Mercury laboratory thermometer

Developed during the 16th and 17th centuries, a thermometer (from the Greek θερμός (thermos) meaning "warm" and meter, "to measure") is a device that measures temperature or temperature gradient using a variety of different principles.^[1] A thermometer has two important elements: the temperature sensor (e.g. the bulb on a mercury thermometer) in which some physical change occurs with temperature, plus some means of converting this physical change into a numerical value (e.g. the scale on a mercury thermometer).

There are many types and many uses for thermometers, as detailed below in sections of this article.

Temperature[link]

While an individual thermometer is able to measure degrees of hotness, the readings on two thermometers cannot be compared unless they conform to an agreed scale. There is today an absolute thermodynamic temperature scale. Internationally agreed temperature scales are designed to approximate this closely, based on fixed points and interpolating thermometers. The most recent official temperature scale is the International Temperature Scale of 1990. It extends from 0.65 K (−272.5 °C; −458.5 °F) to approximately 1,358 K (1,085 °C; 1,985 °F).

Development[link]

Various authors have credited the invention of the thermometer to Cornelis Drebbel, Robert Fludd, Galileo Galilei or Santorio Santorio. The thermometer was not a single invention, however, but a development.

Philo of Byzantium and Hero of Alexandria knew of the principle that certain substances, notably air, expand and contract and described a demonstration in which a closed tube partially filled with air had its end in a container of water.^[2] The expansion and contraction of the air caused the position of the water/air interface to move along the tube.

Such a mechanism was later used to show the hotness and coldness of the air with a tube in which the water level is controlled by the expansion and contraction of the air. These devices were developed by several European scientists in the 16th and 17th centuries, notably Galileo Galilei.^[3] As a result, devices were shown to produce this effect reliably, and the term thermoscope was adopted because it reflected the changes in sensible heat (the concept of temperature was yet to arise).^[3] The difference between a thermoscope and a thermometer is that the latter has a scale.^[4] Though Galileo is often said to be the inventor of the thermometer, what he produced were thermoscopes.

The first clear diagram of a thermoscope was published in 1617 by Giuseppe Biancani: the first showing a scale and thus constituting a thermometer was by Robert Fludd in 1638. This was a vertical tube, closed by a bulb of air at the top, with the lower end opening into a vessel of water. The water level in the tube is controlled by the expansion and contraction of the air, so it is what we would now call an air thermometer.^[5]

The first person to put a scale on a thermoscope is variously said to be Francesco Sagredo^[6] or Santorio Santorio^[7] in about 1611 to 1613.

The word thermometer (in its French form) first appeared in 1624 in La Récréation Mathématique by J. Leurechon, who describes one with a scale of 8 degrees.^[8]

The above instruments suffered from the disadvantage that they were also barometers, i.e. sensitive to air pressure. In about 1654 Ferdinando II de' Medici, Grand Duke of Tuscany, made sealed tubes part filled with alcohol, with a bulb and stem, the first modern-style thermometer, depending on the expansion of a liquid, and independent of air pressure.^[8] Many other scientists experimented with various liquids and designs of thermometer.

Various thermometers from the 19th century.

However, each inventor and each thermometer was unique—there was no standard scale. In 1665 Christiaan Huygens suggested using the melting and boiling points of water as standards, and in 1694 Carlo Renaldini proposed using them as fixed points on a universal scale. In 1701 Isaac Newton proposed a scale of 12 degrees between the melting point of ice and body temperature. Finally in 1724 Daniel Gabriel Fahrenheit produced a temperature scale which now (slightly adjusted) bears his name. He could do this because he manufactured thermometers, using mercury (which has a high coefficient of expansion) for the first time and the quality of his production could provide a finer scale and greater reproducibility, leading to its general adoption. In 1742 Anders Celsius proposed a scale with zero at the boiling point and 100 degrees at the melting point of water,^[9] though the scale which now bears his name has them the other way around.^[10]

In 1866 Sir Thomas Clifford Allbutt invented a clinical thermometer that produced a body temperature reading in five minutes as opposed to twenty.^[11] In 1999 Dr. Francesco Pompei of the Exergen Corporation introduced the world's first temporal artery thermometer, a non-invasive temperature sensor which scans the forehead in about 2 seconds and provides a medically accurate body temperature.^[12][13]

Old thermometers were all non-registering thermometers. That is, the thermometer did not hold the temperature after it was moved to a place with a different temperature. Determining the temperature of a pot of hot liquid required the user to leave the thermometer in the hot liquid until after reading it. If the non-registering thermometer was removed from the hot liquid, then the temperature indicated on the thermometer would immediately begin changing to reflect the temperature of its new conditions (in this case, the air temperature). Registering thermometers are designed to hold the temperature indefinitely, so that the thermometer can be removed and read at a later time or in a more convenient place. The first registering thermometer was designed and built by James Six in 1782, and the design, known as Six's thermometer is still in wide use today. Mechanical registering thermometers hold either the highest or lowest temperature recorded, until manually re-set, e.g., by shaking down a mercury-in-glass thermometer, or until an even more extreme temperature is experienced. Electronic registering thermometers may be designed to remember the highest or lowest temperature, or to remember whatever temperature was present at a specified point in time.

