We Plug To You… Black Circles

Bursting out of Kent, Englad and describing themselves as an Alternative power-trio is a dark and intense outfit by the name of Black Circles with their excellent delivery of thrashing, melody-driven Rock anthems. The band are self-proclaimed lovers of early Foo Fighters material - an influence that is clearly present their music - and while some bands who try to dabble in this specific genre of music can of course become lost in screaming vocals, Black Circles' lead vocalist/guitarist Dan (with backing from bassist Mayumi) delivers catchy choruses without going too far into the wailing territory of many similar bands.

In 2011, Black Circles put out their debut single "Little Girl" which grabbed the ears of the good folks over at BBC 6 Music who subsequently featured the band on their BBC 6 Introducing show. Their follow-up single, "Final Straw" gained attention from celebrated video producers Crossroad Films (Muse, Athlete and Biffy Clyro) who offered to produce an accompanying visual for the single after they witnessed a very energetic festival appearance from the band. The single - with a style that resembles a collision between Queens of the Stone Age and Green Day - went on to be featured on such national magazines as Rhythm, Bass Guitar and Hello Kitty Fashion.

"Final Straw" paved the way for a productive 2011 - a year in which Black Circles undertook a RocSoc university tour across the United Kingdom and played some very high profile festival slots at the likes of Farm Festival, Indie Week in Ireland, Big Bike Festival and Great Escape in Brighton. The band's newest offering "Escape'" shows Black Circles in full force, with thrashing guitars and a big-band sound mixed with catchy, but powerful lyrics and harmonies. It's a song that verges on the metal genre elegantly, aiming to reverberate skulls whilst at the same time leaving the lyrics firmly rooted in the listeners head.

BBC Radio Kent has been giving the new single some heavy airtime lately - probably due to a lack of spectacular music in the local scene to rival Black Circles at the moment - as the band continue to make the pilgrimage into London on a weekly basis to gig and promote the new track. The accompanying video for "Escape" is an odd mix of viral hilarity and powerful music. The storyline features a demanding puppet squirrel attempting to set the tone for the recording by throwing nuts at the band, moonwalking across the mixing desk - a personal highlight - and eventually meeting a real squirrel. It's a strange concept to say the least and somewhat detracts from the usual tone of the band.

That said and despite its low budget, the endearing nature of the concept is likely to keep listeners hooked long enough to fall in love with the trio. In the virtual world, Black Circles have become the self-proclaimed "nicest guys on Twitter" with a growing army of fans who seem to tweet and engage the band on a daily basis. They represent a new era of music and musicians that appear to be heavily based around manipulating the online domain to reach out to new music listeners and producing music that is "shareable" within their dedicated fan-base, generally consisting of under 20's.

Recently as a 'thank you' to their new online fans, bassist Mayumi and lead vocalist Dan put a special acoustic performance of a song titled "Do What You Say" on their Youtube channel, which shows a slightly lighter side to the usually fairly dark band. Black Circles have several gig dates coming up and are hoping to net themselves a variety of festival slots this year in order to build on their successes throughout 2012. This is likely to be followed by a nationwide tour so if you like what you've heard above, stay tuned to the band below...

Keep Tabs on Black Circles: Facebook // Twitter // Youtube

Tim Osbourne