There are two bands with this name and the first one is an Australian / Canadian band from 1969-1975. The second is from Germany from 1988 onwards and the information below relates to them.
The Concept

FLYING CIRCUS are fusion, bringing together the energy of 70ies hard rock and the artistic approach of progressive rock bands of the same period.

The Influences

LED ZEPPELIN, BLACK SABBATH, DEEP PURPLE, RAINBOW & URIAH HEEP on the one hand. PINK FLOYD, GENESIS, YES, JETHRO TULL & KING CRIMSON on the other. And of course all the bands that can be classified as 'somewhere in between' (RUSH, PAVLOV'S DOG, WISHBONE ASH, MANFRED MANN'S EARTH BAND...). Moreover: folk, metal, psychedelic, blues rock, kraut rock, jazz rock - you name it! BERT JANSCH, IRON MAIDEN, HAWKWIND, FREE, CAN, MAHAVISHNU ORCHESTRA - ANYTHING fitting in with the concept.

The Sound

FLYING CIRCUS sound old-fashioned. They avoid polished sterility and replace it with a sound which lays its emphasis on warmth and earthiness. Acoustic instruments, Gibson Les Pauls, Hammond sounds and analog synths play an important role.

The Ever-recurring Question

Why take to musical styles and sounds which - allegedly - are dead and gone? Another question: Why not? A lot of people LOVE the music of the 70ies and are frustrated because almost nobody dares to look back to past times. And: Fusion createssomething new - HardProg.

HardProg?

A balance between power and art, emotion and intellect, trying to avoid all the false steps the two most-scolded musical styles of the 70ies have allegedly taken: Neither is there boring or dull guitar thrashing, nor the blasŽ showing-off of the musicians' dexterity. FLYING CIRCUS combine rousing heavy parts with psychedelic pictures of sound or lyrical folk passages instead, and thus create songs full of tension and atmosphere: An absolutely unique musical world - in time because time-less.

The Musicians

Michael Dorp - vocals • Lars Frik - keyboards • Lorenz Gelius-Laudam - guitar
Falco Kurtz - drums • Michael Rick - guitar • Roger Weitz - bass guitar

A Short History

Band formed in winter 1988/89. First gigs in 1990. The semi-cover-group soon turns into a much demanded live act in its own right: The band plays numerous gigs mainly using original material in and around Grevenbroich, the home town of Flying Circus (somewhere between Düsseldorf and Cologne).

A growing number of fans, a growing amount of commitment: The hobby project turns semi-professional - debut-CD on the 'Early Birds' label in 1998, growing interest of the music press, and more prestigious gigs in, for example at the PopKomm, a huge music fair in Cologne (playing on stage for Germany's biggest private TV station RTL, and the legendary 'Burg Herzberg-Open Air' (alongside 70ies-stars like Man, Colosseum, Wishbone Ash, Caravan etc.).

1999 - a big anniversary concert in the band's home town, a first small tour through clubs in several german counties, a second CD in the making. Plus: recordings for 'Signs of Life‘, a 'Tribute to Pink-Floyd‘ - sampler on Angular Records (other bands involved include Pendragon, Tiamat and Angel Dust).

2000: The second album 'Out of the Waste Land' is published on the ‘Early Birds’ label, boosting band’s popularity even more.

2004: Despite the demise of their label, Flying Circus finish their most ambitious project to date, and they release the album ‘Pomp’ on their own. The band gets voted one of the best ‘song acts’ of the year at the German Rock and Pop Awards 2004 with the title ‘Carpe Noctem’ from the ‘Pomp’-album.

January 16th, 2010: At last! The new FLYING-CIRCUS-CD 'FORTH' and the 20th anniversary box set 'BACK & FORTH' have arrived! Read more on Last.fm. User-contributed text is available under the Creative Commons By-SA License; additional terms may apply.