Run The Wrong Way by Howlin' Circus has been nominated in the Canadian Independent Music Video Awards hosted by Dropout Entertainment. The music video is up for the Best Rock Video award, which is decided by the voting public and a panel of judges. You can vote for Run The Wrong Way on the CIMVAs website here.

A POWERFUL NEW VIDEO FOR THE ANTHEMIC TRACK

Toronto’s Howlin’ Circus have shared a music video for their anthemic title track, “Run The Wrong Way.” 

The song is about “what living in 2020 feels like,” frontman Jafar Sandouk explains. “The world is on fire, literally, and nuclear apocalypse is just a Tweet away. We’re powerless in so many ways and ‘Run The Wrong Way’ is a defiant call to reclaim some of the things we can control.” With gritty, resounding instrumental lines, wailing vocals, and powerful lyrics, “Run The Wrong Way” is a relatable track that’s sure to get stuck in your head. 

“Conveying the uneasiness and indecision expressed in the lyrics, the music video for ‘Run The Wrong Way’ follows our protagonist as he faces an onslaught of the new and strange,” Director Rachel Elizabeth McKim explains in a statement. “Confronted with chaotic surroundings and the disapproval of his peers, he must find the courage to conquer overhwelming obstacles and plunge into the unknown.” 

Watch the video for “Run The Wrong Way” below.

Taken from Indie88

Taken from Buzz Music

Leaving the UK immediately after Brexit, Howlin Circus is a British-Canadian rock band that we can’t get enough of! The group sought out to work on their debut album in Toronto, bringing a sense of urgency and passion to the project. “Run The Wrong Way” captures the vulnerability, the anger and desire needed to produce a memorable rock and roll debut. Released March 22, 2019 through British DIY label Big Sister Records, “Run the Wrong Way”was mixed by renowned Canadian producer Brian Moncarz (Our Lady Peace, Moneen, The Trews), and mastered by Joao Carvalho.

Title track from Howlin Circus’ debut album and hard-hitting single, “Run The Wrong Way” is a heavy and timeless rock hit. The energetic intro and flawless delivery take the listener on a retrospective and alluring journey. The pounding, driving rhythms showcase the heart and ambition these guys put on full display for their audiences. All about going against the grain, making your way, and an unapologetic anthem “Run The Wrong Way” is a force to be reckoned with. The British-Canadian rock band Howlin Circus have sparked a fire to both change and galvanize the world we live in. Bringing us back to a sense of comfort, community and acceptance, they aim to put an end to our current disconnect. “Run The Wrong Way” is ferocious, ravenous and an overall gem. It’s a welcome new addition to the rock scene today. Howlin Circus brings raw energy and an indefinitely loud testimony to the magic of the underground scene and we can’t wait to see what they deliver next. 

Listen to “Run The Wrong Way” here and read more with Howlin Circus below! 

How did the band come to fruition? 

The three of us came together a little like carnies escaping to join the circus. I left my hometown of London, UK a day after the Brexit vote and ended up in Canada. I met Adam (drums) in Toronto just as he was looking to start up his own band and get away from jamming with hobby musicians in his hometown of Burlington. Adam and I started recording some songs in this old church in Chatham, Ontario - it was around that time when a mutual friend introduced us to Bryan (bass). He'd just returned to Toronto after basically being homeless for months travelling around the East Coast of Canada. I already had around 10-15 songs by then so we got ourselves a studio space and started working on those together. 

How did moving to Canada affect who you are as an artist?

I guess the timing of when I left the UK was interesting. I'd been keen to get away for a while and get away from the noise of Brexit. When your name is Jafar and you hear the way the media and powerful politicians talk about Muslims, othering people constantly because they or their parents weren't born in a white European state, it's hard to find a sense of belonging even in the place you were born in - even in the place you called home for so long. I don't think I've necessarily found that in Canada but it's got me writing about the traumas and the joys that connect us all during these strange days. 

What’s the meaning behind your track “Run The Wrong Way”? How do you want the listener to feel when they hear it? 

I started writing it in London. I felt anxious about the state of the world, where things were headed and what it meant to be othered. I'd felt this pressure to ride along pleasantly with the establishment, with the idea that everything's fine and that you've simply got to play by these rules to be happy or successful or whatever the fuck that means. I thought fuck that and I hope that's how people feel when they put it on. 

What overall theme does your album “Run The Wrong Way” hold? 

