Hardwicke Circus aka The Hardwickes
Ltd Ed live ‘Prison album’ and new single
Hardwicke Circus [aka The Hardwickes] announce that their next release will be ‘At Her Majesty’s Pleasure’ on 27 May 2022. This is an ‘official bootleg’ live album recorded at HMP Standford Hill and HMP Elmley [on the Isle of Sheppey, Kent] during their prison tour last November. The record was produced by Dave Robinson and the band, and will be a limited edition CD available only from the band’s website: www.hardwickecircus.tv. Additionally, they will release a brand new single – their first as a newly minted five-piece – ‘The Colour In Everything’ which will be available on 3 June 2022 via Alternative Facts Records (the band’s own label) distributed by Absolute.
The band said, “‘The Colour In Everything’ represents the start of something new for us. The next studio album is going to truly show where we now are as a band and will show how much we have grown by constantly playing together, learning from each other, but also getting out and playing gigs up and down the country, as well as shows for prisoners like the one captured on ‘At Her Majesty’s Pleasure’. We can’t wait for this next step.”
Described by the Sunday Times as, “the band who are not only turning heads with the confident glide in their stride; they’re literally bulletproof”, 2022 marks something of a reset for the band. With the amended line-up settled and firing, ‘The Colour In Everything’ marks the start of the next chapter, and is taken from the forthcoming studio album. This new phase of the band will build on the success that they have enjoyed since their well-received debut ‘The Borderland’, they have come a long way since then.
The forthcoming studio album – working title ‘The Second One’ – from which ‘The Colour In Everything’ is taken will feature the new line up of Jonny Foster [lead vocals/guitar], Tom Foster [drums/vocals], Joe Hurst [bass/vocals], Lewis Bewley-Taylor [keyboards] and Andy Sax [sax].
Twelve prisons were visited in October and November last year by the band as part of what has become something of an outreach service for them. Whilst no jokes about captive audiences need be made, witnessing first-hand the interest, reaction and positive feedback from the inmates has been an extraordinary experience. Music can truly reach people in a way that nothing else can. One inmate, who was known for never speaking, actually took to the stage to sing with the band at one of the shows; and his silences are now consigned to the past. Hardwicke Circus will be playing more prison shows over the summer of 2022.
The Hardwickes are still in the ‘Circus’, and in truth are always deadly serious about bringing their brand of vocal-driven modern rock, laced with fun and fury, to a bigger audience. Named after a roundabout in their native Carlisle, 2022 will see Hardwicke Circus aka The Hardwickes setting the pace in the overtaking lane.