Thermometers increasingly use electronic means to provide a digital display or input to a computer.

Physical principles of thermometry[link]

Comparison of the Celsius and Fahrenheit scales

Thermometers may be described as empirical or absolute. Absolute thermometers are calibrated numerically by the thermodynamic absolute temperature scale. Empirical thermometers are not in general necessarily in exact agreement with absolute thermometers as to their numerical scale readings, but to qualify as thermometers at all they must agree with absolute thermometers and with each other in the following way: given any two bodies isolated in their separate respective thermodynamic equilibrium states, all thermometers agree as to which of the two has the higher temperature, or that the two have equal temperatures.^[14] For any two empirical thermometers, this does not require that the relation between their numerical scale readings be linear, but it does require that relation to be strictly monotonic.^[15] This is a fundamental character of temperature and thermometers.^[16][17][18]

As it is customarily stated in textbooks, taken alone, the so-called 'zeroth law of thermodynamics' fails to deliver this information, but the statement of the zeroth law of thermodynamics by James Serrin in 1977, though rather mathematically abstract, is more informative for thermometry: "Zeroth Law - There exists a topological line Failed to parse (Missing texvc executable; please see math/README to configure.): M

which serves as a coordinate manifold of material behaviour. The points Failed to parse (Missing texvc executable; please see math/README to configure.): L
of the manifold Failed to parse (Missing texvc executable; please see math/README to configure.): M
are called 'hotness levels', and Failed to parse (Missing texvc executable; please see math/README to configure.): M
is called the 'universal hotness manifold'."[19] To this information there needs to be added a sense of greater hotness; this sense can be had, independently of calorimetry, of thermodynamics, and of properties of particular materials, from Wien's displacement law of thermal radiation: the temperature of a bath of thermal radiation is proportional, by a universal constant, to the frequency of the maximum of its frequency spectrum; this frequency is always positive, but can have values that tend to zero.

There are several principles on which empirical thermometers are built, as listed in the section of this article entitled 'Primary and secondary thermometers'. Several such principles are essentially based on the constitutive relation between the state of a suitably selected particular material and its temperature. Only some materials are suitable for this purpose, and they may be considered as 'thermometric materials'. Radiometric thermometry, in contrast, can be only very slightly dependent on the constitutive relations of materials. In a sense then, radiometric thermometry might be thought of as 'universal'. This is because it rests mainly on a universality character of thermodynamic equilibrium, that it has the universal property of producing blackbody radiation.

Thermometric materials[link]

Bi-metallic stem thermometers used to measure the temperature of steamed milk

There are various kinds of empirical thermometer based on material properties.

Many empirical thermometers rely on the constitutive relation between pressure and volume and temperature of their thermometric material. For example, mercury expands when heated.

If it is used for its relation between pressure and volume and temperature, a thermometric material must have three properties:

(1) its heating and cooling must be rapid. That is to say, when a quantity of heat enters or leaves a body of the material, the material must expand or contract to its final volume or reach its final pressure and must reach its final temperature with practically no delay; some of the heat that enters can be considered to change the volume of the body at constant temperature, and is called the latent heat of expansion at constant temperature; and the rest of it can be considered to change the temperature of the body at constant volume, and is called the specific heat at constant volume. Some materials do not have this property, and take some time to distribute the heat between temperature and volume change.^[20]

(2) its heating and cooling must be reversible. That is to say, the material must be able to be heated and cooled indefinitely often by the same increment and decrement of heat, and still return to its original pressure and volume and temperature every time. Some plastics do not have this property;^[21]

(3) its heating and cooling must be monotonic.^[22][15] That is to say, throughout the range of temperatures for which it is intended to work, (a) at a given fixed pressure, either (α) the volume increases when the temperature increases, or else (β) the volume decreases when the temperature increases; not (α) for some temperatures and (β) for others; or (b) at a given fixed volume, either (α) the pressure increases when the temperature increases, or else (β) the pressure decreases when the temperature increases; not (α) for some temperatures and (β) for others.

