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Band page - Circle II Circle
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| Tuesday, December 8, 2009 - Circle II Circle News | Zak Stevens of Circle II Circle has issued the following update:
A couple of months ago, we parted ways with drummer Tom Drennan. We love Tom and wish him nothing but happiness and success in his future. Filling the spot is Johnny Osborn (X-THIRTIEN / DOCTOR BUTCHER). Also included in the line-up change is the decision to go four members instead of five. Bill Hudson is no longer with us. He is pursuing his own band, WRITTEN IN BLOOD, which is an AMAZING band! Be on the lookout for them. There have been rumors of a new guitarist; that is what they are.....rumors. We are happily moving forward as a four piece and wish Tom and Bill much luck in their future endeavors.
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| Friday, August 21, 2009 - Circle II Circle Working On 20 Songs For New CD | Zak Stevens has issued the following update on Circle II Circle:
Hello again Metalheads! Just filling you in on what's been happening here in the CIIC camp. We currently have about 10 songs happening now for the next CD. Working on about 10 more. There won't be 20 tunes on the CD, but it'll give us a lot to chose from for the final cut. If you're wondering what it's going to sound like. Picture this: Burden Of Truth, Delusions Of Grandeur, and Savatage combined into one blasting work! It's turning into something way bigger than we ever imagined.
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| Friday, September 19, 2008 - Circle II Circle Find New Guitarist | Circle II Circle singer Zak Stevens, has issued the following update:
"It is with great pleasure that we can now announce that guitarist Bill Hudson (known from POWER QUEST, CELLADOR and THE SUPREMACY) has joined Circle II Circle.
We're sad about parting ways with Evan, but the addition of Bill into the band is gonna keep us going strong. We start our North American tour with JON OLIVA'S PAIN and MANTICORA September 20th."
Bill Hudson had this to say about the situation: "I'm really stoked about being a part of Circle II Circle! I've been a fan of Zak since high school. We met last year when I played ProgPower USA and became great friends. Then, a few months later I met Mitch (Paul Michael Stewart) at the Nightmare Metal Festival in Florida and we, too, became friends right there. It's almost like this whole thing was meant to happen!"
When asked about the upcoming tour with Manticora and JOP, he said, "It'll be great to see Zak Stevens and Jon Oliva on the same stage again, and I'm truly honored that I'll be a part of it!"
"We hope that you, the fans, will welcome Bill with open arms, and we look forward to seeing as many of you as possible on our upcoming US-tour."
The upcoming dates include:
September
20 - Bourbon Street - Tampa, FL (JOP, Circle II Circle only)
24 - The Vinyl - Atlanta, GA (Circle II Circle, MIDNIGHT, ECLIPSED BY SANITY)
25 - ProgPower USA IX - Atlanta, GA (Manticora only)
27 - ProgPower USA IX - Atlanta, GA (JOP only)
29 - Pop's - St Louis, MO
30 - Chicago City Limits - Schaumburg, IL
October
2 - The Intersection - Grand Rapids, MI
3 - I-Rock - Detroit, MI
4 - Agora Ballroom - Cleveland, OH
6 - Hard Rock Cafe, Stations Square - Pittsburgh, PA
7 - JC Dobbs- Philadelphia, PA
9 - The Haunt - Yonkers, NY
10 - Jaxx - Springfield, VA
11 - Volume 11 - Raleigh, NC
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| Wednesday, February 20, 2008 - Circle II Circle single | Circle II Circle will release a new four track single via AFM Records on March 28th. Entitled 'Every Last Thing', it will include a non-album and a live video clip. The full length studio album Delusions Of Grandeur will be released on April 25th. The album will be issued as a regular jewel case verion, a limited edition featuring bonus material, and on picture vinyl.
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| Monday, January 21, 2008 - News from Circle II Circle | Circle II Circle vocalist Zak Stevens, has issued the following update:
"The entire Circle II Circle site has got a brand-new design, which is a sign of a new beginning for the band.
Right now the band is putting the finishing touches on their next album Delusions Of Grandeur, which will be released through AFM Records in the spring of 2008. We're also planning both European and US tours for the fall of 2008."
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| Sunday, August 5, 2007 - Circle II Circle signs with Intromental Management, North American tour planned | Circle II Circle, led by ex-Savatage vocalist Zak Stevens, has signed a worldwide deal with Intromental Management.
"I'm thrilled to be working with a band that has not only established their reputation in the metal scene as a premiere talent, but is poised to take it to the next level with our help. I have been a fan of Zak's ever since his days in the mighty Savatage when I first heard "Edge of Thorns"" said Intromental's Managing Director, Claus Jensen.