Finding a sense of place, a belonging. It's structured in that way from start to finish. The opening song Refugee Road kind of establishes this notion of having no choice but to leave, and from then it takes you on a journey through these strange and dark times. For example Let Your Love Burn Out was inspired by the advent of dating apps and general online relationships - how they spark up and burnout in an instant because you can just follow someone's butt selfies forever without having to ever talk to them again. Your Light Keeps On is that hope in the face of loss and finding out that deep down love does exist no matter how big that void seems at the time. But we had a lot of fun too - Love Can Wait is a Christmas song for fuck's sake. It's even got sleigh bells! 

Make sure you check out Howlin Circus' socials below for updates on releases and shows! 

Facebook 

Instagram

You can now pre-save the album to Spotify and pre-order the album on vinyl. 

The first single is released all over the world on all digital platforms this Thursday. As I'm writing this in Toronto that's about 13 hours away! But the response in Australia has been positive so far!

You can listen to it right here and you can now pre-order the album on vinyl.

Hope you enjoy it as much as we did recording it :)

Jafar, Bryan, Adam

Howlin' Circus

While we wait for the album to be mixed we wanted to share three songs with you that we recorded for the album. These are demo recordings made at home, not a studio, but they give a sense of the kind of songs we've been writing. All three songs should be appearing in re-imagined studio glory when the album comes out (release date TBA) so it's a little preview of what's to come and should help fill the time while we wait to release the first single.

We hope you enjoy the songs! x

Howlin' Circus

We've finished recording our debut album!

It's been a long journey with many lows and highs, and it's somewhat bittersweet and surreal to say it's finished. There's still mixing and mastering to be taken care of but we feel proud of what we've done so far and look forward to sharing it with all of you soon.

Despite our first official release coming out in December 2017 - the Howlin' Circus EP - we actually started recording this full-length album back in October 2017.

The EP songs were recorded a while ago back in London, England but only ever saw the light of day on CDs that we'd sell at shows (if you've still got one, send us a pic!).

The new 12-song album we've been working on started shortly after I moved to Canada from the UK. Some of the songs have directly come out from that journey, which started a few days after the Brexit vote and even included a long stay in Ohio during the 2016 US Presidential election!

Naturally, some of the songs deal with feelings of isolation and anger but there's also space for hope and celebration - I moved to Toronto in 2016 and met some wonderful people and made this album!

We spent a few days in the studio in Mississauga, Ontario and a few days in Chatham-Kent, Ontario. Between that there have been many rehearsals, many shows, many re-writes and re-jigs and a whole lot of love and pain.

Thank you for being part of this journey. All the lovely messages we get and all the people at our shows and the people who support our music by listening to it and buying our merch, have all contributed to this and we're so thankful.

If all goes well, we should have our debut LP released summer/fall 2018. Soon we'll announce the title of the album and give you a preview of the artwork and then *hopefully* release the first single from the album.

Stay in touch via Facebook, Instagram and Twitter, and don't forget to sign up for our mailing list to get a free instant download of one of the demo songs we recorded for the album.

Jafar

Photos by Rhandy Adolphe

So we're heading to the studio for our final recording session!

We're hoping to get our first ever full length album out the door before autumn/fall 2018.

Our final recording session is happening in a converted church about three hours outside of Toronto. Some of the songs we're recording will be making use of the piano and the acoustics in the building, and we're excited to get started.

The building has beds making this our first ever experience sleeping on God's turf. But it also means we can record at any hour we get the inspiration.

Two engineers will be coming with us to help record and mix everything, and then we can send the whole album over for mastering.

The album recording process takes a while so we wanted to say thank you to everyone who has been following our progress and supporting our previous release and coming out to our shows.

Get in touch on our Facebook, Instagram or Twitter, and be sure to follow us on Spotify to get notified about the album release.

Howlincircus.com

So we've been using our bandcamp page for a while as a website but we have an album coming out later in 2018 so we decided to get something a little more slick with our own name on it: howlincircus.com. Tell your pals!

You can get music direct from us now or bandcamp, or Spotify or Apple Music or whatever, but you'll still need to go to bandcamp to buy merch if you want to get one of our T-shirts.

So... what else?

We now have a mailing list you can join direct from our website. Join now and you'll get a free instant download of a demo track, For You. It's one of the songs we've been recording in the studio for our upcoming debut album (hopefully to be released autumn 2018) so you can get a listen before it comes out.

We'll also try to provide more meaningful updates here as opposed to the usual Facebook posts and Instagram belfies.

Stay tuned.

Jafar