The Electric Swing Circus are a six-piece
electro swing
Electro swing, or swing house, is an electronic dance music
Electronic dance music (EDM), also referred to as dance music or club music, is a broad range of percussive electronic music genres originally made for nightclubs, raves, and Lis ...
band based in
Birmingham
Birmingham ( ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands (county), West Midlands, within the wider West Midlands (region), West Midlands region, in England. It is the Lis ...
, England.
The line up features Vicki Olivia (vocals), Fe Salomon (vocals), Tom Hyland (guitar), Rashad Gregory (samples,
MPC, and synths), and Patrick Wreford (electric double bass and
bass synth
Keyboard bass (shortened to keybass and sometimes referred as a synth bass) is the use of a smaller, low-pitched keyboard with fewer notes than a regular keyboard or pedal keyboard to substitute for the deep notes of a bass guitar or double bas ...
). The Electric Swing Circus formed in June 2011. The band's preview EP, ''Penniless Optimist'', was released in September 2011, and their debut album ''Electric Swing Circus'' in May 2013. They released their second album, ''It Flew By'' in January 2017. Their third album, ''Pleasure Seekers'', was released in March 2022.
History
2011
The Electric Swing Circus had their first live performance at the Book Club on 17 September 2011.
The band also recorded the video for "Penniless Optimist".
The song received airplay on
BBC Radio 6 on
The Craig Charles Funk and Soul Show, and the video was shown on
BBC Big Screens nationwide.
At the 2011 ElectroSwing People's Favourite Awards, the Electric Swing Circus won Best Live Act.
Electric Swing Circus has a residency at Hot Club de Swing, a club night at the
Hare & Hounds, Kings Heath.
2012
The Electric Swing Circus played many festivals during 2012, including
Bestival
Bestival was a four-day music festival held in the south of England. The name Bestival is a portmanteau of the words best and festival. It had been held annually in the late summer since 2004 at Robin Hill on the Isle of Wight. In 2017 the festi ...
,
Secret Garden Party
The Secret Garden Party, often colloquially shortened to the SGP, is an independent music festival, arts and music festival held in Abbots Ripton, England. The location is on part of the grounds of a Georgian farmhouse and has its own lakes, river ...
,
Nozstock,
Boomtown
A boomtown is a community that undergoes sudden and rapid population and economic growth, or that is started from scratch. The growth is normally attributed to the nearby discovery of a precious resource such as gold, silver, or oil, although t ...
,
Beat-Herder, Fieldview and
WOMAD
WOMAD ( ; World of Music, Arts and Dance) is an international arts festival. The central aim of WOMAD is to celebrate the world's many forms of music, arts and dance.
History
WOMAD was founded in 1980 by English rock musician Peter Gabriel, w ...
.
2013–2015 – ''Electric Swing Circus''
The Electric Swing Circus filmed the video for the single "Valentine" in March 2013. It was filmed in
Birmingham Municipal Bank and premièred at Swingamajig Festival in May that year.
On 9 May 2013, the band released their self-titled debut album. They played several festivals, including their biggest show to date on the Spirit of 71' / Glade stage
Glastonbury Festival
The Glastonbury Festival of Contemporary Performing Arts (commonly referred to as simply Glastonbury Festival, known colloquially as Glasto) is a five-day festival of contemporary performing arts held near Pilton, Somerset, England, in most su ...
, Shambala, and
Fusion Festival. They were listed in the Glastonbury guide as "one of the highlights of Glastonbury".
In 2014, the band played
Edinburgh Festival
__NOTOC__
This is a list of Arts festival, arts and cultural festivals regularly taking place in Edinburgh, Scotland.
The city has become known for its festivals since the establishment in 1947 of the Edinburgh International Festival and the ...
for the first time; their performances on the BBC stage were described as "electro-swing at its best".
In 2015, the band headlined the Avalon Stage at Glastonbury. Later that year, they began to record their second album.
2016–2019 – ''It Flew By''
Most of the second album, ''It Flew By'', recorded in early 2016. It was
crowdfunded and recorded at Middle Farm and Giant Wafer studios. The band played Swingamajig festival, where they released ''Empires EP (Swingamajig Edition)'' and included the tracks "Empires" and "Hit&Run" which were the first tracks recorded for the new album.
The album was released in 2017. The following year, the band released the ''Connected/ Invisible Man E.P.'' recorded with long-term collaborator and producer James Bragg. The EP was promoted with a tour including an appearance at
Heitere Open Air Festival in Switzerland.
2022–present: ''Pleasure Seekers''
The band's third album, ''Pleasure Seekers'', was released in March 2022 and includes the singles "Gravity" and "Expectations".
Swingamajig Festival
In May 2013, the band hosted the first
Swingamajig, a one-day festival in
Digbeth
Digbeth is an area of central Birmingham, England. Following the remodelling of the Birmingham Inner Ring Road, Inner Ring Road, Digbeth is now considered a district within Birmingham City Centre. As part of the Big City Plan, Digbeth is under ...
, Birmingham. The Electric Swing Circus co-headlined the event alongside acts including
The Correspondents, Dutty Moonshine, Odjbox and Pierre,
DJ Switch and C@ in the H@.
In May 2014, the second festival took place in Digbeth, with acts including
Molotov Jukebox. The 2015 festival featured
Chinese Man, and the fourth in 2016 featured
Balkan Beat Box
Balkan Beat Box (BBB) is an Israeli musical group. Founded by Tamir Muskat and Ori Kaplan in 2003, BBB was later joined by Tomer Yosef who became a core member. The group plays Mediterranean-influenced music that incorporates Jewish music, Jewish, ...
as headliners.
Band members
* Vicki Olivia – Vocals
* Fe Salomon – Vocals
* Marcus Copeland – Drums
* Tom Hyland – Guitar, vocals
* Rashad Gregory – Samples, MPC, synths
* Patrick Wreford – Bass guitar/double bass, bass Synth
* Bridge Williams – Sound
Former band members
* Laura Owen-Wright – Vocals
* Bridget Walsh – Vocals
* Eleanor Rose – Vocals
* Chandra Walker – Drums/keys
Discography
* ''Penniless Optimist'' (2011)
* ''Penniless Optimist Premix EP'' (2011)
* ''The Electric Swing Circus'' (2013)
* ''Empires EP (Swingamajig Edition)'' (2016)
* ''It Flew By'' (2017)
* ''Connected/Invisible Man'' (2019)
* ''Pleasure Seekers'' (2022)
References
External links
Official websiteSwingamajig Festival
{{DEFAULTSORT:Electric Swing Circus
Musical groups established in 2011
Musical groups from Birmingham, West Midlands
Electro swing musicians
English electronic music groups
2011 establishments in England