Circles, the Melbourne luminaries of the djent movement here in Australia have recently released a taste of a new era for the band. 'Sleepwalking' and the accompanying music video is their first release since their ARIA charting album, 'The Last One', which was released in 2018. Throughout lockdown, the group wrote the next chapter for the band and this earth-sharting number is an impressive opening. We caught up with drummer Dave Hunter to talk about the new release, their creative process and some of their fondest memories touring the world. Tickets are on sale now for their Sleepwalking Australian Tour alongside The Omnific, Future Static and Heartline.

Congrats on the new release, it seems like its been a long time coming! Can you tell us what 'Sleepwalking' is about?

Thanks! Yeah our last show was Dec 2019 and then, well, you know. We spent the lockdown period writing new material. We didn’t want to put it out until we knew we could do it properly, hence why it may have felt a bit quiet in the Circles camp. But for us it was far from it. As we were writing all the new material over Zoom, locked away, going a bit stir crazy, it may have pushed the overarching themes into darker areas than previous Circles material. For example, Sleepwalking is a song of fear and regret, of feeling like so much time has been wasted while you’ve unconsciously gone through the motions to arrive at your current situation. But you’re struggling to push yourself into the unfamiliar territory that holds the potential to provide you with what you’re searching for. It’s so easy to live and die in a comfort zone, even when all you want is out of it.

What's the creative process for the band?

Everyone in the band plays their own role in the creative process. Most of the time it starts with Ted presenting riffs, or parts of a song to the rest of the band. My role is usually to structure or pin point key moments of what will eventually be a song. Ben plays a role in both of those processes, while mainly working on lyrics and vocal melodies. This was much harder not being able to be in the same room together, but it pushed us to work a lot harder, which in the end is pretty satisfying.

What do you think makes a great prog song?

We’re all pretty detached from the whole prog thing these days. What is prog anyway? If it’s a good song, it’s a good song.

You've toured extensively over the years with acts like The Dillinger Escape Plan, Opeth, Fear Factory, TesseracT and Twelve Foot Ninja just to name a few. What's your fondest memory on tour?

The European tours are always fun. Living in a bubble being surrounded by unfamiliar territory. Our first EU tour with DEP holds some pretty fond memories, just because it was us, no crew, no bus, just a van and a bunch of peanut butter sandwiches. A pretty scary adventure that is funny to talk about now nearly because we survived it. On the back of that our most recent EU tour with Caligula’s Horse and I Built the Sky was probably one of the most fun tours we’ve done. We had a very ‘family like’ camaraderie going on and it made everything really fun and easy.

What advice can you give to those starting their careers within the music industry?

Be thick skinned and be ready to fail….a lot. But if you love what you’re doing, keep doing it. It’ll pay off.

When not working on music and the band, what other creative outlet do you guys have?

Personally, I run my own business as a filmmaker. I do a lot of music video work, which is handy to have in house. Gotta save those pennies for touring! Both Ben and Ted do a lot of mixing and producing work, which is great for them to work on things outside of Circles.

The band is on tour in August and September, can we expect something special for the live show?

We’ve put a lot more energy into putting on a show for this one, rather than just performing a collection of songs. We’ve got a great crew with us this time and we’ll also be road testing more new material aside from the new single Sleepwalking. We’ve also handpicked the bands on the package and feel they are doing some awesome things at the moment. Some big nights not to be missed! Can’t wait to see everyone.

Circles - Sleepwalking Australian Tour

Fri Aug 19 - Stay Gold - Melbourne

Fri Aug 26 - Lion Arts Factory - Adelaide

Fri Sep 2 - The Zoo - Brisbane

Sat Sep 3 - Crowbar - Sydney

Sun Sep 4 - The Basement - Canberra

With special guests: The Omnific, Future Static and Heartline.

TICKETS: WILDTHINGPRESENTS.COM

A Quick Chat With Circles