-page broadsheet new ...

focused on the more positive reviews, leading with the Daily Star's "They're having a blast and back on peak form" comment. For the music-specific NME, Barry Nicolson concluded a 3/5 review with a less positive: "...and while it's sometimes ham-fisted, you can't fault it for being heartfelt." While for Truck & Driver magazine's regular music reviews, editor Pip Dunn commenced his 2 of 5 star review with: "Sadly it’s a bit of a letdown from a three-man band that had previously been lauded as a saviour of guitar-based rock, with meaningful lyrics."

Hiatus and Tom Clarke Solo Career (2016–21)

In 2016 frontman Tom Clarke announced that the band would be splitting up for the foreseeable future, citing a multitude of reasons such as personal health issues, fatherhood and lack of exposure. In the following years, frontman Tom Clarke embarked on a solo career. He toured frequently, mainly performing acoustic versions of classic Enemy songs. In April 2021, Clarke released his debut studio album ''The Chronicles of Nigel''.

Reunion (2022)

On 30 October 2021, during his solo show at the HMV Empire in Coventry, Tom Clarke was joined on stage by his ex-bandmates, as he announced a comeback gig on 28 October 2022. The following day, the band announced a full UK reunion tour to celebrate 15 years of their debut album, ''We'll Live and Die in These Towns''.

Styles and influences

The Enemy aim to make music about friendship and social commentary like

The Sway, 6 times ''The'' () is a grammatical article in English, denoting persons or things already mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The'' is the ...

The Jam The Jam were an English mod revival/ punk rock band formed in 1972 at Sheerwater Secondary School in Woking, Surrey. They released 18 consecutive Top 40 singles in the United Kingdom, from their debut in 1977 to their break-up in December 1 ...

The Libertines The Libertines are an English rock band, formed in London in 1997 by frontmen Carl Barât (vocals/guitar) and Pete Doherty (vocals/guitar). The band, centred on the songwriting partnership of Barât and Doherty, has also included John Hassall ...

. Tom Clarke has said that bands such as

The Clash The Clash were an English rock band formed in London in 1976 who were key players in the original wave of British punk rock. Billed as "The Only Band That Matters", they also contributed to the and new wave movements that emerged in the w ...

and

have had a "huge influence on our friendships within the band and with our families. These bands taught us to open our hearts".

Line-up

* Tom Clarke –

lead vocals The lead vocalist in popular music is typically the member of a group or band whose voice is the most prominent melody in a performance where multiple voices may be heard. The lead singer sets their voice against the accompaniment parts of the ...

guitar The guitar is a fretted musical instrument that typically has six strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming or plucking the strings with the dominant hand, while simultaneously pressing selected string ...

piano The piano is a stringed keyboard instrument in which the strings are struck by wooden hammers that are coated with a softer material (modern hammers are covered with dense wool felt; some early pianos used leather). It is played using a keyboa ...

, strings on album * Andy Hopkins –

bass guitar The bass guitar, electric bass or simply bass (), is the lowest-pitched member of the string family. It is a plucked string instrument similar in appearance and construction to an electric or an acoustic guitar, but with a longer neck and ...

vocals Singing is the act of creating musical sounds with the voice. A person who sings is called a singer, artist or vocalist (in jazz and/or popular music). Singers perform music (arias, recitatives, songs, etc.) that can be sung with or withou ...

* Liam Watts –

drums A drum kit (also called a drum set, trap set, or simply drums) is a collection of drums, cymbals, and other auxiliary percussion instruments set up to be played by one person. The player (drummer) typically holds a pair of matching drumsticks ...

Discography

Studio albums

Singles Chart

Music videos

Music industry awards

Q Awards The Q Awards were the UK's annual music awards run by the music magazine '' Q''. Since they began in 1990, the Q Awards became one of Britain's biggest and best publicised music awards. Locations for the awards ceremony included Abbey Road Studios ...

– Best New Act (awarded October 2007) * XFM Awards – Best British Debut Album of 2007 (awarded January 2008) *

NME Awards The ''NME'' Awards is an annual music awards show in the United Kingdom, founded by the music magazine '' NME'' (''New Musical Express''). The first awards show was held in 1953 as the ''NME'' Poll Winners Concerts, shortly after the founding ...

– Best New Band (awarded February 2008)

References

External links

Unofficial Enemy fan blog with news updates
{{DEFAULTSORT:Enemy, The English indie rock groups British musical trios Musical groups from Coventry Musical groups established in 2006 Musical groups disestablished in 2016 NME Awards winners