Melbourne’s beloved folk-pop trio Bluehouse and Brisbane’s acclaimed dark cabaret ensemble Silver Sircus are teaming up for an unforgettable performance for the 2011 Brisbane Pride Festival this Thursday the 2nd of June at the Judith Write Centre Performance Space.

Bluehouse has captivated audiences from all over the world with an immensely entertaining and engaging live show. Now bringing their show to Queensland accompanied with Brisbane’s very own Silver Sircus.

Silver Sircus are no strangers to the festival circuit, previously performing at festivals such as Brisbane Cabaret Festival, QLD Poetry Festival, Adelaide Fringe Festival and Brisbane Pride Festival. They’ve built a reputation by creating a visual and aural feast for the senses based around the songs of the bands lead vocalist, Lucinda Shaw.

For those who may have been loving under a rock for the last few years, I thought I’d give James Lees the drummer of Silver Sircus a little Q&A to enlighten the unaware.

How did Silver Sircus come about?

Lucinda & I enjoyed a few years being in the band ISIS in the mid-late 90’s and after this we continued working together in various guises, mainly on performance works and show for Brisbane Cabaret Festival and the Pride Festival. The formation of the band was motivated by a desire not to go insane by having material hanging around that we couldn’t do anything with… and so Silver Sircus was born as a project to perform, record and release this music in late 2007. Since then, we’ve released two EPs, grown up to be a 7-piece and played all over Brisbane, as well as Sydney and in the Adelaide Fringe Festival.

How would you describe Silver Sircus’s genre of music?

I find it very hard to categorise as we are nothing to do with the notion of conforming to a genre when we write and arrange music. In reflection though, I think our personal influences are apparent in the music… Nick Cave, Portishead, Tom Waits, Laurie Anderson are all people we love and admire. Ultimately, I want our music and performance to be about stroy-telling and to have a very strong performance aspect… I try and formulate our arrangements and songwriting choices for maximum impact.

What can the audience expect from your show on Thursday?

We often work with visual artist and photographer Sean Young and he is providing live visuals for the show. As it’s in a theatre setting, we are favouring our darker, more intense songs to take advantage of the performance context. I hope our audience finds us compelling, beautiful as well as disturbing and harrowing. Then after us, they can relax and party with the wonderful Bluehouse.

What does the future have in store for Silver Sircus?

We are hard at work on our album and we hope to release this and a video clip around October this year. We also have some exciting shows lined up, including a Zoo show featuring us in dirty rock mode and a season at boutique cabaret venue The Butterfly Club for Melbourne Fringe Festival in September.

What is something that we might not know about the band?

Hmmmmmm… Well I NEVER sing and Lucinda NEVER plays the drums.

What does Pride mean to you?

I have a long history with the festival and with the collective. Between 1998 and 2003, I contributed as a creative producer, marketing sponsor, events organiser and fair day entertainment director and stage manager. My aim was always to bring in events and entertainment that was high quality, diverse and interesting and also served to bring communities together. I’m proud of the work I did, I found it very rewarding and I hope I managed to enrich the festivals that occurred in those years.

There is no denying Silver Sircus has a bright future ahead of them, and their show this Thursday is definitely not to be missed!

Here’s a glimpse of what to expect on Thursday:

Bluehouse

Silver Sircus

For full details click here!