Thank you so much, Pedro Carvalho and Via Nocturna (Portugal) for this in-depth interview!
Translated and reprinted in full here below:
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After two studio albums and two live albums, and after a long and arduous work that has been underway since 2018, Circuline have released their new studio album: CORE ( Circuline Original Reimagined Evolving ). And this is the core of Circuline – a prog rock that does not seek virtuosic displays of galactic abilities, but always with the focus on melody and emotion. And it was precisely this core of the American band (Andrew Colyer, Natalie Brown and Darin Brannon) that came together to explain to us in detail the genesis of this new album.
Hello everyone, thanks for your time. Congratulations on the release of CORE ! What was the creative process for this album like, especially considering the changes in the band’s lineup?
ANDREW COLYER (AC) : After our 2017 touring season, which included a performance at Prog on the Ranch in Florida, a UK tour supporting IOEarth and the ProgStock Festival , we immediately started working on new material for this album in January 2018. I had offers to make albums and perform live with rock band Cell15 , progressive metal band Awaken , Frank Wyatt ’s last solo album ( Happy The Man, Oblivion Sun ) and to tour North America with Robert Berry ’s band 3.2 , covering all those amazing keyboard parts by Keith Emerson , Rick Wakeman and Jordan Rudess , all while singing background harmonies. So I was very busy between 2018 and 2022, plus we had the global pandemic. So the writing process for Circuline was slow. In the summer of 2018, we had a week where guitarist Alek Darson and bassist Matt Dorsey were here in the studio writing with me, Darin Brannon , Natalie Brown , and original founding member Billy Spillane . It was great, and we captured several days of jamming and song ideas. Over time, people’s other commitments, creative differences, and life circumstances dictated lineup changes. Matt Dorsey played live shows with us in 2014, played bass and mixed on the first Circuline album (2015), and played guitar on our second studio album (2016). Matt worked with us as bassist, vocalist, and songwriter from 2018 to 2022, while I helped him with his solo album. Matt got involved in touring with ProgJect , which took his time, as did his burning desire to finish his first solo album and start performing live under his own name. At that point, we recruited Shelby Logan Warne , who brought a fresh perspective to the bass department. Matt is credited with songwriting contributions to two songs on this album. Alek Darson is an incredible talent as a guitarist and producer, but his favorite band of all time is Dream Theater., and we realized during the writing and arranging process that it wasn’t the right fit, so unfortunately we had to part ways. Luckily we were able to find one of the top five guitarists in the world for our genre, the fantastic Dave Bainbridge . Dave’s writing and arranging experience with The Strawbs , Lifesigns , Downes-Braide Association ( DBA ) , his own band IONA , and his solo career – has been invaluable, with his multi-layered guitar parts, soaring leads , and keyboard contributions. Founding member Billy Spillane worked on the writing and arranging of this album from 2018 to 2021, when he decided, for personal reasons, it was time to move on. Billy is credited in the liner notes, where his lyrics and background vocals were retained for the album. The majority of the songwriting was done by myself, Darin Brannon and Natalie Brown . We spent countless hours creating, perfecting, writing, rewriting, arranging and recording multiple versions of each song, with input from Dave and Shelby. We are very happy with the final product. And having electric violinist Joe Deninzon ( Kansas , Stratospheerius ) as a guest artist is the icing on the cake!
DARIN BRANNON (DB) : It’s always different on each record. But on all three records the one thing that hasn’t changed is the core members of the band: Andrew, Natalie and myself. Through that and a few years of life, a pandemic, we’ve all grown up and ended up sharing that through the songs on this record. We’ve had some help along the way, with Billy Spillane , Alek Darson and, of course, Matt Dorsey .
This title, CORE , actually has a meaning – Circuline Original Reimagined Evolving . This is a title that says it all about the band, right?
NATALIE BROWN (NB) : Yes. The core of the band, where we started, is still intact. Andrew, Darin and myself. There have been a lot of personnel changes that have shaped our growth, certainly, but the foundation has remained the same. And yet we are open to evolution.
This album can be considered as your most diverse and modern work to date. Can you talk more about the musical and lyrical themes explored in CORE ?
AC : Some of the musical themes came about during collaborative improvisation sessions in 2018-2019. Some of the musical parts came from dreams I had. Other musical parts came from Darin, Natalie, Billy (when he was still with us), and myself going through different chord changes and melodies during the writing process. I did my best to make sure that each song had some sort of musical hook and a “payoff” climax to the song’s arrangement.
NB : I’m a social worker by profession and a therapist who cares about social justice issues. When I write, I tend to start with a set of poems and then extract what I want for song lyrics. A lot of my poetry is informed by what’s going on in the world, and I care about diversity, inclusion and equality. Musically, we wanted to appeal to a wider audience than just traditional progressive rock fans, and this seemed like a good time to explore all of that.
DB : One of the main differences between this record and our previous ones was that we took on the responsibility of writing the lyrics and melodies without any outside help. This is where Natalie stepped up to the plate and did a great job of coming up with the words. Andrew and I both contributed our own lyrics to certain songs, but Natalie drove the lyrical content.
Circuline’s music can be described as modern cinematic rock . How do you balance maintaining your signature sound while continually evolving with each album?