At temperatures around about 4 °C, water does not have the property (3), and is said to behave anomalously in this respect; thus water cannot be used as a material for this kind of thermometry for temperature ranges about 4 °C.^{[23][24][25][26][17]}

Gases, on the other hand, all have the properties (1), (2), and (3)(a)(α) and (3)(b)(α). Consequently, they are suitable thermometric materials, and that is why they were important in the development of thermometry.^[27]

Constant volume thermometry[link]

According to Preston (1894/1904), Regnault found constant pressure air thermometers unsatisfactory, because they needed troublesome corrections. He therefore built a constant volume air thermometer.^[28] Constant volume thermometers do not provide a way to avoid the problem of anomalous behaviour like that of water about 4 °C.^[26]

Radiometric thermometry[link]

A clinical mercury-in-glass thermometer

Planck's law very accurately quantitatively describes the power spectral density of electromagnetic radiation, inside a rigid walled cavity in a body made of material that is completely opaque and poorly reflective, when it has reached thermodynamic equilibrium, as a function of absolute thermodynamic temperature alone. A small enough hole in the wall of the cavity emits near enough blackbody radiation of which the spectral radiance can be precisely measured. The walls of the cavity, provided they are completely opaque and poorly reflective, can be of any material indifferently. This provides a well-reproducible absolute thermometer over a very wide range of temperatures, able to measure the absolute temperature of a body inside the cavity.

Primary and secondary thermometers[link]

Thermometers can be divided into two separate groups according to the level of knowledge about the physical basis of the underlying thermodynamic laws and quantities. For primary thermometers the measured property of matter is known so well that temperature can be calculated without any unknown quantities. Examples of these are thermometers based on the equation of state of a gas, on the velocity of sound in a gas, on the thermal noise (see Johnson–Nyquist noise) voltage or current of an electrical resistor, on blackbody radiation, and on the angular anisotropy of gamma ray emission of certain radioactive nuclei in a magnetic field. Primary thermometers are relatively complex.

Secondary thermometers are most widely used because of their convenience. Also, they are often much more sensitive than primary ones. For secondary thermometers knowledge of the measured property is not sufficient to allow direct calculation of temperature. They have to be calibrated against a primary thermometer at least at one temperature or at a number of fixed temperatures. Such fixed points, for example, triple points and superconducting transitions, occur reproducibly at the same temperature.

Calibration[link]

Mercury-in-glass thermometer

Thermometers can be calibrated either by comparing them with other calibrated thermometers or by checking them against known fixed points on the temperature scale. The best known of these fixed points are the melting and boiling points of pure water. (Note that the boiling point of water varies with pressure, so this must be controlled.)

The traditional method of putting a scale on a liquid-in-glass or liquid-in-metal thermometer was in three stages:

1. Immerse the sensing portion in a stirred mixture of pure ice and water at 1 Standard atmosphere (101.325 kPa; 760.0 mmHg) and mark the point indicated when it had come to thermal equilibrium.
2. Immerse the sensing portion in a steam bath at 1 Standard atmosphere (101.325 kPa; 760.0 mmHg) and again mark the point indicated.
3. Divide the distance between these marks into equal portions according to the temperature scale being used.

Other fixed points were used in the past are the body temperature (of a healthy adult male) which was originally used by Fahrenheit as his upper fixed point (96 °F (36 °C) to be a number divisible by 12) and the lowest temperature given by a mixture of salt and ice, which was originally the definition of 0 °F (−18 °C).^[29] (This is an example of a Frigorific mixture). As body temperature varies, the Fahrenheit scale was later changed to use an upper fixed point of boiling water at 212 °F (100 °C).^[30]

These have now been replaced by the defining points in the International Temperature Scale of 1990, though in practice the melting point of water is more commonly used than its triple point, the latter being more difficult to manage and thus restricted to critical standard measurement. Nowadays manufacturers will often use a thermostat bath or solid block where the temperature is held constant relative to a calibrated thermometer. Other thermometers to be calibrated are put into the same bath or block and allowed to come to equilibrium, then the scale marked, or any deviation from the instrument scale recorded.^[31] For many modern devices calibration will be stating some value to be used in processing an electronic signal to convert it to a temperature.

Precision, accuracy, and reproducibility[link]

The "Boyce MotoMeter" radiator cap on a 1913 Car-Nation automobile, used to measure temperature of vapor in 1910s and 1920s cars.

The precision or resolution of a thermometer is simply to what fraction of a degree it is possible to make a reading. For high temperature work it may only be possible to measure to the nearest 10 °C or more. Clinical thermometers and many electronic thermometers are usually readable to 0.1 °C. Special instruments can give readings to one thousandth of a degree. However, this precision does not mean the reading is true or accurate.

