London based rockers Star Circus prove that you can take the best of what has been and mould it into something new and exciting. Their classic rock roots are obvious but they write songs that sound refreshing and relevant today. They’re starting to make the kind of waves on the scene that bode well for the future so Gary Trueman popped down to the capital for a chat with the band in the iconic World’s End pub. Up for discussion was the band’s formation and their forthcoming second album.
How did you get together and who was the catalyst for your formation?
“Dave (Winkler) had a load of songs, going back a few years ago and was playing in a bunch of bands that they (the songs) didn’t really fit with. He decided he wanted to make an album of his own and played the demos to a few people. Tony Wilson from Total Rock really latched on to them and decided he wanted to produce the album himself. We got a few musicians playing on it including Sophie (Young – bass guitar). We played a launch show for the debut single called ‘Love Is The Enemy’ and decided that this needs to be an actual band. The debut album was very much Dave’s solo project but since then it’s become much more of a band project and we are working towards our second album which will be much more collaborative.”
The first album ‘Separate Sides’ came not that long ago is that right?
“It came out in 2022 and got really good reviews from magazines and got some decent radio play. We had an album launch at The Underworld which was packed out. It was exciting to finally get the songs out because it took a while. We’re excited now about getting these new songs out too.”
How are you progressing with writing the new album? When are you aiming to get it released?
“We can’t say too much about the exact date but it will be 2025 and there will be quite a few singles coming out this year.”
Style wise you’re a mixture of various parts of the rock tree, glam, hard rock, metal etc. Is that representative of your music preferences and what you’re aiming for?
“That’s exactly what we’re going for. Dave’s starting point for a lot of things is Queen, Cheap Trick, Thin Lizzy, bands that weren’t afraid to be a little bit eclectic, bands that didn’t want to be pigeon holed. We quite like exploring and not being a band that just does hard rock or glam metal. We all like lots of different things.”
Listening to your music you do have that big basis in classic rock but you don’t sound like an old band. You sound like now rather than then. Why do you think that is?
“It’s important for us to write music that we enjoy ourselves. We’re not trying to follow any narrative, we just write what we enjoy playing. If you don’t enjoy what you’re playing people will see straight through that. Bands that have really broken through just do what they do. You get these secondary and third wave bands that follow, they try to be in with what’s happening at that time. By creating your own stuff you’re kind of doing what’s going to be happening in two years and that’s more of a way to get on, write songs that you think are great. It’s important to have great songs, because the songs will outlive the band; hopefully, if they’re any good.”
Music is quite cyclical too isn’t it, so as you said it’s better to be ahead of the curve than behind it.
“Exactly, bands like Faith No More that were pioneering the Nu-metal sound five years before it happened. Bowie is a classic example. He looked like the 80s in the 70s. That kind of thing is key. We’re not pretending we’re going to start a movement or anything like that. We’re not forcing ourselves to start a trend, or let’s say follow on what we think is a trend. There were talks on what sound this album would have, but we’re just going to write what we think are good songs. It’ll be different. We feel it’s progressed from the first album. Maybe some existing fans will not like the direction so much, some will probably prefer it, but we’re not trying to do anything other than write good songs.”
You said the first album was mostly written by Dave. This second one is much more a team effort isn’t it, so it will sound different?
“It’s much more of a band album. It’ll sound slightly heavier. Dave still had two or three tracks kicking around that he wanted to put on the second album, but they were run by everyone else. We don’t want to put out a song that someone in the band hates. There’s definitely more of a collaborative feel about the album. We’ve been getting together at Dave’s house in his studio there and bringing ideas to the table. Hopefully at the end of each session we have a couple of songs scratched out that we can work on at another time.”
You are a four piece but sometimes play as a five piece with an extra member. Do you find that you end up arranging songs differently because of sometimes there are four of you and sometimes five?
“We definitely have to rearrange a couple of things when William’s not been there. There are vocal parts that he does and some extra guitar parts. We kind of streamline it down (as a four piece) to keep the full sound without changing the dynamic too much.”
Would you ever resort to using backing tracks to fill in?
“We would never write it off. It has its place. Dave’s preference is to see a live band and know someone might sing out of tune. He’s into bands like Queen and Guns N Roses who didn’t go out of their way to sound the same as they do in a studio. There’s a tendency these days for bands to try and sound the same live as they do on record. Queen were a great band live and in the studio but what they did was very different. There were a lot of guitar harmonies and backing vocals that they didn’t need to do live because the song was strong enough to carry itself.”
How music is put out is interesting in itself with vinyl giving way to CDs then streaming coming in. But now we have vinyl coming back so strongly. There are advantages and disadvantages to streaming where bands don’t have room for manoeuvre like they used to with filler tracks, but the medium does have great reach particularly for newer artists. Do you think you’re in an age where you are finding more people because even as a DIY band you have that outlet to find fans?
“I don’t think we’d ever put out a filler track, but yes a lot of people have discovered us through streaming platforms. It’s a good way to reach people even if we don’t get a lot back money wise. Also through our music videos. We do put a lot into those to try to draw people in. If they want to watch it again they’ll hear the music again. A lot of people are putting out singles. We’re not sure what our tactics are going to be with this new album. We’ll definitely be doing CDs, and we will be doing vinyl. The first album came at a weird time for vinyl because there weren’t really any UK plants open shortly after Covid. We did consider it but it wasn’t possible financially and we wouldn’t have been able to get it done in time in the UK. But for this second album it’s something we want to offer. We’ve built a bit more of a national fan base since the first album came out too. We think there’ll be more demand for it.”
You’re building a strong fan base so is there anything you’d like to say to those that got on board early on, and those that have discovered you more recently?
“We’re massively grateful to anyone just for following us on social media and liking posts. We’ve got a few fans who buy all of our merch which is amazing and really helps us out. As a lot of Devolution readers will know merch is the key way for bands to be able to fund what they are doing. We’re super grateful to everyone who comes to our shows. Thank you.”
Interview and photos by Gary Trueman