AC : I think the signature sound comes from the way I write music with Darin, and the vocal sound comes from the way Natalie and I (and Billy on the first two albums) arrange the vocals. I’m very conscious of trying to write chord changes that we’ve never done before. Darin is very conscious of writing song rhythms that aren’t clichés, and he always strives to create new drum parts or grooves that he’s never played or heard before. Darin is also the “encyclopedia of prog ,” so if we have something he’s heard before, we have to work on it to make it something that’s uniquely ours. We usually write with the piano or electric piano as a base, then I add other keyboard sounds. Occasionally we’ll write with guitar parts on a MIDI keyboard, but we usually leave that to the guitarist. With my classical training and love of film scores and Foley effects , I always look for opportunities to incorporate elements of symphonic orchestration and sound design into the songs. I’ve heard a keyboard player say that “if it doesn’t have a Hammond organ , Mellotron and Minimoog , it’s not prog ”. I don’t agree with that. To me, that attitude makes every song, and every album, sound the same, stuck in the 1970s. Isn’t “ progressive rock ” supposed to progress? Every year I invest in more hardware keyboards, synthesizers and software instruments , and I do my best to create custom sound palettes that are unique to each song. Every song is different, so shouldn’t it sound different? The only way to sound modern is to incorporate classic and modern sounds into the music. When we have guitarists and bassists in the room with us, that’s our preferred way to compose. Due to lineup changes, that hasn’t always been possible, which is why the three of us are the core of the band. Many bands throughout history have had lineup changes that have contributed to the change in the band’s sound, and I think we had a similar situation. So for us, the lineup changes, although stressful , have also been a kind of “forced growth” that progresses with each album.
DB : I think one of the lessons I’ve learned on my musical journey is that you write music that comes from within you. Trying too hard to write a specific type of music that might not be in your comfort zone can lead to frustration, at least for me. We’re all influenced by very different styles and that translates into our own musical views. Andrew has a huge knowledge of how to write chord changes, how to transition from one section to the next or maybe a tempo change here or there. Being a drummer and keyboardist, I tend to write more percussive keyboard parts. Even using patterns that I use around the drums on the keyboards. So with all of these elements and the fact that we still want to be in the prog rock genre , we end up having lyrical melodic parts sectioned off with musical explorations with weird meters and slightly uneven chord changes.
One of the tracks, Blindside , has been highlighted for its emotional depth and soul / gospel- influenced vocal work . Can you tell us more about how this song came about and its significance on the album?
AC : Since Matt Dorsey has been an “honorary and quasi-band member” since Circuline ’s inception in 2014, and I’ve been a part of his solo album and live band, I’ve been personally aware of his enormous talent for a long time. Matt’s songwriting is excellent. When working with him in 2017, we were going through all the songs he had for potential inclusion on his first solo album. Blindside was a rough 2-minute demo he had that didn’t make the cut. Every time I heard it, I got goosebumps and said, “That’s a great song! If you’re not going to use it, can we keep it for Circuline ?” He said yes, and I started working on the bridge /lead guitar section, and the payoff , all the way to the anthemic final chorus. Growing up in the late 70s and 80s, I came to progressive rock late in life, having been raised on American Top 40 radio , classical and jazz music , and film soundtracks. One of my favorite producers is 15-time Grammy winner David Foster , who has produced countless power ballads over the past 40 years. I also love many of the rock bands of the 70s and 80s ( Journey , Styx , Kansas ) who had power ballads as part of their AOR hit catalog , and this is our power ballad for the album. Dave Bainbridge created the Brian May -esque guitar solo at the end, while Natalie Brown sang the soulful vocal riff .
DB : Most of the credit goes to Matt Dorsey for letting us take his short demo and make it our own. It’s a powerful song with moving lyrics and a huge chorus at the end… a real anthem!
In songs like Tempus Horribilis and Transmission Error , there is a strong narrative and cinematic quality. How did you approach mixing these elements with your progressive rock roots?
AC : For this album, in an effort to capture more fans through our crossover nature, we consciously chose to have some songs be longer narrative, “progressive in nature” songs, and some songs be shorter, more traditional pop-rock songs. During the writing and arranging process, we decide, or let the music decide, what kind of song it’s going to be. I gathered at least 20 songs for this album, and then chose the best eight that I thought would fit well on two sides of vinyl, at about 45 minutes (although it ended up being longer, and we haven’t released the vinyl record yet). The two songs you asked about are definitely more progressive, and the narrative quality comes from Natalie Brown ’s social justice poetry . She goes through intermittent creative periods of “brain dumping,” where she simply captures, through a stream of consciousness, a lot of words and thoughts on paper. For the longer songs, I’m the “band librarian” who sifts through all the various musical parts and song ideas, noting down tempos and key changes, and then “Frankensteins” them all together on the computer for initial arrangements. Sometimes Natalie’s poetry fits as lyrical content over pre-existing instrumental sections, or sometimes her words dictate images that I write around to fit the mood of what she’s written. Darin, Natalie, and I go through the song drafts to refine the arrangements, lyrical content, and melody lines. As I’m putting together the skeletons of the song structures and the arrangements are evolving, I often hear things that I think will fit from a sound design perspective . I start by going through my massive sound library, creating a “sound palette” that matches the mood of the song, or layering in rhythms and orchestral textures. For Tempus Horribilis , Darin had a nine-note groove he wrote when he was 13 years old! That’s where the first part of the song came from. For Transmission Error , I had been listening to Armenian jazz pianist Tigran Hamasyan and Russian classical- prog pianist Gleb Kolyadin , and dreamed of integrating odd bars between my two hands. That’s where the parts of the song came from. Many hours of discussion and experimentation with arrangements in the studio is what you hear in the final product.
