For 15 years, Silver Sircus have been weaving their silver threads through Brisbane's musical landscape.
Those threads have connected some of Brisbane's finest musicians, and when the band performs in full ensemble, they're something of a local supergroup.They have also drawn into their spell an appreciative audience who have enjoyed their two albums, numerous EPs and singles, and hauntingly engaging live shows.
Now to celebrate those 15 years, Silver Sircus return to the beloved Brisbane venue The Old Museum as part of Queensland Cabaret Festival.
Led by the twin stars of Lucinda Shaw and James Lees – each who have busy arts careers as performers as well as behind the scenes – the constellation is rounded out by some fresh and familiar faces.
The current line-up includes cellist Wayne Jennings, guitarists Mark Angel and Ruth Gardner, Terry Dixon on bass, and James Halloran on piano, all with impressive and varied careers behind them.
Such a rich line-up creates a real presence on stage. "I love it when they all sing 'Welcome, children, welcome. . . welcome. Now the crow flies free,' during our song 'Dust'," Lucinda says. "Spooky as a living hell – I like it like that."
For their new show, James will be returning to the drum kit after three years at the piano. A consummate organiser, James also runs his own production company Electric Moon, working with many festivals and independent shows.
With Silver Sircus, James is very much the rudder, steering the ship from behind the drum kit, while Lucinda, as a vocalist and actor, is a remarkable figurehead, leading them into unchartered waters.
Their 15 years together has produced many highlights, including launching their debut album 'To The Place That Is Home' to a sell-out crowd at The Old Museum in 2012, and releasing their second album, 'Incarnadine', on double-gatefold vinyl (with digital version, of course) in 2017.
During the pandemic they became a lounge act, performing in Lucinda's living room, pared down to the bare essentials of Lucinda on vocal and James on piano. "It was easily the strangest gig we have ever done," James says.
"It felt like acting but without an audience. The huge and lovely surprise was to see that it was watched by hundreds of viewers." Since then, it has been seen over 4,000 times.
Lucinda and James' story began much earlier than 15 years ago, however. In the early '90s, James was an emerging drummer, "fresh-faced and sweet as cherry pie," according to Lucinda, and already stepping into his entrepreneurial stride booking bands and "getting everybody's band posters up all around town as Posterbill".
Lucinda, was also making a name for herself as founding lyricist/ vocalist of the folk band Isis. James booked them for a gig supporting Tiddas at the now defunct venue The Capitol (also known as Van Gogh's Earlobe).
"I was a great fan of their music up to that point," he says, "so I will admit it was a bit of a fanboy moment to introduce myself to Lucinda!"
The pair soon found they had much in common, including experiences and worldviews. "She was also a well-known identity in the Brisbane LGBTQ+ scene at that time, and I was in the process of my own coming-out journey, so meeting her was also significant from that point of view."
The spark was lit. The very next year James had joined Isis on drums. They were fun and adventurous times. "A fun moment was when he came out of the closet in the video for our song 'Pleasing You'," recalls Lucinda.
"Or early days of Isis at The Zoo, filming the video for our song 'Belly Pain'. There are so many faces from the Brisbane music scene in that clip, tucked away in a decadent banquet. They were fun times when it was defiant and empowering to carve out spaces that were feminist and queer."
More recently, the pair have worked together on Electric Moon's unique ensemble tribute shows, such as 'Ziggy Stardust', 'Transformer' and the music of 'Twin Peaks'.
Now the Sircus are returning full circle for their performance at The Old Museum, a building which has managed to maintain her hauntingly beautiful, old-dame integrity.
The show will be part of the important and long-running Queensland Cabaret Festival, which both James and Lucinda have been part of in various guises. Lucinda also appears in the work 'Sex And Other Philosophies', with James Halloran and Karen Lee Roberts.
The band will draw from their body of work to date and will unveil two new songs as well as put their silver touch to a couple of covers.
The Old Museum is a fitting venue for the act, as much intrigue and beauty can be found in the antique building's pools of light and dark corners.
"The Old Museum holds a special place in our hearts as it is where we launched our first album 'To The Place That Is Home' to a sell-out audience back in 2012," James says. "The old rooms, creaking wooden floorboards and high ceilings seemed to be the perfect setting for the music."
Putting music into words is never easy, but the band say they edge towards art-rock and dark-folk with some dashes of prog, drone and minimalism thrown in.
Or as Lucinda so poetically puts it: "Our sonic and lyrical landscape is as in nature: layered, mountains, hills, waterways, fire heartbeats, small corners, the inside of the heart, the wildness of the mind."
The seven piece, who James considers family, becomes an even greater family with an audience of appreciative listeners in the room. While James describes himself as a swan, calm on the surface but furiously paddling underneath, Lucinda is out front and centre to take the audience on a journey.
As a musical storyteller, there's no place she'd rather be. "Being on stage is just being alive in the most powerful, present way," she says. "My role is to activate everything I understand of life, and to bring it, to offer it up to the audience for shared experience and understanding. It's also really fun. . . like really, really fun. Exhilarating."
From here, the journey continues. "It is my only project with two pilots, and Lucinda is my only co-writer," James says. "This is a precious and unique relationship fostered over 20 years, which I don't think I could ever have with anyone else."
Adds Lucinda: "In 15 years from now, if time grants us so long life, I hope James and I will continue to share a beautiful bond."
Silver Sircus play Queensland Cabaret Festival's CabFest '23 at The Old Museum (Brisbane) 15 April.
