The Circus of Horrors

Glastonbury 1995 saw the first full show put on by 'THE CIRCUS OF HORRORS' Since then they have been bringing the circus and theatre crowds kicking and screaming into the 21st Century with a mix of horror and humour, all blended with a kick ass music score that will have you singing or bellowing all the way to your coffin!

The Circus of Horrors
A circus life for me...

The story of how it all began and where it's going next
The Haze FX........

It is a well documented fact that Haze, 'Our Un-dead Ringmaster' met the infamous Gerry Cottle at a mutual friend’s funeral, and although it may seem a strange place to form a friendship, a friendship and respect for each other was formed none the less.

Quote:

"I persuaded Gerry (after lots of lobbying) to join forces and to present The Circus of Horrors in a Circus tent with big dare devil Circus acts.
We met in December 1994 and in June 1995 we presented the first Circus of Horrors shows in Glastonbury"

You will find no record of his birth and no record of his death, but sources close to him say he’s over 1000 years old, However on speaking to Dr Haze he would admit to being 549, but not a day older.

Born to a circus family, Haze spent the first part of his life travelling the lands and performing with his family. In between times ‘Preston’ was the place he called home.
His passion for music and performance started to take over and by the age of 16 he had penned his first songs; by the age of 20 he had left the circus and had joined his first band ‘Flash Harry’, which later had a name change to ‘Haze’. Originally based in Wales they ventured up to London and started hitting the trendy clubs, performing regular spots at ‘The Embassy’ and even supporting Depeche Mode and Garry Glitter. The band had several name changes over the years, ‘Haze 11’, ‘Haze 111’ and eventually ‘Haze Vs The X Factor’,  however it ended up being changed a final time to ‘The Interceptors from Hell’ because they were fed up with people trying to nick it!  First there was Iron Maiden for one of their albums (Haze did try to sue them), then a fictitious band in (of all things) ‘Hollyoaks’, however, it did give him great satisfaction when he did manage to stop that from happening, and finally to the crap reality TV show. (Need I say more?)

During their many incarnations Haze was still writing and recording songs; theatrically he started using a lot of illusions, Vampire Girls, fire jugglers, fire eaters and so on, but wanted a bigger stage, a bigger show; something he could put on to mass audiences and also travel the country with - enter Gerry Cottle! Haze knew Gerry to be the only man with balls big enough to help him on his quest for world domination (OK SLIGHT EXAGERATION) however Gerry had the history and the know how to help and back what Haze had in mind; a Rock ‘N’ Roll alternative circus the like of which hadn’t been seen since the demise of Archaos back in 91! It worked and in June of 1995, several months after his first meeting with Cottle, Haze put on his first full performance at Glastonbury. The Circus of Horrors was born!

The show back then was set in the year 2020AH – AFTER THE HOLOCAUST, reviews described it as a Mad Max meets Marilyn Manson. Cottle’s daughters had signed on board and loved the idea of playing vampires, in a show with more chainsaws, pickled people fire breathers and not forgetting your everyday freaks! than most people would get to see in there own life time, The Circus of Horrors started what would be the first of 5 years playing big top performances. By the end of the 1995 tour they were getting more and more offers to take the show abroad and in December 1996 they hit The Tolwood Festival in Munich playing to packed out audiences in a 1200 capacity big top. They were a success! South America was next for a 4 month tour (May to August 97) this time it was 4000 + capacity arenas, again they had huge successes and when it returned to the UK they moved to Camden’s legendary Roundhouse for the first of 3 fully booked visits. This was originally for 5 weeks but it was extended until eventually they played an incredible 19 weeks, the longest a Circus had ever stayed in one venue in London for over 100 years!

Holland and Ireland also got a taste of the Dastardly Doktor Haze during these first 5 years. ‘Destiny and Desire’ their first album was released and things were going from strength to strength; performers came and went, songs changed regularly, audiences came regularly, Fans loved them, even TV’s ‘Don’t try this at Home’ loved them with the show using over 20 of their acts,

There were always a few that didn’t agree with the show and there always will be; it is safe to say that people’s narrow mindedness and the shows blatant non political correctness will always cause a few eyebrows to rise! We at the Circus say ‘Bring it on’! This is a show for Adults, Goths, Freaks, open-minded people that know how to have a good time and know how to laugh and also know how to SCREAM! We also have a lot of youngsters who come along, in fact I think one of Haze’s number 1 fans has just had her 3rd birthday, But this is not a show for kids, its not a show for anyone of a nervous disposition or anyone easily offended, they state this clearly on every poster and flyer they put up and give out; so… when sitting in the audience it is always fun to watch those toffee-nosed prissies get up and leave with such disgust and contempt in their eyes that you would think they had just sacrificed their first born on stage (now there’s a story line!)

Well it had been an interesting first 5 years, but Haze knew the show needed to be adapted for ease of tour and performance in theatres, and in 1999 they decided to stop until they could put a show on that could be presented in the many theatres around the country.

‘The Evilution’

2000 saw the revamped Circus of Horrors hit British stages. The new show would be based around an 18th Century Freak Show, telling the story of a young girl named Regan who runs away to join the circus, only to find its actually run by vampires and monsters! The show was a success but lacked the raw edge of its predecessor so after finishing the tour at the Roundhouse in January of 2001 Haze reworked it and in October of 2001, in conjunction with the release of their new album ‘Welcome to the Freak Show which contained a complete score of the show, the new vamped Circus hit theatres for yet another fun packed tour.

Quote:

In 2001 we released the Album ‘Welcome to the ‘Freakshow’ and took the show to Japan Later that year and early the next we returned to Theatres and also performed for a month in a Theme park in Dorf, plus Ireland and Holland again. Now still with the Freak Show theme we added more of the raw edge of the previous tented show and the show started to become ‘cool’ again’.

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I’m not an actor & I am not interested in Musical Theatre, I would like to have acted in a film or on TV but I only feel I could act myself (in the same way that Jack Nicholson does). I consider myself a performer first & singer second.
 

During the Haze Vs the X Factor years we called the show The Circus of Horrors and we played some of the songs we play today, Sin City, just so Psycho, The Only Sure Thing, Fire with Fire, Destiny, Girl, Monster Mash.
 

The Circus of Horrors have always been Media Whores, often featured on the ‘and finally or drop the dead donkey’ segment of news programmes, we also did a documentary with Dani Behr, performed on Richard & Judy, Ant & Dec, Raw TV, with Cradle of Filth, with Robbie Williams, a cameo role on London's Burning, on Jerry Springer, Graham Norton, Davina McCall's Don’t try this at Home’ (7 times) and loads of others.

We’ve had and still have lots of Celeb’s in the audience but we never deliberately use them for volunteers, we did bring Patricia Morrison (Sister of Mercy – The Damned) into the ring in Camden but that was only because we didn't recognize her. On TV however we’re always asked to get the Celebs involved (see Circus of Horrors with Ant & Dec on U Tube) or Garry Stretch & Doktor Haze with Richard & Judy on U Tube).

The future - They’ll be a new theme for the next Theatre tour but should be some other shows prior to that which will be a revamped working of ‘The Evilution’. I intend to release a new Album & new DVD at some points & continue to tour as long as people come & see us.