DB : The great thing about writing progressive rock- inspired songs is that the sky’s the limit. As long as you have good writers who can creatively lead the listener from one section to the next… you’re in luck. It’s almost like putting together a puzzle ; as a writer, you can decide to put this vocal part there, this instrumental part here, and after a while, you end up with an epic 10-minute song (hopefully) like Transmission Error or even Tempus Horribilis , which was basically derived from a 9/8 drum pattern I learned when I was thirteen.
The album was recorded in various locations in the United States and England. How did these different environments influence the recording process and the final sound of CORE ?
AC : We’re very fortunate in the 21st century to now have modern recording capabilities that allow us to record professionally in almost any environment and capture quality performances that can be shared online ! Ideally, we always wanted to have everyone in the same room, writing and recording together, old-school style , but that wasn’t always possible. When the pandemic hit and we were in lockdown, we took the opportunity to complete Phase II of the refurbishment of our recording studio, The Cave , which included new vocal mics, a new computer with 64GB of RAM and a new 32-input mixing console. Darin got new drums, cymbals, drum heads and a drum rack , so the drum sounds are great. My keyboards are recorded directly into the computer, and Natalie and I had plenty of space and time to record all the lead and background vocals. Shelby is the proud new co-owner of Sensible Studios in London, and with her experience as a recording engineer, her bass tracks sound great. Dave Bainbridge is a music industry veteran with recording studios in both the US and the UK, so his tracks always sound flawless. Joe Deninzon recorded his violin tracks in hotel rooms while on tour with Kansas ! Robert Berry did a fantastic job mixing the album in California, and the mastering by Rainer Gembalczyk at Sienna Digital put the finishing touches on the record.
DB : It’s a really great time to be able to create and record music with the technology that’s available. We couldn’t have made this record without it. Since Andre, Natalie and I are based in the New York area and Shelby is overseas and Dave is in another state, getting together to write and record would have been too time-consuming and cost a fortune. That said, it’s a joy to be in the same room with each other and feed off each other’s different energies and ideas. A lot of the basic pieces and parts were created that way, with everyone in the room together at the beginning of the process, but with personnel changes we had to switch and ended up sending files to Dave and Shelby. So thank you Dropbox and any other modern services we used to complete this record.
Given your previous successes, including a Prog Award nomination and a growing global fan base, what are your expectations for CORE in terms of fan reception and critical acclaim?
AC : My goal for this album was to have a “Championship Season”. So far, it seems to be going well. We have five times more pre-orders for the CDs than we ever have before. Our YouTube subscribers are up 40%. Our Spotify numbers have tripled. The feedback from critics and radio DJs has been amazing, saying things like “the best album ever” and “one of the best albums of the year”. Every day we have more and more people we don’t know from all over the world leaving positive comments on social media and referring their friends. This is exactly what we were hoping for and we are grateful to wonderful people like you for these types of interviews!
NB : Cautiously optimistic! Some people don’t like bands with female vocals, and we’ve heard from them before, but overall the response so far has been extremely positive.
DB : Fingers crossed. You never know when you’re in the middle of a project how the public will appreciate the effort… so fingers crossed!
You included contributions from guest artists such as Joe Deninzon, William “Billy” Spillane and Alek Darson on this album. How did these collaborations come about and what do they add to the overall CORE experience ?
AC : As mentioned, Billy Spillane was a founding member of the band, working with us from 2014 to 2021. Alek Darson guest-guitared and mixed on Counterpoint , toured with us, and played live and mixed on CircuLive::NewView . His contributions were invaluable during the initial writing and arranging sessions for the record, and we are grateful for his contributions. Electric violinist Joe Deninzon ( Kansas ) has been a good friend of ours since 2014, when he was a guest artist on our debut album Return (2015). I wrote a song with a very specific UK-Eddie-Jobson section for a violin solo ( Silence Revealed ), and Joe delivered spectacularly. With his band Stratospheerius , we co-founded the traveling festival Sonic Voyage Fest ( SVF ) in 2015, and did two SVF tours in 2015 and 2016. Joe also performed live with us at the 2016 Rites of Spring Festival ( RoSfest ), which was captured on our CircuLive::Majestik CD/DVD/ Blu-ray . So when we wrote Transmission Error for this album, I knew we wanted to bring Joe back as a guest artist.
The album artwork is stunning! Can you share the concept behind the artwork and how it ties into the album’s themes?
NB : Oh my gosh, I’m so glad you asked that question! When I first saw this painting, and saw all the amorphous people beneath these colorful birds soaring by, it spoke to my own personal desire for society. The artist is also someone Andrew and I know well, and is a long-time activist for social change, and she’s about to turn 100 this year! Her name is Henrietta Mantooth Bagley . As the band is evolving, we wanted to avoid our usual icon-based band cover. In terms of how it ties into the themes of the album, certainly the songs about tumultuous relationships, society’s limitations on unconventional relationships, and social change are echoed in songs like Tempus Horribilis , Third Rail , and Say Their Name . It was also really fun to use enlarged parts of the painting for the individual releases and the booklet .