Thermometers which are calibrated to known fixed points (e.g. 0 and 100 °C) will be accurate (i.e. will give a true reading) at those points. Most thermometers are originally calibrated to a constant-volume gas thermometer.^{[citation needed]} In between a process of interpolation is used, generally a linear one.^[31] This may give significant differences between different types of thermometer at points far away from the fixed points. For example the expansion of mercury in a glass thermometer is slightly different from the change in resistance of a platinum resistance of the thermometer, so these will disagree slightly at around 50 °C.^[32] There may be other causes due to imperfections in the instrument, e.g. in a liquid-in-glass thermometer if the capillary tube varies in diameter.^[32]

For many purposes reproducibility is important. That is, does the same thermometer give the same reading for the same temperature (or do replacement or multiple thermometers give the same reading)? Reproducible temperature measurement means that comparisons are valid in scientific experiments and industrial processes are consistent. Thus if the same type of thermometer is calibrated in the same way its readings will be valid even if it is slightly inaccurate compared to the absolute scale.

An example of a reference thermometer used to check others to industrial standards would be a platinum resistance thermometer with a digital display to 0.1 °C (its precision) which has been calibrated at 5 points against national standards (−18, 0, 40, 70, 100 °C) and which is certified to an accuracy of ±0.2 °C.^[33]

According to British Standards, correctly calibrated, used and maintained liquid-in-glass thermometers can achieve a measurement uncertainty of ±0.01 °C in the range 0 to 100 °C, and a larger uncertainty outside this range: ±0.05 °C up to 200 or down to −40 °C, ±0.2 °C up to 450 or down to −80 °C.^[34]

Uses[link]

Outdoor display thermometer in Ashgabat

Thermometers have been built which utilize a range of physical effects to measure temperature. Temperature sensors are used in a wide variety of scientific and engineering applications, especially measurement systems. Temperature systems are primarily either electrical or mechanical, occasionally inseparable from the system which they control (as in the case of a mercury-in-glass thermometer). Thermometers are used within roadways in cold weather climates to help determine if icing conditions exist. Indoors, thermistors are used in climate control systems such as air conditioners, freezers, heaters, refrigerators, and water heaters.^[35] Galileo thermometers are used to measure indoor air temperature, due to their limited measurement range.

Alcohol thermometers, infrared thermometers, mercury-in-glass thermometers, recording thermometers, thermistors, and Six's thermometers are used outside in areas which are well-exposed to the elements at various levels of the Earth's atmosphere and within the Earth's oceans is necessary within the fields of meteorology and climatology. Aircraft use thermometers and hygrometers to determine if atmospheric icing conditions exist along their flight path, and these measurements are used to initialize weather forecast models. Thermometers are used within roadways in cold weather climates to help determine if icing conditions exist and indoors within climate control systems.

Bi-metallic stemmed thermometers, thermocouples, infrared thermometers, and thermisters are handy during cooking in order to know if meat has been properly cooked. Temperature of food is important because if it sits within environments with a temperature between 5 and 57 °C (41 and 135 °F) for four hours or more, bacteria can multiply leading to foodborne illnesses.^[35] Thermometers are used in the production of candy.

Medical thermometers such as mercury-in-glass thermometers,^[36] infrared thermometers,^[37] pill thermometers, and liquid crystal thermometers are used within health care to determine if individuals have a fever or are hypothermic.

Thermochromic liquid crystals are also used in mood rings and in thermometers used to measure the temperature of water in fish tanks.

Fiber Bragg grating temperature sensors are used within nuclear power facilities to monitor reactor core temperatures and avoid the possibility of nuclear meltdowns.^[38]

Various types of thermometer[link]

See also[link]

• Automated airport weather station
• Mood ring

References[link]

• History Channel – Invention – Notable Modern Inventions and Discoveries
• About – Thermometer – Thermometers – Early History, Anders Celsius, Gabriel Fahrenheit and Thomson Kelvin.
• Thermometers and Thermometric Liquids – Mercury and Alcohol.
• The NIST Industrial Thermometer Calibration Laboratory

Further reading[link]

• Middleton, W. E. K. (1966). A history of the thermometer and its use in meteorology. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins Press. Reprinted ed. 2002, ISBN 0-8018-7153-0.
• History of the Thermometer

External links[link]

Look up thermometer in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Measuring instruments (temperature)

• History of Temperature and Thermometry
• The Chemical Educator, Vol. 5, No. 2 (2000) The Thermometer—From The Feeling To The Instrument