Adds Stevens, "We're very excited about the limitless potential that this cooperation presents for us. Intromental's reputation and professionalism is outstanding. Their new partnership with Glenn Harveston directing operations in the USA was also a major factor in our signing with Intromental. We're looking forward to great things to come."
North American Promotional Director, Glenn Harveston, has declared his intentions for the band as well, "We are going to get the record in the stores and the band out on the road here in the States. Period. We are going to kick off the new year right with Circle II Circle, Circus Maximus, and Manticora joining forces for a North American mini-tour in early 2008."
Circle II Circle's last album, "Burden of Truth," was released in October 2006 via AFM Records.
More info ia available here.
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| Wednesday, June 28, 2006 - NEws from Circle II Circle | The release date for Circle II Circle's new concept album "Burden of Truth", inspired by the books "The Da Vinci Code" and "Holy Blood Holy Grail", has pushed back to Friday, October 13th.
Zak Stevens recently commented on the new album, stating: "This is the record I've been trying to make my whole life and now's it's finished "fuck" what a great feeling it is to finally realize my aspirations after all these years, Circle II Circle/Savatage fans are in for a HUGE treat with this record. 50 million fans have read these books and I'm sure they have had some of the same feelings and questions I've had, so the band and I decided to explore our thoughts and share them with our fans, there's definitely some dark stuff on this record but if you really dig deep you'll see that there's a very positive out come..."
Recorded at the world famous Morrisound Recording studios, Burden Of Truth will have 13 tracks, 11 new songs and 2 special bonus tracks.
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| Saturday, July 30, 2005 - Circle II Circle news | AFM Records will release a special Limited Tour Edition of Circle II Circle's latest album, The Middle Of Nowhere, in November. It will feature some live shots of the band, tour stories, new pictures and an EP with three new songs and a new "acoustically enhanced version" of 'Into The Wind' from the band's debut album, Watching In Silence.
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| Saturday, January 31, 2004 - Circle II Circle news | Zak Stevens along with co-writers Jon Oliva and Chris Caffery have compiled some new songs for the second Circle II Circle release. Guitarist Bernd Auffermann from Angel Dust / Running wild has also contributed a very special song co-written with Zak Stevens. Recording will begin March 1st at Morrisound Studios, Jim Morris will be co-producing and engineering. A mini CD/EP with the new single and 2 bonus tracks will be available in april, the full cd will follow. Check www.circle2circle.net for more information.
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| Wednesday, August 13, 2003 - Saxon, Doro & Circle II Circle European tour | Saxon, Doro & Circle II Circle will embark on a European tour in December. Here are the dates:
12/05/2003, Sofia (Bulgaria) - T.B.C.
12/06/2003, Thessaloniki (Greece) - Ydrogios
12/07/2003, Athens (Greece) - Gagarin
12/09/2003, Belgrade - T.B.C.
12/10/2003, Zagreb (Croatia) or Ljubljana (Slovenia) - T.B.C.
12/12/2003, Hardenberg (Netherlands) - Podium (without Doro)
12/13/2003, Dusseldorf (Germany) - Phillipshalle
12/14/2003, Berlin (Germany) - Columbiahalle
12/16/2003, Tuttlingen (Germany) - Alte Festhalle
12/17/2003, Pratteln (Switzerland) - Z7
12/18/2003, Bergamo (Italy) - Motion
12/19/2003, Innsbruck (Austria) - Hafen
12/20/2003, Vienna (Austria) - Planet Music
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| Thursday, March 6, 2003 - CircleIICircle update | We got an update from Christopher Kinder, the drummer for CircleIICircle...
"Just thought I'd offer an update on our progress as we await the release of the new record on April 28th. We have completed the first video entitled "Watching in Silence", as well as our first live performance which took place @ the Twilight Club in Tampa, Fl on February 28th.
An all day video shoot proceeded our 90 minute set which included the album in it's entirety as well as Zak's favorite Sava-era song's and a special duet with Savatage mastermind, John Oliva and Zak on Gutter Ballet. A full house relished in the return of Zak's distinctive and powerful delivery. We were well rehearsed, and all reviews have pointed to a great anticipation of CircleIICircle performances everywhere. We hope that you will enjoy the new record and you can hear clips from 4 of the new releases on our web site. Thanks for the support. The summer festival starts soon and we await impatiently!"
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| Thursday, September 26, 2002 - Zachary Stevens news | CircleIICirle, the new band of former Savatage frontman Zachary Stevens with Chris Caffery on guitar, will release their debut album, entitled Watching In Silence, in February/March 2003 through Germany's AFM Records.
A free Demo song from the album is avaiable for download here!
Cool! This song gives me hope for a great album. Very "Handful of Rain'ish"...