What are Circuline’s next steps after the release of CORE ? Any tours or special projects that fans can look forward to?
AC : The CORE 2024 virtual tour will continue through the end of this year. In support of the new album, we have 57 events over 48 weeks this year, which include single releases every six weeks, lyric videos , official videos, Story Behind The Song video, Behind The Scenes video and more. Every six weeks, we do live Q&A sessions that are simultaneously streamed on YouTube , Facebook and Instagram , where we can interact in real time with fans from all over the world. It’s been a ton of work and a ton of fun! So this will continue for another four months. In October, we will be performing live at the ProgStock international festival in New Jersey, where we will be performing the new album in its entirety, which we are very excited about. We are creating some special “moments” for this live show, and there will be multi-tracked audio and video for our upcoming CD/DVD/ Blu-ray release . We would love to continue playing in North America, return to England to tour and add more European dates. Our sales and fan base in Australia, New Zealand and Japan continue to grow, so of course we would love to tour and play in those countries. We will see what opportunities continue to arise in 2025 until the end of the year.
Thank you, guys. It was an honor. Do you have any messages you would like to send to our readers and your fans?
AC : Thank you so much for listening to our music and for your support. Since we have our own independent label, we don’t have any big label money to promote this album, but we do have some really cool, kind and amazing people like you! We are so grateful to each and every one of you, because we couldn’t be doing this without your love and support. Please tell all your friends about us and keep helping us share our music around the world.
DB : We would like to thank everyone who has been following us since the beginning and everyone who is just discovering us. All comments, likes and views are greatly appreciated… so thank you!!
NB : Thank you, thank you, thank you for being here!
Earlier this year, Patrick Alexander played some Circuline music on his “Pat’s Picks Progressive Rock Hour” radio show, which also featured King Crimson and Tony Banks. Last night, Patrick played some more Circuline music on his show, which also featured Yes and Mike Oldfield. Thank you so much, Patrick Alexander, for playing Circuline’s “You” on your show last night!
We’ve got some wonderful new music on the show tonight, as well as some old favorites. JADIS – “Said And Done” from More Questions Than Answers (2024 Jadismusic) SHOOGLENIFTY – “Heading West” from The Arms Dealer’s Daughter (2003 Shoogle Records) CIRCULINE – “You” from C.O.R.E. (2024 Self Released) HEAD SPIN – “Pillows” from Refractor (2024 Self Released) YES – “New Language” from The Ladder (1999 Eagle Records) MIKE OLDFIELD – “Ommadawn, Pt 1”, “Mount Teidi” and “Five Miles Out” from Crises (deluxe edition) (2023 Universal)
Thank you so much, Patrick Alexander, for playing Circuline’s “Tempus Horribilis” on your show last night!
Tonight’s show features some songs of futility and some of hope. A “state of the world” episode if you will. FISH – “Vigil” from Vigil In A Wilderness Of Mirrors (1990 EMI Records) [1:35] MANDOKI SOULMATES – “The Big Quit” from A Memory Of Our Future (2024 Inside Out Music) [10:11] MATT DORSEY – “Waiting For The Fall” from Let Go (2023 self-released) [19:26] CIRCULINE – “Tempus Horribilis” from Core (2024 Inner Nova Music) [23:47] KING CRIMSON – “Industry” from Three Of A Perfect Pair (1984 EG Records) [30:17] MICHAEL TREW – “Never Going To Touch The Ground” (2024 self-released) [38:08] TONY BANKS – “An Island In The Darkness” from Strictly, Inc. (1995 Virgin Records) [41:27]
Thank you so much, Billy Yfantis, for this fantastic interview!
The entire interview is reprinted in full below.
1. The “C.O.R.E.” Virtual Tour is an ambitious undertaking, spanning 57 events in 48 weeks, featuring various releases, videos, and Livestream Q&A events. What inspired the idea behind this extensive tour, and how do you envision connecting with fans around the world through these diverse elements?
In the past, record companies would spend 10 to 14 months promoting an album, releasing “singles” off the record with promotional videos on MTV. Examples would be Peter Gabriel’s So, which released singles from April 1986 through July of 1987, and Genesis Invisible Touch, which released singles from May 1986 through March 1987. Journey’s Escape released singles from July 1981 through October 1982. Even Asia’s debut album had a six-month promotional cycle, from April through October of 1982. These single releases with accompanying videos on MTV helped propel these bands to the top of the charts around the world with album sales and accompanying successful tours.
In todays’ world, with the rules of Streaming, singles must be released before an album comes out. Since we’re an independent band, on our own independent record label, we need as much promotional time as possible, to continue to grow our fanbase and get in front of as many people as possible, in as many different ways as possible. We spent six years making this record, and I need at least a year to promote it.
In our little genre of progressive rock, there were 996 total album releases in 2022. That includes every major and indie release for that year. With basically 1,000 albums per year coming out, how are we supposed to get any attention, traction in the marketplace, or sales? Even Steven Wilson, who has literally hundreds of thousands of fans around the world, has spoken publicly about how hard it is to get people’s attention for a new album release.
