Burning Circus Talk New Single, Favourite Instruments And More

Apr 18, 2026 | Interviews

Words by Glenn Sargeant

Feature Image Photo Credit: Supplied By San PR

Fast-rising hard rockers, Burning Circus, have now released their scorching new single, ‘Rodeo’. They kindly chatted with us:

Who is in Burning Circus, how did you meet and what do you play?

ALEX: I sing and write the vocal melodies and lyrics; Chris plays guitar and sings backing vocals; Trad plays bass; and Gav plays drums. Trad joined us in late 2025 but Chris, Gav and I formed Burning Circus in early 2024 alongside our original bassist, Tony, the four of us having met via a musicians forum.

What is your earliest musical memory?

ALEX: I don’t have one specific memory but I was exposed to bands like Queen, Guns N’ Roses, AC/DC, Iron Maiden, and more at a young age, so my love of rock music was established early.

GAV: I had a tiny kids’ record player when I was about five and spent hours playing the dozens of 7” singles my Dad had in a drawer. Beatles, Stones, all the 60s and early-70s bangers!

CHRIS: Hearing Bat Out of Hell II in my Dad’s car, my Mum playing ABBA records at home.

When did you begin songwriting?

ALEX: I’ve been writing in various forms for pretty much my entire life, but my earliest attempts at songwriting specifically were during my teenage years. Those lyrics might still be stored away in a box somewhere, I haven’t seen them in years. Probably for the best.

GAV: I started playing the drums when I was 13 and started up a band with my cousin when I was around 14 / 15. We wrote terrible, punky little numbers that sounded like the Misfits.

CHRIS: When I was 14, before I could play guitar properly. I’ve also had more fun writing my own stuff than learning other guitar parts note for note.

You have your new single ‘Rodeo’ which is out now. What was the story/inspiration behind the track?

ALEX: I was screwed over by someone I’d made the mistake of falling in love with – not that I had much say in the matter, because that’s love for you, the f***** – and it wasn’t the first time that had happened to me. And so that’s what ‘Rodeo’ is about: partly the pain, sure, but more importantly it’s about knowing I had the strength to pick myself up again and get on with my life because I’d already proven I could do so in the past.

Where did you record the track and who produced it?

CHRIS: Electric Bear Studios in Mansfield, Nottinghamshire. It was recorded by Jared Harding and mixed by Simon Hopkinson. The guys were great and the studio is top-notch.

Do you have any interesting, funny or memorable stories from the recording sessions?

GAV: Deafening Trad’s brother in the live room as he videoed me warming up! I did warn him it was going to be loud! (Poor fella).

CHRIS: One of the guitar amps was so blown away by the song it literally blew in the studio.

Did you use any particular instruments, microphones, recording equipment to help you get a particular sound/tone for the record?

GAV: I used my Yamaha Oak Custom kit and Mapex Black Panther Blaster snare for the first time. They sound incredible.

CHRIS: Guitar-wise, I’m not a big gear-head at all. I like to keep it simple. A Fender Telecaster into a Marshall JCM800, dial in the gain, let her rip… The solo has some reverb and delay on there. Other than that it’s guitar into amp and the lovely mics that they have at Electric Bear to capture the sound.

Which of your tracks hear you at your a) happiest, b) angriest and c) most reflective?

ALEX: I’m happy whenever I’m singing, even if the subject matter is something dark; I’m not really angry while singing any of our songs, if anything writing lyrics based on painful personal experiences helps me vent some of that anger; and there’s a lot of reflectiveness in my more personal lyrics, again the songwriting process is often me putting my existing thoughts and experiences to paper. At the same time, I’m not someone who lets themselves get stuck in the past, I prefer to focus on the future.

GAV: A: ‘Too Dumb to Quit’ as it has a massive groove. B: ‘A Man of Few Words’ as it’s pretty heavy live and has tonnes of punchy energy to it. C: ‘Expectations.’

Was ‘Rodeo’ a difficult song to write?

ALEX: Not on my end, the vocal melody and lyrics came together fairly easily, although I always spend hours and hours on the latter especially, whatever the song.

GAV: So far all the songs have come together really well but we’re pushing the new stuff and adding some bigger fills and phrasing.

CHRIS: I can’t speak for the lyrics, but musically it came together very quickly. Most of our songs are like that, if they’re taking me a long time to arrange and think of the parts, I’ll leave them, sometimes for months. Inspiration can’t be forced but when it’s all coming together it’s exciting and I can’t wait to send the ideas to the guys and get working on them and turn them into full songs.

The single is accompanied by a video. What was the thought process behind the video and who directed it?

ALEX: While we were limited in terms of our budget and resources for the video, we were still determined to include some kind of narrative element and a degree of visual variety to hopefully result in a more creative and attention-grabbing video. We threw around a few ideas and settled on what you see in the final video, which we’re all really happy with, I think it turned out great. It was directed by Matt Hickinbottom, an incredibly talented filmmaker who was really easy to work with, you can find him at www.midlandscreative.com.

