St Albans' very own Enter Shikari has teamed up with the city's football club to launch a special charity t-shirt.

All profits from the collaboration between the band and St Albans City Football Club will be split between the St Albans and District Foodbank and Fans Supporting Foodbanks in Liverpool.

The band, which formed in St Albans in 1999, are also the principle shirt sponsor for St Albans City FC for the 2020/21 season.

%image(15486707, type="article-full", alt="Rock band Enter: Shikari are the new sponsors of St Albans City's shirts.")

Expected to be available from March 19, the shirts are now available to pre-order.

Chris Batten, Enter Shikari's bassist, said: "From the beginning of our partnership with SACFC, the main focus was to strive to give back to the communities that gave us so much, and allowed us to grow.

"Enter Shikari has also always had a strong connections with Liverpool, and it’s one of the many cities across the country we’ve been made to feel at home in. In a world where there is already far too much division, FSFoodbanks is an amazing example of 'rivals' coming together in unity to benefit their people.

"With foodbank use rising by 74 per cent over the past 5 years, we felt we wanted to do something to help raise a bit of money and also shine a little more light on the hard work they do, and the help they desperately need”.

St Albans City FC's head of communications Tony Colbourne told the Herts Ad: "Foodbanks are so essential now, but more so now.

"It came to our attention that donations dropped during the first lockdown; I think people were stockpiling stuff for themselves, and I think foodbanks have been struggling ever since. It was almost a year ago that all of this started, and they're just struggling. Supporting them is so important.

"St Albans foodbank, which is part of the Trussell Trust, is also a charity we've had involvement with before, so that's what it's all about."

He continued to explain the unity between music and football; although two different forms of entertainment, they both show how important it is to stay connected, which is exactly why the collaboration came about.

"The feedback that we've had from our involvement with the band shows how it affects people that they can't see live music, is the same as the way it affects people that can't go and see live football."

Alongside announcing their latest partnership with St Albans City FC, Enter Shikari have also released a new lockdown, green-screen, live video for re worked track Warm Smiles Do Not Make You Welcome Here.



With live performances unable to happen, the band have taken to their home studios, and have started reworking a couple of favourite tracks chosen by fans on Twitter.

Warm Smiles Do Not Make You Welcome Here is the first track that Enter Shikari have reimagined as part of the project. The song, which appears on the album A Flash Flood of Colour, is also approaching its tenth birthday.

%image(15486708, type="article-full", alt="Enter Shikari's A Flash Flood of Colour was released in January 2012")

Lead singer Rou Reynolds said: "We thought we should check whether we can still perform our songs properly after over a year away from the stage!

"It was nice to revisit this old track, recording it in front of green screens in our respective front rooms, and then giving the footage to our mate Oleg to create a psychedelic beast of a video for."

Oleg Rooz, the band's long-time visual collaborator, was told 'do whatever you like to it' when editing together the takes recorded individually by each band member, and makes an original lockdown concept.

%image(15486709, type="article-full", alt=""From the beginning of our partnership with SACFC, the main focus was to strive to give back to the communities that gave us so much, and allowed us to grow."")

To pre-order an Enter Shikari x St Albans City FC shirt, visit Enter Shikari's website. Shirts cost £19.99, with 100 per cent of proceeds going to charity.