Another cool thing that has emerged over the past several decades are “Behind the Music” documentaries about what artists and bands did in the studio, stories of what was happening at the time, etc. Obviously fans want to “see behind the curtain” of the creative process, and hear directly from the band members, mixing engineers, and producers about the process, which is fascinating to people about how artists do the things they do. So in conjunction with the promotion of the new album, we’re doing that type of thing as we go, as the music is being released!
This is why the 2024 CORE Virtual Tour was created. Circuline is releasing a new single every six weeks, with a promotional cycle of deep dive videos every week for the entire year to support the singles and the album. Single Releases, Lyric Videos, Official Music Videos, “Behind the Scenes” videos, and more! This will appeal to the Spotify algorithm and the YouTube algorithm, but most importantly, hopefully it will appeal to our current fans, and garner new ones around the world, with a year-long celebration of the new album! We’re also doing near daily Reels releases, Press Releases every six weeks, and emails every week to our list of over 20K people. And we’re doing our best to personally respond to every single comment on every social platform. The eight Livestream Q&A sessions on YouTube and Facebook allow us to connect directly with fans just as if we were on tour, and could speak to them in person.
2. “C.O.R.E.,” your new album, explores themes such as romantic relationships, surviving abuse, finding personal power, and the turbulent times we live in. Can you share more about the creative process behind the album and the significance of these themes to you and the band?
For our first two albums, Darin Brannon and I wrote almost all of the music, and then we worked with Randy McStine (Porcupine Tree, Mcstine & Minnemann, The Fringe, Lo-Fi Resistance) as a songwriter to come up with the lyrics and vocal melody lines. Then we would do all of the vocal arrangements of the harmonies and finish the record. Sometimes we had guitarists and bassists with us in the room writing, and other times we had guest guitarists.
Across the board with reviews, generally speaking for our first two Studio albums, many people said that the music was very good but that the songs did not mean much to them in the way of lyrical content. So for this record we really challenged ourselves to start with the “song” vocal sections first, working hard on really crafting lyrics and melodies. Darin and I still wrote most of the music, sometimes with other musicians in the room, but I would take all of those musical bits (there were over 100 of them), and as the band “Librarian”, organized all of the musical bits into areas that could be later used for the “Songs”.
So we had the musical bits, and then would work to build around the song structures, utilizing poetry that Natalie Brown had written, with input from myself and Darin. The three of us work really well together. So with me sitting at the piano, we would work out the Verses and Choruses with the melodies and chords. Then I would put it all together in the computer. I’m kind of like the master “Frankenstein” assembly guy in the studio.
After Darin and I would do all of the arrangements and structures of the entire songs (the sum total of the singing parts and the instrumental parts), Natalie and I would put down scratch vocal tracks, then have our new bassist Shelby Logan Warne lay down her bass tracks. Which would then usually cause Darin to change some of his drumming parts and I would update some of my keyboard arrangements. We would then send everything to Dave Bainbridge, our new amazing guitarist, who would literally usually send back about 10 or 12 tracks of all different kinds of acoustic and electric guitars and occasionally some extra keyboard parts. Then I would redo and finish up all of my keyboard parts, then we would redo all the vocals for the final tracks.
In an ideal situation, we would all be in the room together, looking at each other, creating this music, just like bands did in the last century. But these are the times in which we live, and we have to adapt as best we can. It was all incredibly very different from anything we have done before, but very rewarding. Robert Berry did an amazing job of mixing this record at his studio in California. We’re very proud of the work that the team did to make this record.
3. The new lineup for Circuline includes Shelby Logan Warne on bass and vocals, and Dave Bainbridge on guitars, with guest artist Joe Deninzon on electric violin. How has the dynamic changed with the addition of these new members, and what unique contributions do they bring to the band’s sound?
We think that the evolution to this current sound of the band is the best that we’ve ever had. That is no offense to any previous band members who helped to get us here, they all made their own unique contributions. But we are very happy with these new band members. Shelby brings a very groove oriented feel, and locks in perfectly with what Darin plays on the drums. We think that gives us a great rhythmic foundation that will hopefully appeal to a broader audience.
Dave Bainbridge is a world-class guitarist, who has been picked several times as one of the top five guitarists in the world in the annual PROG magazine readers poll. We have never had anyone in the past with this kind of talent and ability, so we feel extremely fortunate and grateful to have him on board. He really elevates our entire game. I have now had the space to evolve as a vocalist, singing lead and background harmonies as I have not done in the past. When we perform live, since Shelby is the lead vocalist for her own band Kyros, and Dave also sings background harmonies, we hope to really have a powerhouse three-part and four part vocals that we have not had in the past. Inspired by CSN, Journey, Queen, Steven Wilson, and others, Natalie and I had a really fun time stacking up lots of harmonies on the record in a way that we have also not done on previous records. Our goal was to make the best sounding record we could make, knowing that with Shelby and Dave on board, we should be able to reproduce it live.
4. Circuline’s fanbase has grown globally, reaching #1 in Portugal and Top 10 in Japan. How do you see the band’s international appeal evolving, and what do you attribute to the widespread recognition and success?