Where is your hometown and could you please describe it in five words?

ALEX: I’m from a small village in Wales. Five words? Not a place for me.

GAV: Burton on Trent… beer, vape shops, shattered dreams.

CHRIS: Derby. In the middle of England.

How do you look after your voices?

ALEX: Regular applications of cider and Jack Daniel’s don’t seem to have done it any harm so far, so it’s a regimen I’m sticking to.

GAV: Daily moisturiser.

Do you have any live dates planned in the UK/Europe in 2026?

GAV: Tonnes! I think we have 20+ to go but that could go up by another ten once this interview goes out…

CHRIS: Yes, lots! As of this interview, here they are:

April 24th – The Metal Monocle, Leicester

April 25th – Grumpy’s, Stoke on Trent

May 9th – Burton Books and Banter, Burton On Trent

May 21st – Billy Bootleggers, Nottingham

May 24th – The Victoria Inn, Derby

May 30th – Corporation, Sheffield

June 5th – Burton Books and Banter, Burton On Trent

June 20th – Jasper’s BAR, Pontefract

June 26th – Old Star, Uttoxeter

June 27th – Dukeries, Worksop

July 11th – Nailed It, Belper

July 18th – Studio Seven, Oxford

September 2nd – Bannerman’s, Edinburgh

September 20th – Billy Bootleggers, Nottingham

September 26th – The Victoria Biker’s Pub, Coalville

October 31st – TBC, Boston, Lincs

November 14th – Tutbury Club, Burton On Trent

December 4th – The Metal Monocle, Leicester

December 19th – Jasper’s BAR, Pontefract

What two things do you hope to have achieved once you have left the stage?

ALEX: I just want me and the boys to have had fun performing, and the audience to have had fun watching us, ideally to enough of a degree that they want to see / listen to us again.

GAV: That everyone has had fun and at least one of our tunes has wriggled into your brain and you’ll be singing or humming that sucker for the next week or two!

CHRIS: To have given everything we’ve got, leave it all out there on stage and hopefully make people happy and have a good time.

Do you have any favoured stage instruments, effects, pedals, microphones etc?

ALEX: Just give me a drink and a mic – no stand necessary, not with how I like to move onstage – and I’m good.

GAV: I love my Blaster snare and pint of water!

CHRIS: My beloved Fender Telecaster. I was a Les Paul man for years (still love them, to be honest) but the Tele is rock ‘n’ roll. Also my Orange CR120 amp. More reliable than a valve amp and 99.9% as good.

You are given the opportunity to write the score for a film adaptation of a novel that you enjoy. Which novel is it and why?

ALEX: A Congregation of Jackals by S. Craig Zahler. It’s an incredibly gripping western with a tone that’s unsympathetic and occasionally brutal but which never veers into lazy gratuitousness, and is a story that could easily make for a varied and affecting score covering moments of slow-burning tension, reflective guilt, barbaric violence and loving affection.

GAV: I think a rock version of The Exorcist could work.

CHRIS: Deception Point (Dan Brown). For no other reason than I loved that book. If you’re reading, Dan, drop me a message and let’s work something out.

Do you have any further music releases planned for 2026?

GAV: We have several new tunes lined up ready to record. The hard part is deciding which one to go for!

CHRIS: We do indeed! We have loads of new material and will be picking our next single very soon.

Who are some of your musical influences? Do you have any recommendations?

ALEX: My musical influences include Queen, Guns N’ Roses, the Rolling Stones, Danko Jones, the Supersuckers, Motörhead, and more. As for recommendations: Angry Johnny and the Killbillies, Gluecifer, Harley Poe, Murder by Death, New Bomb Turks, the Hives, Those Poor Bastards… okay, I’ll stop there.

GAV: Mitch Mitchell, Lars, Dave Lombardo, Small Faces, for me it’s a very mixed bag.

CHRIS: All the classic bands like Guns N’ Roses, new(er) bands like Buckcherry, Blackberry Smoke and the Black Crowes, and new(er-still) bands like Massive Wagons and Those Damn Crows.

What makes Burning Circus happy and what makes you unhappy?

ALEX: I’m happy to be in a band where we all share a similarly huge amount of passion and enthusiasm for the kind of music we want to create and play – we all love what we do and work incredibly well together. And beyond the typical frustrations you can encounter while working your asses off trying to reach for any real degree of success as a rock ‘n’ roll band, very little makes me unhappy, I’m grateful for what I’ve got.

GAV: Happiness is a warm stage, a warmer crowd and any chance to play these tunes of ours. Unhappy? I guess a night of feedback off the PA, a venue with stairs or parking that’s a mile away!

CHRIS: What makes us happy is playing gigs, we’re unhappy when we’re not playing gigs!