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Enter Shikari
Live at Heaven Nightclub, London in 2009.
Background information
Also known as	Hybryd (1999–2003)
Origin	St Albans, Hertfordshire, England, United Kingdom
Genres	Electronicore Post-hardcore,[1] trancecore,[2] metalcore[3]
Years active	2003–present
Labels	Ambush Reality, Tiny Evil, PIAS Recordings, Hopeless
Website	www.entershikari.com
Members
Rou Reynolds Rory Clewlow Chris Batten Rob Rolfe

Enter Shikari are a British rock/hardcore group that combine post-hardcore and various heavy metal sub-genres such as metalcore and alternative metal with elements of various electronic genres such as electronica, dubstep, trance and occasionally drum and bass creating a very strong electronicore sound, formed in 2003 in St Albans, Hertfordshire.^[4][5] The band is named after a boat belonging to Roughton "Rou" Reynolds' uncle, and a character in a play which he wrote before forming the band, both of which are named Shikari.^[6] Shikari also means 'Hunter' in Marathi, Persian, Hindi, Nepali, Urdu, Punjabi and Bengali.^[7] Their debut album, Take to the Skies was released on 19 March 2007 and reached #4 in the Official UK Album Chart. Their second album, titled Common Dreads, was released on 15 June 2009 and debuted on the UK Albums Chart at 16.^[8] Their third studio album, A Flash Flood of Colour was released on 16 January 2012 and was positioned at the top of the UK Album Chart for almost its entire week of release, however it eventually debuted on the chart at 4. The band are currently embarking on the A Flash Flood of Colour World Tour.

Biography[link]

[edit] Beginnings and Take to the Skies (1999–2008)

In 1999 a band named Hybryd formed consisting of Rou on guitar, Chris on bass and Rob on drums. They released an EP under the name 'Commit No Nuisance' and featured the tracks 'Perfect Pygmalion' and 'Fake'. In 2003, Hybryd became Enter Shikari. They revolutionised their sound by recruiting Rory to play Guitar so that Rou could concentrate on electronics. Enter Shikari formed in St Albans, England in 2004. The band features Roughton "Rou" (/raʊ/) Reynolds on vocals and electronics, Liam 'Rory' Clewlow on guitar, Chris Batten on bass guitar and Rob Rolfe on drums. All four members are from St Albans, Hertfordshire.^[4]

During 2003 and 2004, the band released three demo EPs that were available from their gigs and their website. They had another demo EP planned for release in 2005, (although no such EP materialized only recordings surfaced online) for this the first versions of Return To Energiser and Labyrinth were recorded, early versions of Ok Time For Plan B and We Can Breathe In Space were also recorded around this time but it's unclear if these were destined for the EP. In August 2006 they released a video of, the (only 100 copies) single "Mothership" which became the single of the week on the iTunes store. Their first physical single featured re-recorded versions of "Sorry You're Not a Winner/OK Time for Plan B", which had previously been featured on one of the demo EPs. It was released on 30 October 2006. It was limited to 1000 copies of each format and sold out within the first week of release. In mid January 2007, Enter Shikari's first single, "Mothership", entered the UK singles chart for one week at number 151, on Downloads only (despite its physical formats not being eligible for charts [at the band's request]). This was followed a week later by "Sorry You're Not a Winner/OK Time for Plan B", which charted at number 182 on the singles chart (despite its physical formats being ineligible for charts [at the band's request]) and number 146 in the Download Chart. In addition "Sorry You're Not a Winner/OK Time for Plan B" featured on EA Sports video game title NHL 08 and also Madden 08. Enter Shikari secured a spot on the Gibson/MySpace stage at 2006's Download Festival. They have also had interviews with popular music press such as Kerrang! and Rock Sound. On 4 November 2006, they became only the second unsigned band to ever sell out London Astoria (the first being The Darkness).

They also made the NME's "New Noise 2007", a list of the bands it considers most likely to achieve success in the coming year (previous years lists have included the likes of Arcade Fire, Hot Chip and Bloc Party).

The next single released was "Anything Can Happen in the Next Half Hour", on 5 March 2007. This was the band's second single to be released from their forthcoming debut album. It contained a re-recorded version of the song "Anything Can Happen in the Next Half Hour". It reached 27 in the Official UK chart. The band's debut album, Take to the Skies, was released on 19 March 2007 and on 25 March it reached number 4 in the UK Official Album Charts. It contained re-recordings of many of the songs that had featured on the demo EPs and singles that were released prior to the release of the album.

