Biography

The Circles are a band from the West Midlands formed in 1979 by Mick Walker (lead vocals/rhythm guitar), Tony Howells (lead guitar/vocals), Glenn Tranter (bass guitar/vocals) and Keith Allen. The band signed to Graduate Records and released 'Opening Up / Billy' which reached No. 3 in the indie charts and over the years has achieved cult status. They moved to the Vertigo label to release their second single 'Angry Voices / Summer Nights' in 1980 that went on to sell over 20,000 copies. Graduate released a third single after the band split up in 1981, the classic ‘Running Round in Circles’. In 1999, the 20th anniversary of the Mod Revival, Detour Records released a live album 'Private World', recorded in Blackpool in 1980. The band performed at the Mods MayDay reunion gig at The Forum in London in May and went down a storm, winning plenty of new fans. Such interest spurred the band to release a CD of new material 'Looking Back' on Detour Records in 2000. In 2019, their 40th Anniversary year, the Circles recorded a 12" EP of new songs “Our Time” and played a few gigs including a blinding set at Mods Mayday 2019. For 2020 the band have recorded another 12” EP “Gone Tomorrow” and are looking forward to playing more gigs before the end of the year. The current line up is close to the original with Mick Walker, Keith Allen, Glenn Tranter and Martin Ratcliffe.