Roll up for Dirty Circus reunion gig

One of the Wigan music scene's most notorious and successful bands are back and preparing for a hometown reunion gig.
The original Dirty Circus line-upThe original Dirty Circus line-up
The original Dirty Circus line-up

Indie-rockers Dirty Circus, who blazed a spectacular and occasionally confrontational trail across the British music scene after signing to Sony in 2005, will play their first gig in seven years at The Old Courts next month.

The group has returned as a four-piece with singer Chris Binns, guitarist Stephen Ahern and drummer Ryan Whittle taking up their old instruments and former guitarist Jon Hollingsworth shifting on to bass duties.

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The group created quite a stir with its blend of indie, electronica and hip-hop and admits while the reunion came as a surprise they can’t wait to get back on stage.

Singer Chris said: “I never thought we would get back together but we met up at a wedding a few months ago, went for a drink and realised there was still something there.

“As soon as we got in the practice room the chemistry was there, straight away. Our keyboardist Floyd and old bassist Ian are not with us now but we didn’t want to bring new people in.

“We knew we wanted our first gig to be in Wigan because we’ve got fond memories of playing places like Club Nirvana when it was full and there would be 1,000 people there.

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“We’re looking forward to getting back out there and seeing all the old faces and we’re hoping some younger people will get into us too.”

Dirty Circus’ music originally drew comparisons to the likes of Oasis and Primal Scream and Chris says they are now more eclectic and also more confident in their abilities as musicians than ever.

He said: “We’re all a bit more aware now. Back in the day we were moving at 100mph. Our musicianship is better and we’re tighter.

“Oasis will always be the reason I got into music but you can hear in our songs we were listening to people like Dr Dre.

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“We’ve picked up new influences too. I’ve got hundreds of albums as I’m always looking for something new, so I’ve got into things like grime. To me that is punk rock for now.”

Dirty Circus will play at The Old Courts on April 22, supported by Mark Frith. Tickets are £5 and available from www.seetickets.com.

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