Circus Caravan

“5 men, 2 pairs of friends, 1 pair of brothers and 1 stranger from distant lands came together to play some tunes! Rock, indie, alternative, punk, you name it, the ingredients for our music.” Really liked that description, with which the Athenian, alternative rock self-describes the band. Circus Caravan recently released their debut EP ‘Chapter O’, and they are playing at Blue Barrel (May 11, Thessaloniki, with SoulVanity & Echo Cables) and opening for Mr. Highway Band at ILION Plus in Athens, on May 18. Conclusively, this is an ideal time for a quick chat with them…

Circus Caravan, wow! Intriguing name! What’s up with you guys? Let’s learn some things about you then…

So, we are Circus Caravan and this intriguing name is inspired from “Monty Python’s Flying Circus“. It was the very first name we came up with and the only one that made it ‘till the end. We are a group of 5 friends with the sole purpose of creating music that we enjoy listening to. The genre of our music is alternative rock with elements of post-rock, grunge and indie. In 2013 Bill and Panagiotis started jamming and later the band was formed with the addition of Alex, Thomas and Chris. Recently, we welcomed our new bass player Dennis.

Last October you released your debut EP ‘Chapter 0‘. Would you like to talk about this first step in discography by you? Satisfied by the result?

In late 2017 we released our debut EP ‘Chapter 0‘ which consists of 5 songs. We named it “Chapter 0” in order to give it a “book structure” feel, since we consider our songs as individual stories we narrate through our music. There are a few differences among the songs due to the large amount of time we spent recording it and the various musical influences we had throughout this period. Nevertheless, the single most important thing for us was for the songs to have consistency and flow, which we think we achieved in a great manner. You can find and purchase our EP on all major electronic platforms.

Your first official video ‘Run Down’ is an addictive, radio friendly tune. I also like the video, which is based on a very simple, but clever idea. Please share some information about this track and video with our readers.

We wanted to create a song with a different vibe compared to that of the EP. We had an amazing time recording it and we love the pop feel it has. The video is shot in a beach close to our houses and a friend of ours helped with the juggling tricks and the production.

You chose to cove Kings Of Leon’s ‘Sex On Fire’ in a great way, adding a Beirut-ish feel and sound. How did you come up with this idea?

This is the first cover we ever did as a band and it’s really special for us. The idea was to include the melodica and the mandolin in the song, but also to change the vocal melody and create something unique. This is our idea of the “cover” meaning in general, to create something special, something that feels like us.

You have two dates in the near future; the first one at Blue Barrel, in Thessaloniki (May 11^th) and the second at ILION Plus (May 18^th) opening for Mr. Highway Band. Why should we come over and join you for these ones?

Well, we are really excited about the upcoming events. Firstly, it is the very first time we are travelling to Thessaloniki for a live show and the feeling is amazing. We can’t wait to meet the people there and present ‘Chapter 0‘ up north. Right after that we will open the gig of our really good friends and amazing musicians Mr. Highway Band along with Panos Fotakos. We are really looking forward to hitting the stage with these guys and have an amazing night. We hope to see you in one of these gigs.

Planning your debut full-length any time soon?

Currently, we are doing some live shows for the promotion of ‘Chapter 0‘ but also we are making some new music for our first full-length album. In September we are planning to start recording and producing it.

Unlike many bands you didn’t choose Bandcamp nor SoundCloud for sharing your music, but Spotify and other digital platforms. Reasons behind this choice?

There isn’t a particular reason for this choice, it just happened. We feel that Spotify is evolving day by day and becoming more and more popular. It’s a really good choice for upcoming musicians. Although, when we release our first full-length album we are going to include Bandcamp and SoundCloud to the platforms.

Which bands would you like to share the stage with?

That’s a really difficult choice, because we want to share the stage with a huge amount of bands and musicians. To name a few: Queens Of The Stone Age, Muse, Sigur Rós, Explosions In The Sky, Ben Howard, Radiohead but also some Greek bands too like Planet Of Zeus, 1000mods, Puta Volcano, Villagers Of Ioannina City and We.Own.The.Sky.