Josh Hammond tours with the Circus Of Horrors
BIMM Brighton graduate Josh Hammond has landed himself one of the most unique session jobs in the country as the touring bassist for the Circus Of Horrors.
The BA (Hons) graduate first heard about the opportunity through the Facebook group, “Dep Musicians UK”. Naturally, there was a huge response to the ad, and so Josh still occasionally has to pinch himself that he ended up securing the job. His successful candidacy highlights just how important it is to be ready to respond to opportunities quickly. Josh’s advice on the subject?
“Always keep your notifications on and be ready for anything at any time, work can come & go so quickly!”
The touring company for which Josh now plays is a genuine circus, performing regularly on stage in theatres across the country. “Think Cirque Du Soleil meets the Rocky Horror show”, says Josh. Check out the video below for a sneak peek at what his job entails.
“It’s especially unique because there’s not many acts out there that have an accompanying rock band to live circus performers” exclaims Josh. “It’s easily the most challenging gig I’ve taken on, as they say, though steel is forged in the hottest of fires. You have to see it to believe it in a nutshell!”
The Circus Of Horrors has been touring now for over twenty years now, recruiting performers from completely different backgrounds from Tanzania, Romania, Russia, Ireland, Germany and Poland just to name a few. Leader and compere Dr Haze has been involved with the circus his entire life, initially creating the trailblazing stage-show as a way to combine his love for rock music and circus acts.
The troupe were semi-finalists on Britain’s Got Talent in 2011, and play all over the world, performing in at least one hundred theatres in the UK & Ireland per year.
With so much theatrical horror surrounding Josh on a daily basis and with such a high frequency of shows each year, we couldn’t resist asking Josh whether he’s experienced any truly nightmare-ish situations on the road.
“There have been a couple of moments, but that’s part & parcel of the job – no 2 nights are ever the same. We played Wolverhampton Wulfrun Hall (local show for me!) before Christmas 2017, and one of the songs in the set is mostly piano. But our musical director/keyboardist had technical issues right before we meant to play this particular tune, meaning myself & the guitarist had to completely learn his parts on the spot. It was a bit of a mess, but we survived…just!”
We’re glad to hear Josh has landed himself such an exciting and unique session job. Read more about his success story.
