STREETLIGHT CIRCUS - Making Rock ‘N’ Roll Filthy Again By Kelley Simms
Listen up kiddies, the circus is in town ...
STREETLIGHT CIRCUS that is.
NYC-based street rockers
Streetlight Circus’ full-length self-titled
debut is an eclectic mix of styles with influences all over the map;
including bands such as
AEROSMITH, NEW YORK DOLLS, ROLLING STONES, GUNS
N’ ROSES and
KISS.
Vocalist/bassist
David Shaw has been around the musical block a few
times, beginning with some regional success in the early ’90s with glam
band
SHOTGUN ANNIE. Streetlight Circus started out in 2006 as Shaw’s
solo project with Walkin' On A Wire CD, then morphed into a full band.
Streetlight Circus is a meat and potatoes kind of band. On its debut
album, the band struts and shouts its way through your speakers with a
sleazy swagger and a tough exterior. The phrase ‘Making rock ‘n’ roll
filthy again’ is advertised on the band’s website and press releases,
and it’s what Shaw and the band live by; creating songs with good,
street-wise, accessible riffs with a combination of old-school rock
influences.
“I think there are some bands today that are making attempts to get
back to that sound and you hear it in bands like
BUCK CHERRY, THE LAST
VEGAS and
CRASHDIET,” Shaw says. “A lot of it is bubbling under the
surface and giving some life to this kind of stuff and hopefully give it
some kind of resurgence. There’s a few bands that are carrying that
torch, and I hope we can be one of them.”
Even though Shaw’s voice is a dead-ringer for Paul Stanley, it isn’t
something he consciously tries to do. KISS weren’t even a big influence
on him as surprisingly, power pop rock bands such as THE KNACK, THE
CARS and CHEAP TRICK were.
“Get the Knack was the first album I ever owned in 1979 and it made
me want to play music,” Shaw says. “For the music that we write, my
influences come from as much power pop stuff as it does hard rock,
bluesy, metal stuff. It’s a mishmash of sounds. Both my guitar players,
George and Fabio are both enormous Kiss and VAN HALEN fans, so that kind
of bleeds into the influence a little bit. I can see why people say our
influences are all over the map ... because they are!” Shaw says with a
chuckle.
“If you’re into music, you’ll find cool things in every genre. When
you write, your head is just full of all that stuff and little bits and
pieces of all that stuff can find its way in. For some bands, and maybe
even for us to a certain extent, sometimes that’s a problem because
people can’t pin you down. If you hear all those influences, I think
it’s a great thing to hear that in some bands. Some people get put off
by that because they want you to be more of one thing.”
Given the current state that today’s record industry is in, the best
thing for a band to do is to get out on the road and play as much as it
can. And that’s exactly what Streetlight Circus did in 2012.
“We had a great year,” Shaw concludes. “We got invited to play the
M3 rock festival. We were the only independent band asked to play this
year. It was all these huge national acts, and us. We were humbled and
we gained a whole bunch of new fans. We’re stretching out to
Connecticut, Pennsylvania, Florida. We played out in L.A. a few times;
we played the Whiskey. We’re just trying to grow organically. You’re not
going to do it the same way bands used to do it in the ’70s, ’80s and
even the early ’90s where the record companies were supporting album
after album waiting for something to hit. You have to go out there and
do it yourself. So far it’s been going really well. People seem to be
digging what they hear and seem to be liking the band live. Where it
goes, we’ll see. But right now we’re pretty happy with the way things
are heading.”
Ven 4 Jan - 12:30