The Flying Circus (band)
| The Flying Circus | |
|---|---|
| Origin | Sydney, Australia |
| Genres | Pop, country rock |
| Years active | 1968–1975 |
| Labels | Columbia, Capitol, Harvest, Warner, EMI |
| Associated acts | Lighthouse |
| Past members | Doug Rowe James Wynne Bob Hughes Colin Walker Greg Grace Warren Ward Terry Wilkins Red McKelvie Sam See |
The Flying Circus was a pioneering Australian country rock band who had a number of pop hits in Australia from 1968 to 1971 and then re-located to Canada from 1971 to 1974 where they also achieved a degree of success.
The Flying Circus were formed in August 1968 in Sydney starting out as a country/folk-rock band. They performed "harmony-rich covers of Byrds, Dylan and Dillards country songs". Like The Byrds, a prominent part of their early sound came from the featured use of a 12 string Rickenbacker guitar. They were brought together by lead guitarist Doug Rowe who had been a member of New Zealand band, The Castaways, before coming to Australia. The original line-up was Doug Rowe [lead guitar, vocals], James Wynne [lead vocals, rhythm guitar], Bob Hughes [bass, vocals] and Colin Walker [drums].Bob Hughes left in early 1969 and went on to become a well known screen actor with credits including the hit TV sitcom Hey Dad..!, ABBA: The Movie, but in 2014 he was found guilty of sexually molesting girls on the set of Hey Dad...! and was sentenced to a jail term. He was replaced by bassist Warren Ward, an experienced musician.
They signed to EMI records in late 1968 and made one of their first major appearances at an outdoor concert in Sydney's Domain on Australia Day 1969. After recording, with the original line-up, a cover of the song, "Shame Shame" (which was not put out at that time), they had their first chart success soon after with their debut single, a cover of the Buzz Cason – Mac Gayden song, "Hayride", in early 1969. As the song was firmly in the bubblegum pop genre (e.g. the Chipmunks sounding intro), this resulted in the band being branded with a bubblegum image, although their stage performances and later recordings were in the country rock vein.
Nothwithstanding its trite nature, "Hayride" was initially banned from release in New Zealand because of the lyric "...making love in the hay..." The song gained vital Australian national exposure thanks to a pioneering promotional film-clip which was shown on nationally-screened TV pop shows such as Uptight!. Their second single, another Cason-Gayden song, "La La", was an even bigger hit, and arguably a more sophisticated performance, but this only served to reinforce their image as a bubblegum band.
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