We’re hoping that the international appeal is evolving, simply because more people are finding out about us! From 2013 to 2017, we thought that getting lots of PR placement, print magazine placement, online and print interviews (such as this one), being featured on FM radio, Internet radio, blogs and podcasts, playing at international festivals, and doing lots of touring and playing live would produce success, because that’s what artists traditionally have always done. But I think doing only that, only worked in the last century. We had a website and were active on social media. We had fans and sales, but we were just hemorrhaging money, with no end in sight. At the end of 2017 we sat down and said, “this is just not sustainable”. I came up with a new plan to aggressively acquire Fans. We decided that we were not going to play live again until we had new music, and had a bigger fanbase to play to, when we went on tour. So we went back into the studio at the beginning of 2018 and started working on this record, and I went to work online with Facebook and Instagram advertising, growing our email list to over 20,000 people, and selling over 7,000 CD’s, DVD’s, and Blu-rays in the process. 40% of our market is in the U.S. 40% of our market is in the U.K. The rest of the fans are all over the world. We’re currently Streaming in 45 countries, with physical merchandise sales in 23 countries.
5. The Virtual Tour includes not only music releases but also “Behind the Scenes” videos. Can you share some insights into the creative process of making these videos, including the “Story Behind the Song” and “Gear Behind the Music” series?
We knew that the plan would entail releasing a single every 6 weeks, and that we would need to tell stories around the music for each song. I have been consuming music marketing information for many years now and this 2024 CORE Virtual Tour is an accumulation and integration of everything that I have learned over the past many years. I said to myself, “just for once I want to try to do everything right, and do all the things that all of the so-called experts say that we should be doing.”
So we knew that we would need to do the single releases. We knew that we would want to do Official Music Videos with all five of us performing in the videos, so that the world could see us in a new way, presented as a new band, with a new sound. We knew that we wanted to update our image with better quality videos. To fill out the six week promotional cycles for each song, we decided to also have Lyric Videos. For every 6 week-cycle, three of the videos are really about the music, and three of the videos are really “Behind the Scenes” videos.
For the “Story Behind the Song” videos, I got that idea from watching old VH1 “Behind the Music” episodes. We hired professional videographers to shoot those, because we wanted people to see us looking more professional in our newly remodeled studio, which we did during the pandemic. The “Gear Behind the Music” episodes I thought of after seeing other bands, but particularly Porcupine Tree, release some videos from their latest album. Many people often like to see what the gear is that bands play. But our style for those are a little bit different. It’s more casual and done with cell phones, as people do in these modern times. And then I came up with the idea to shoot B-roll during the band’s Official Video shoots, so that we could do video commentary for the “Behind the Official Video” videos, because again it would be an opportunity for all five of us to be together talking about what we just did and what people had just watched the week before for the Official Video music performance videos. We really want people to get to know us as people and as a band.
The Livestream Q&A sessions we first did back in 2020, for our NewView Virtual Tour, when we released our last CD/DVD/Blu-ray, CircuLive::NewView. That’s the first time I had created the Virtual Tour for us – and it worked! We released five new Official Videos, re-promoted our previous Official Videos and had 45 Events, which included “Story Behind the Song” live discussions with many guest artists. That’s where those ideas were born, but this time we wanted more preparation and better quality production. Those Livestream Events were really popular and helped to grow our fanbase. All of those videos have had hundreds or thousands of views, and we got a really great response when we did that last time, so we knew that we wanted to do it again this time.
What’s also very cool is that I can take all of these videos and use them as part of our “Circuline Rock Journal” email series, so that as people come on board and join us in the years to come, I can repurpose these videos and drip them out in our email follow up sequence, so that new people can continue to get to know us while we’re behind the scenes working on the next album. Most artists have an entire back catalog of content, yet we never hear from them until they want us to buy the next thing they are selling. We put so much work into creating all of this material; I want to use it to deepen our relationship with every new fan for years to come. We still have people to this day who see our Livestream Q&A videos from 2020, who think that they look fun and festive, and they are sorry that they could not make that series, but they are looking forward to getting on live with us in the future for this next round of Livestream Q&A sessions that we do. So it helps to grow our relationship with our fanbase even though these videos could be years old! All of this previous work continues to help us, moving forward into the future.
6. Circuline has toured with renowned acts like Glass Hammer, co-headlined festivals, and opened for IO Earth in England. How has touring with such diverse artists influenced the band’s musical evolution and live performances?
For many years we have studied other bands and artists, to see what they do for their live shows. Going to other major label concerts and touring with different artists has exposed us to different ways of performing in front of people. It made us really want to craft our show and structure things in a way that was more than just reproducing the music from the records. That’s why we started introducing new and different elements into our live show that people seem to really appreciate.
We now always try to have different “moments” that will connect in different ways with the people in the audience. So we have an “Acoustic Moment”, where we do a simplified breakdown of one of our songs, with just acoustic guitars and vocals. We have a “Fun Moment”, the “Drum-Off”, where we all change instruments and are playing drums. We’ve also had the “Keyboard Challenge”, where Darin Brannon and myself sit at keyboards facing each other, and go back and forth playing different bits, as if we’re competing. All of these things will continue to evolve as our show does in the future. You never know what you’re going to see at a Circuline show – but hopefully something will surprise and delight you!
7. With the extensive schedule of releases and events throughout the Virtual Tour, how do you manage the balance between creating new content and maintaining a connection with your audience, especially during Livestream Q&A sessions?