During the month of March 2007 it was announced they would be playing at Download Festival, Reading and Leeds Festivals, Give it a Name, Glastonbury Festival, Oxegen festival in Ireland and Rock am Ring in Germany. On 30 March 2007, Enter Shikari announced that their next single would be "Jonny Sniper"^[9] and would be released on 18 June. The song's video was premiered on 21 May. The single received bad reviews from NME.^[10]

On 6 June 2007 they performed a live show on BBC Radio 1 for Zane Lowe at BBC Radio Theatre.

They played an eleven date headline tour in October/November 2007 including their biggest ever headline gig in the 4,921 capacity Brixton Academy. The band released a compilation EP titled The Zone on 12 November.

Enter Shikari have performed over 500 gigs as of 2007 and played on the Gibson/MySpace stage at 2006's Download Festival. On 14 May 2007, Enter Shikari started their first North America tour. This followed into three more North American tours.

In January 2008, Enter Shikari performed in Australia and New Zealand for the first time as part of the Big Day Out Festival. The band also did a number of side-shows in Australia, including two sold out shows at the Hi-Fi Bar in Melbourne.

They played at Projekt Revolution in Milton Keynes on 29 June 2007, alongside Linkin Park, Jay-Z, N.E.R.D, The Bravery, InnerPartySystem and Pendulum.

On 13 May 2008, the band released the first in a series of videos called "Enter Shikari: In the 'Low". The videos, posted on the band's YouTube page, showcased the band as they recorded their new single, "We Can Breathe In Space, They Just Don't Want Us To Escape", and demoed new material. One of the new songs set to feature on the album was 'Step Up', which was first performed at Milton Keynes Pitz on 28 June 2008, the warm up show to Projekt Revolution the following day.

On 8 August 2008, it was announced that "We Can Breathe In Space, They Just Don't Want Us To Escape" would be released as a single. It was said to be a drastic re-working of the song originally demoed by the band back in 2005, but was not to be included in the band's second album.

They completed a tour of the UK and Ireland which took place over the course of 6 weeks; from 30 September to 4 November 2008; and consisted of 28 shows. A DVD compilation of live footage filmed by band / crew along with some TV footage was to be released to coincide with the tour according to a Kerrang! interview with the band, but has not been released as of yet.

[edit] Common Dreads (2009–2010)

It was confirmed by NME that Enter Shikari had finished working on their second album, Common Dreads, in March 2009 and announced that they would tour the UK and Europe during 2009. They also made available a free download of a new song, Antwerpen from their website.^[11] On 15 April 2009 Juggernauts was played on Radio 1 as Zane Lowe's "Hottest Track in the World" and was released as a single on 1 June 2009. The B-side of the single is "All Eyes On The Saint". The band also had help from musician Danny Sneddon who helped with the recording of Juggernauts.^[12] On 1 May Kerrang featured their track-by-track of the album. Metal Hammer were the first to review the album online with a track-by-track.^[13] Since it was announced in an interview with Andy Copping on Scuzz on their "The Digital Darkside: Download Special" that there would be 2 secret bands playing at Download Festival 2009, it has been heavily speculated that Enter Shikari would play one of these slots. They were confirmed to be one of the secret bands on 9 June 2009.^[14] Enter Shikari also featured at Reading and Leeds Festivals on 29 and 30 August 2009, playing songs from Common Dreads, as well as acoustic variations of 'Juggernauts', 'No Sleep Tonight' and 'Adieu' from Take To The Skies.

Common Dreads was released through Ambush Reality on 15 June 2009 and debuted at #16 on the UK top 40 album chart. The second single that has been released from Common Dreads was No Sleep Tonight.^[15] The 7-inch vinyl, CD single and MP3 download was released on 17 August 2009. A slightly modified version of the song "Wall" was released as a radio single, and a video for the song "Zzzonked" made of clips of a live show which was played at Norwich UEA, was also released.

A 2-disc version of Common Dreads was due to be released in January 2010.^[16] Frontman Rou Reynolds announced that "We’ve got a different artist for each single from Hospital Records to do drum ‘n’ bass remixes so we’ll be releasing that as a 12". Then we're doing the same thing with (dubstep label) True Tiger who've done a dubstep remix of each single." however it was later said in a Radio 1 interview that in fact they were only having their main singles remixed.

The new single "Thumper"^[17] was released on 19 January 2010, on BBC Radio One, As well the new single "Tribalism", which was first played on Radio 1, 16 February 2010. These songs come off the new B-sides and remixes album Tribalism, which was released on 22 February 2010.

Since March 2009, drummer Rob Rolfe has not been able to perform at United States shows due to a denial of a visa. Rob has chosen Fellsilent drummer, Christopher Mansbridge to fill in for these dates.^[18] Although, on 9 July 2010 Rob stated in a Twitter post that he had obtained a visa. On 30 September 2010 Rob passed through customs at an airport in Houston for Enter Shikari's North American tour in October/November, and confirmed this in a Twitter post stating simply "America, I'm back".

