Saints and winners!

By Rob Jones

CITY SLICKER: Enter Shikari bassist Chris Batten in St Albans City colours

PICTURE: Will Tyrer

THEY’VE had hit albums, won multiple awards and played some of the world’s top venues such as Glastonbury, but Enter Shikari bass guitarist Chris Batten would love nothing more than seeing his beloved St Albans City win promotion!

The popular rock band hail from the Hertfordshire city and have sponsored their hometown club since 2020.

Formed in 1999, Rou Reynolds, Rob Rolfe, and Rory Clewlow make up the band with Batten.

Over their 24 years together, the group have toured around t heworld and won c o u n tless awards from music critics with a hardcore fanbase that love their style of alternative rock genre.

The band have released six studio albums to date, with their widely antic ipated seventh album, ‘A Kiss for the Whole World,’ due to be released on April 21.

But their links to the Saints are just as passionate.

Die-hard Saint Batten, 36, even signed for the team in 2022 and appeared on the bench in a friendly against Dagenham & Redbridge to raise money for Ukraine.

SUPPORT ACT: Rockers Enter Shikari sponsor St Albans

And the rock star’s love affair with the club started at a very young age.

“I grew up in St Albans, so when I first started playing football as a child they used to run soccer camps and you were trained by the players, so I attended a lot of those,” Batten told The NLP.

“So over the years, I had a season ticket and I would go and watch them play. Growing up, I also supported QPR as well, but I would often find myself down at Clarence Park watching my local team.

“I never imagined sponsoring the club would be an option but to do it has made us very proud.

“Once I found out everything the club did the for the community, it seemed like a no brainer.”

After a number of seasons in the National League South, the Saints will be looking to finally make it back to fifth tier of English football.

And they are performing well this year under rookie boss David Noble, currently sitting in sixth place in the league and on the verge of a play-off place with three games of the season remaining.

But with a few teams sandwiched around them in the hunt for the top six, Batten realises how difficult it is to gain promotion from the division.

“They are playing really well at the moment so there is no reason why they can’t do it but obviously it is a tough league to get out of,” he said.

“If they do make the play-offs, it is going to be very difficult, but it will be an amazing atmosphere at the ground I am sure.”

Enter Shikari’s new album A Kiss For The Whole World, produced by frontman Rou Reynolds, is out on April 21 via So Recordings.