At the time of this writing, we are two weeks into the year-long Virtual Tour, and approximately half of the videos are already completed. We started filming everything last year, since the song structures were finished, and while we were working on the final tracking for everything. The “Story Behind the Songs” segments were shot last June with myself, Darin, and Natalie, and all five of us got together for a week in August to shoot the Official Music videos, using rough mixes that I created. The “Gear Behind the Music” videos were shot by all band members in their respective studios with cell phones, and all of that footage is complete. We have one of the “Behind the Official Video” segments completed, and we’ll shoot the rest of those in February. Darin Brannon is creating approximately 1/3 of the videos that we need, we are Outsourcing approximately 1/3 of the videos that we need, and I am making the other third of the videos. I have a huge spreadsheet and calendar on the wall, to make sure that we stay ahead of schedule, because we cannot afford to get behind. I’m the master planner, organizer, and project manager!
The Livestream sessions are actually kind of simple and easy to do. We are all able to get on a Zoom call, which is simulcast through Facebook and YouTube live, and while I host the event, one band member will be reading the YouTube chat and responding there, and another band member will be reading and responding in the Facebook chat. Being able to directly interact with the Fans in real time, with their questions and comments, is always interesting and rewarding. Those are really fun!
8. The album release is planned for September 20th, 2024. What emotions or expectations do you have leading up to the release day, and how do you plan to celebrate this milestone with the fans?
The biggest emotions that I personally have right now are the time deadlines and pressure to just make sure that the Virtual Tour and Pre-Order Campaign goes as well as it possibly can. We also still have to finish doing the first round of manufacturing of the CD’s, which are in a six panel digipak with a 12-page booklet of lyrics and liner notes, as well as the 11” x 17” posters, and we have to get those manufactured in February and March, to send out for reviews this spring. We also have the 8.5” x 11” Tour Programs to finish creating and print, as well as t-shirts to print. And on top of all of those Virtual Tour activities, we will also be coordinating all of the reviews and interviews and then sharing all of that across the social media platforms and the blog on our website. That is my biggest focus right now.
As far as expectations, we just want to try to sell as many CDs as possible. That is really where we will find out if all of these last 6 years of marketing efforts have worked and paid off. As far as celebrating this milestone, we still have to get through the end of the year with the Virtual Tour. We are going to be doing a Livestream on Friday September 20th, which is Release Day. That is a bonus Live Stream because it is the day of the album release. We will also be autographing all of the Pre-Order CD’s and posters, and shipping them out to the fans, so that’s always fun and exciting!
The best way that we could celebrate would be to go back out and bring this music live to people and tour in person with this new lineup. That would be a fantastic celebration, either towards the end of this year, but realistically most likely it will be 2025 and beyond.
9. Your previous tours have taken you to various international festivals. How do you adapt your performances to cater to different audiences and cultures, and what memorable experiences have you had while touring?
As previously mentioned, we try to adjust our show and introduce new and fun elements every time we perform. We will often change up our set list, depending on what the situation seems to call for that night. So far we have toured across the United States and the United Kingdom, so I’m not sure how culturally different that is. We would love to get to Canada, because we know there are very progressive rock friendly audiences there, especially in Montreal and Quebec City.
As far as memorable experiences go, every single tour or live show we have ever played has had funny, sad, happy, angry, joyous, and frustrating experiences! At this moment, I will spare you any horrible details LOL. I will say that we can’t wait to go back to England, and with two Brits in the band we should be able to make that happen! We would also love to tour the rest of Europe, Japan, and Australia, as we have growing fan bases in all of those areas.
10. Looking ahead, what are your hopes and aspirations for Circuline in the coming years, and how do you see the band’s musical journey unfolding, both in the studio and on stage?
Our hopes and aspirations are that we are going to continue to grow our audience worldwide, which will continue to grow our financial capabilities and opportunities to create and perform more music into the future. As far as the band’s musical journey unfolding, we love the lineup that we have now, and with the pandemic behind us, we would love to be able to block off larger chunks of time in the future, where we can all get in the studio at the same time to create new music. Then as we continue to tour and play live on stage together, that will only hone and sharpen our live experience with each other, which we can then put forth and present to the people who love this kind of music and who love coming to see us. We just want to be able to keep going and growing into the future. We appreciate this opportunity to have this interview with you – we could not be doing this without super cool and nice people like yourself! Thank you so much.
2024 “C.O.R.E.” Virtual Tour – Event #1/57 Single Release – “Tempus Horribilis”
In Week #1 of Circuline’s 2024 “C.O.R.E.” Virtual Tour, you get the lead single off the new album! Written with classic influences such as YES and Pink Floyd, you’ll hear our modern take on the recent times we’ve all been living in.
In the upcoming weeks, you’ll see an Official Video, a Lyric Video, and more in-depth videos, going “Behind the Scenes” with the band about the gear we used, what we were thinking when writing the music and lyrics, and more!
You’ll get to find all about about this musical story…..but for now, you can enjoy the music on all the major streaming platforms, by starting with the YouTube video above, or the link below…..
For Your Favorite Streaming Platform, Just Click this Link!
We appreciate you being here on this journey, together with us! Hopefully we’re supporting you in your life’s adventures, and we couldn’t be doing this without you and your awesome support!
Rock On and Prog Out!