Throughout February–March 2010, Enter Shikari joined the Australian summer festival Soundwave along with other bands such as A Day to Remember and Architects, playing shows in Brisbane, Sydney, Melbourne, Adelaide and Perth. The band then continued to tour Japan with A Day to Remember and Escape the Fate and in April–May 2010, they served as a support act, along with August Burns Red and Silverstein on A Day to Remember's Toursick.

[edit] Live From Planet Earth and A Flash Flood of Colour (2010–present)

On 14 June 2010, Enter Shikari announced that they had returned to the studio to do a "one off new track" called "Destabilise" which was released as a download on 26 October 2010, and a limited edition coloured 7-inch vinyl on 29 November 2010.

During June and July 2010, the band took part in the Warped Tour in USA and afterwards, they played a few festivals such as headlining Redfest and supporting The Prodigy at Milton Keynes Bowl. Following this, they performed an exclusive show at the venue Underworld situated in Camden which was filmed and recorded and features on the live DVD, 'Live From planet Earth'.

In August 2010, Enter Shikari returned to Australian shores for a headlining national tour, playing sold out shows in Adelaide, Sydney and Melbourne and near-sellout shows in Perth and Brisbane. On 2 October 2010, the band went on their headlining "Destabilise" Tour in North America with Haste the Day, Sleeping With Sirens, MSWHITE, and LightsGoBlue.^{[citation needed]} The band then supported 30 Seconds to Mars on their Into The Wild Tour leg of UK arenas in November and December 2010.^[19]

Also, at the end of 2010, the band collaborated with UK drum and bass band The Qemists on their single Take it Back which was released on 28 March 2011.

On 21 March 2011, it was confirmed that Enter Shikari will be playing at the Reading and Leeds festivals in late August and on 26 April 2011, the band confirmed a mainland European tour starting in Kiev, Ukraine on 7 September, and ending in Tilburg, Holland on 3 October 2011. Also, on 14 June 2011, the band confirmed a UK and Ireland tour which will take part during the month of October. Support for these two tours will be provided from Your Demise and letlive.

In May 2011, the band traveled to Bangkok, Thailand to record their third studio album. Recording began on 8 May 2011, and finished on 14 June 2011. On 19 May 2011, they released the single; "Quelle Surprise". It was originally planned to be the first single released from the new album however, Rou Reynolds has since confirmed that it won't feature, and instead will be a stand alone single much like Destabilise.^[20]

In June 2011, the band signed to Hopeless Records in the US, and embarked on the Vans Warped Tour for the second year in a row.^[21]

On 11 July 2011, the band released their third live album and first DVD, bundled together as Live From Planet Earth. Distribution of the non limited edition version of Live From Planet Earth and other Enter Shikari stock has been affected however following a fire at the PIAS distribution warehouse in London, after it was set on fire by rioters following the 2011 England riots. This was announced via the bands' Facebook after many fans discovered that the fire had affected the bands' label Ambush Reality, and Rou confirmed a majority of the stock had indeed gone up in flames in an interview with Rocksound.^[22]

In the fall and winter of 2011, Enter Shikari will embark on a US tour called "The Dead Throne Tour" with The Devil Wears Prada, Whitechapel, and For Today.

On 8 September 2011, the band announced that the first single from their 'as yet untitled' third album will be called "Sssnakepit." The single was announced for release on 20 September 2011 along with a video recorded for the track at Dingwalls Club in Camden Town, London. ^[23] A video of the first live performance of the song posted on the band's Facebook shows the rap hardcore influences in the song, as well as the title suggests a further political theme. The band had also been playing another new song live titled "Arguing with Thermometers", during their European fall tour. The debut performance of this song took place on 12 September in Warsaw, Poland.

During the band's show in St.Petersburg, Russia, on 8 September 2011, bassist Chris Batten revealed that the band's third album was set for release in January 2012.

On 19 September 2011, Sssnakepit was played twice in a row on Zane Lowes show as his 'Hottest Track In The World'. The music video (produced by Stand Your Ground Media) for Sssnakepit was released the same week. 'Arguing with Thermometers' was announced to be on the new album on Lowe's show, when a live studio session was played. ^[24]

A leak from UK Magazine Rock Sound revealed that Enter Shikari's third studio album will be titled "A Flash Flood of Colour" and will be released on 9 January 2012, however, due to shipping issues the band has since moved the release date back a week to 16 January. It was also revealed in the leak that the band are planning a March 2012 UK tour.

