Life is a sircus

Brisbane seven-piece rock-cabaret outfit Silver Sircus launch their new EP in style in May, with a gig in their hometown and their first-ever performance as a full band in Melbourne, following a smaller stint at the Butterfly Club last year.

“We will be doing a wider range of material [in Melbourne], especially songs from our first EP, Sovereignty,” composer and percussionist James Lees told the Star Observer.

“In Brisbane, we’ll be favouring more recent material and hopefully debuting a couple of embryonic new pieces as well as having our full live visuals happening and debuting the video clip for [current single] Come Back As You — keeping our home crowd stimulated!”

Spearheaded by Lees and sultry singer-songwriter Lucinda Shaw, Silver Sircus’s live show occupies a space somewhere between a sticky-carpeted live rock show and the more refined world of cabaret.

“We are a band primarily, not an actual cabaret act,” Lees was keen to point out.

“I think the cabaret feeling of our performances does come across though in Lucinda’s performance style as she is also an actor and spoken word performer.

“I enjoy the band existing as a kind of hybrid version of these styles though, and I think it makes our performances richer and more complex. When Lucinda is in full flight she can be very intense and compelling.”

Cabaret feel, powerhouse diva at centre stage, bruised torch songs of love and loss: as you can imagine, Silver Sircus have amassed quite the loyal gay fan base in their native Brisbane.

Lees, who programmed the Brisbane Pride Festival for three years, said he and Shaw had been cultivating a queer following since playing in the band ISIS in the ’90s and performances at queer festivals at home and at Adelaide’s Feast.

“There is a wonderful LGBTI queer community in Brisbane and we are incredibly proud to be a part of it.”

With Come Back As You acting as a bridge between the band’s older material and that on their new EP To The Place That Is Home, Lees said listeners could expect more material from Silver Sircus in August.

“The songs on the album all followed Come Back As You writing-wise, and most of them have tended to become slower, darker, more minimal but more layered and textured too,” he teased.

INFO: Silver Sircus play Melbourne’s Wesley Anne on May 5 and Brisbane’s SYC Studios on May 26. www.silversircus.com