We wish you all the best, Andrew, Darin, Natalie, Shelby, and Dave Circuline
Prog ensemble Circuline’s 2024 “C.O.R.E.” Virtual Tour begins Friday, January 12th, 2024, and will consist of 57 events in 48 weeks, with Single releases, Lyric videos, Official videos, “Behind the Scenes” videos, and Livestream Q&A events where the band is able to connect with their fans around the world.
Six years in the making, Circuline’s new album “C.O.R.E.”, released on the Inner Nova Music label, will be available as an album of eight tracks available in a gatefold digipak CD, with an eight-page booklet of lyrics and liner notes. The album explores themes in romantic relationships, surviving abuse, finding one’s own personal power, and the turbulent times in which we live. “C.O.R.E.” will be released on Friday, September 20th, 2024.
Circuline has a new lineup, with new band members Shelby Logan Warne (Kyros) on bass and vocals, and Dave Bainbridge on guitars (Strawbs, IONA, Lifesigns). Guest Artist Joe Deninzon (Kansas, Stratospheerius) on electric violin. Keyboardist/vocalist Andrew Colyer (Robert Berry’s 3.2 Band, The Tubes), drummer Darin Brannon (Downing Grey, Surface Tension), and lead vocalist Natalie Brown (Evita, Rocky Horror Picture Show) complete the band’s lineup.
Says Andrew Colyer, “With this international virtual tour, we have two goals: First, we want to get our music exposed to as many people as possible, to continue to grow our fanbase worldwide. Second, we want to deepen our relationships with the fans who are the most passionate. Releasing singles, lyric videos, and official videos accomplishes the first goal, and by doing these in-depth, ‘Behind the Scenes’ videos, we accomplish the second goal. Packaging everything together into a single 12-month celebration of the new album will hopefully capture more attention for future opportunities for live performing and touring, with this fantastic new lineup.”
Number #1 in Portugal. Top 10 in Japan. Prog-Award Nominated. Global Music Award Winning. With sales in 23 countries, Circuline’s fanbase is growing daily. The band has toured with Glass Hammer, repeatedly co-headlined the three-day Sonic Voyage Festival, and toured England opening for IO Earth. Circuline has performed at the International Rites of Spring festival (RoSfest), Philadelphia’s Liberty Music Fest, Chicago’s Progtoberfest, New Jersey’s ProgStock, and England’s Harmonix Festival.
Says Andrew, “We’ve had so much fun creating all the videos for this Virtual Tour! We’ve been ‘on location’ in train stations, on rivers, in parking lots, and on soundstage studios. The ‘Story Behind the Song’ videos were done in our newly remodeled studio, with professional documentary filmmakers. The ‘Gear Behind the Music’ videos were done on cell phones. The ‘Behind the Official Video’ series utilizes B-roll shot on location, with band members doing over-the-top commentary. This has been a lot of work, and a ton of fun! We hope the fans enjoy it.”
CORE Virtual Tour Dates:
January 12 – Song #1 – Single Release 19 – Song #1 – Gear Behind the Music 26 – Song #1 – Lyric Video
February 2 – Song #1 – Story Behind the Song 9 – Song #1 – Official Video 16 – Song #1 – Behind the Official Video 18 – Song #1 – Livestream Q&A 23 – Song #2 – Single Release
March 1 – Song #2 – Gear Behind the Music 8 – Song #2 – Lyric Video 15 – Song #2 – Story Behind the Song 22 – Song #2 – Official Video 29 – Song #2 – Behind the Official Video 30 – Song #2 – Livestream Q&A (Sunday is Easter)
April 5 – Song #3 – Single Release 12 – Song #3 – Gear Behind the Music 19 – Song #3 – Lyric Video 26 – Song #3 – Story Behind the Song
May 3 – Song #3 – Official Video 10 – Song #3 – Behind the Official Video 11 – Song #3 – Livestream Q&A (Sunday is Mother’s Day) 17 – Song #4 – Single Release 24 – Song #4 – Gear Behind the Music 31 – Song #4 – Lyric Video
June 7 – Song #4 – Story Behind the Song 14 – Song #4 – Official Video 21 – Song #4 – Behind the Official Video 23 – Song #4 – Livestream Q&A 28 – Song #5 – Single Release
July 5 – Song #5 – Gear Behind the Music 12 – Song #5 – Lyric Video 19 – Song #5- Story Behind the Song 26 – Song #5 – Official Video
August 2 – Song #5 – Behind the Official Video 4 – Song #5 – Livestream Q&A 9 – Song #6 – Single Release 16 – Song #6 – Gear Behind the Music 23 – Song #6 – Lyric Video 30 – Song #6 – Story Behind the Song
September 6 – Song #6 – Official Video 13 – Song #6 – Behind the Official Video 15 – Song #6 – Livestream Q&A 20 – Album Release Day! 20 – Song #7 – Single Release 21 – Album Release Livestream 27 – Song #7 – Gear Behind the Music
October 4 – Song #7 – Lyric Video 11 – Song #7 – Story Behind the Song 18 – Song #7 – Official Video 25 – Song #7 – Behind the Official Video 27 – Song #7 – Livestream Q&A
November 1 – Song #8 – Single Release 8 – Song #8 – Gear Behind the Music 15 – Song #8 – Lyric Video 22 – Song #8 – Story Behind the Song 29 – Song #8 – Official Video
December 6 – Song #8 – Behind the Official Video 8 – Song #8 – Livestream Q&A