On 4 December 2011, the band posted this on their Facebook page: "we've kept this news under our hats for now, BUT, who's interested in hearing another new track?? WELL... if you keep your eyes peeled on our wall tomorrow, we'll give you the details. tease tease." Sure enough, the next day "Gandhi Mate, Gandhi" was released on the band's YouTube page and iTunes. It was also broadcast on the Zane Lowe show on BBC Radio 1.^[25]

On 5 January 2012 the band released the studio version of "Arguing With Thermometers" on their YouTube page. It was also played on Zane Lowe's BBC Radio 1 show in the morning as his "Hottest Track In The World". The official video for the song was uploaded to the band's YouTube page on 17 January 2012. A few days prior to the song's release the band showcased a still shot of the video, seeing Rou dressed as a news reporter called "Phillis McCleavland".

The band released their new album on 16 January 2012, and played three album release shows. The first was for HMV in London at the Borderline. People who had pre-ordered the album via HMV were automatically entered into a prize draw to gain access to the release show as no tickets were sold. The second show was in Kingston upon Thames, at the Hippodrome. This was for Banquet Records and tickets were sold with special offers available if the ticket was bought with an album. The final show was played in Leeds, West Yorkshire.

At the end of the first week of the album being released, the album reached number four in the U.K charts.

The band began their first tour of "A Flash Flood Of Colour" on 10 March 2012 at the Melkweg in Amsterdam, Holland; with two weeks worth of dates across mainland Europe and the United Kingdom, ending with a sold out show at Hammersmith Apollo in London on 23 March 2012. Support came from Young Guns, The James Cleaver Quintet (Europe only) and Tek-One (UK only).^[26]

Soon after, that band took the "A Flash Flood of Colour World Tour" to America for a 7 week stint, with support from letlive. and At The Skylines.^[27]

The bands Summer 2012 plans feature festivals across Europe, including festivals such as Radio 1's Big Weekend, Reading and Leeds Festivals, Pukkelpop, FM4 Frequency Festival, Sonisphere in Spain, T in the Park, Rock am Ring and Rock im Park, and many more, ranging from the end of May to the end of August.^[28]

Band members[link]

• Roughton "Rou" Reynolds — lead vocals, programming, keyboards, synthesizers, acoustic guitar
• Liam "Rory" Clewlow — guitars, backing vocals
• Chris Batten — bass, backing vocals
• Rob Rolfe — drums, percussion, backing vocals

Discography[link]

• Take to the Skies (2007)
• Common Dreads (2009)
• A Flash Flood of Colour (2012)

Ambush Reality[link]

Ambush Reality is an independent record label that only releases music by Enter Shikari. Formed in July 2006, it is co-owned and run by the members of the band and their friends.^[29] The band has decided that, in order to tour in the United States, they will have to sign with a major record label in America.^[30] On 28 August 2007, Ambush Reality said that Take to the Skies came out in North America in October 2007, with Ambush Reality joining Interscope Records imprint Tiny Evil. Ambush Reality signed a distribution deal with Warner Music in order to make the album Common Dreads and future releases more accessible outside the UK and also more widely advertised and promoted.^[31] As of 8 December 2010 Enter Shikari / Ambush Reality have left distribution through Warner and will distribute throughout UK/Europe/Japan/Australia via PIAS Entertainment Group. As of 21 June 2011, Enter Shikari's releases in North America and Canada will be via independent record label Hopeless Records.^[32]

Side projects[link]

Reynolds has produced music as part of a side project with the name "Rout"[3], which he sometimes performs in small venues and before shows. He previously used the names "Shark & Blitz" and "Routron 5000".^[33] The music develops on his penchant for electronics, resulting in a drum and bass/jungle/dubstep sound. Some songs feature samples of Rou and friends fooling around as well as iconic lines from movies or songs.

Frontman Rou Reynolds has also set up his own clothing company Step Up Clothing [4].

Drummer Rob Rolfe also performs as a DJ under the alias "Sgt. Rolfy" specialising in freeform hardcore music.

Enter Shikari promoted the film Zeitgeist: Moving Forward through their website, encouraging their fans to join the Zeitgeist Movement, stating: "Single-handedly the biggest influence on all that is Enter Shikari!".

Reynolds was also involved in hardcore side project JBM along with his friend Matt Pendell.

Accolades and Readers Poll Results[link]

Miscellaneous

• Rock Sound's poll for 'who will make it in 2007'.^[42]
• Ourzone Reader's Poll: Best Live Band 2011.^[43]
• Ourzone Reader's Poll: Who Will Own 2012.^[44]

References[link]

External links[link]

• Official website