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Other information
The official Circle II Circle Story
Let's start from the last show Zak Stevens did with Savatage, the PopKomm Festival in Cologne, Germany on August 20, 1999. This was a show that later became famous for it's brilliance and magnificence, and featured a first-time encore performance Queen's "Bohemian Rhapsody". Zak never thought this would be his last show with the band. However, by mid-year of 2000 he needed to take some time off to commit to his family for various reasons. It was an extremely hard decision for Zak, but after eight years of touring with Savatage, he knew it was time for a break.
During numerous discussions through the years with long time friend and mentor Jon Oliva, Zak had mentioned that if he ever left Savatage for any reason, it would be great to write songs together from time to time. Jon was always very receptive to the idea. He had often mentioned that he almost knew Zak's voice better than his own from all of the songs he worked on for Zak's four studio records with Savatage.
The writing for the new Circle II Circle songs actually began in mid-2001 when Zak and Jon entered D.O.W. studios in Tampa to start some rough demos of their early ideas. For the first time, Zak was writing all of the lyrics and vocal melodies for the songs. The first song demos from this studio were for versions of "Forgiven", "Watching In Silence", "Fields Of Sorrow", "Lies" and "The Circle".
Once these demos were recorded, Zak got in touch with guitarist Matt LaPorte, who auditioned for Savatage during the "Dead Winter Dead" era, and was also a huge fan of Chris Oliva. Although Al Pitrelli was the final choice of Savatage to replace Alex Skolnick at the time, Zak was very impressed by Matt's ability and stayed in touch with him. When Zak told Matt about his new Circle II Circle idea, Matt immediately wanted to get together and jam. He also mentioned that he knew several other players who could pull off the new songs. Zak was excited to get together with these players to see what kind of energy could be generated. With that, drummer Christopher Kinder, bassist Kevin Rothney, and Matt's long-time friend and keyboardist John Zahner all joined the fray. While recording at D.O.W. studios, Zak met David "Cid" Rodgers (previously of the band Diet of Worms) who showed an interest in the second guitar spot.
When the band first played together Zak stated, "It felt really great, like we had been playing together for years!" At this point, Zak and Jon Oliva both felt Circle II Circle and the songs had a magical feel. After two years off the road, Zak was considering touring again. Zak decided to shop the band's demos to several labels in Europe and the U.S. After only a few weeks, three different labels had shown interest, including a major U.S. label. In May of 2002, Zak agreed to sign with AFM Records in Germany, a rising star on the European front.
Soon thereafter, Savatage guitarist Chris Caffery contacted Zak to see if he could help him write some songs to round out his new album. Zak was excited about the idea because he and Chris had written some powerful songs together during Savatage's Wake Of Magellan world tour. Zak and Chris wound up writing "Face To face", A Sea of White", and "Out Of Reach".
In September of 2002, Circle II Circle entered the world-famous Morrisound Studios to record their new CD. Zak recruited engineer/producer Jim Morris to help mix and co-produce the record, along with himself and Jon Oliva. Two months later, the band's first CD was finished and mastered.
During the initial recording sessions at Morrisound, guitarist Cid Rodgers decided to part ways with Circle II Circle because of some business and family matters he had to take care of. In order to fill the second guitar spot, Zak asked the band if they had any ideas. Drummer Chris Kinder mentioned a good friend, John Werner (aka Sergeant Frank). Frank turned out to be a very solid player who had recently returned to Tampa from touring with Island/Def Jam recording artists Andrew W.K. on the Aerosmith tour. He had also played at the Ozzfest and Warped tours earlier in 2002. Frank was excited about the opportunity, and soon joined the Circle II Circle lineup.
The year 2003 will find Zak Stevens and Circle II Circle on tour and in numerous personal appearances. The band is looking forward to a rewarding future in the years to come. Zak states, "Right now we're young and strong, and we want to support our new album wherever and whenever possible. We'll have the rest of our lives to sit around!"
The above text and pictures was taken from the official promotion material with permission
Added by Steen - 4/24/2003
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| Articles on this site
Album Review - Watching In Silence
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Band Information - Band information
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Album Review - Watching In Silence
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Album Review - Watching in Silence
(Rafael)
Album Review - The Middle of Nowhere
(Hashman)
Album Review - The Burden of Truth
(Alanna)
Album Review - Delusions of Grandeur
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Related Links
Circle II Circle - Official Website |
RevelationZ Comments
| Comment by dinko (Anonymous) - Thursday, December 11, 2003 | great band. I watched them yesterday (10.12.03) in Zagreb, Croatia.
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| Comment by kelly (Anonymous) - Tuesday, October 5, 2004 | Looking for kevin-E-mail me-Kellyboop67@hotmail.com-It's been awhile-Hopefully no hard feelings. Congrats for doing what u Luv!! Florida has served u well-Miss sitting in with U and Alex and the boys-Would luv to talk to U again kevin-No hard feelings!!
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