2002 Reissue on CD

(Iron Glory Records, IG 1022)

Finally "CIRCUS MAXIMUS" sees the light of day the day as official MANILLA ROAD album in summer 2002. When the band split up after COURTS OF CHAOS, Mark Shelton didnīt stop writing music and came up with the CIRCUS MAXIMUS project which was released in 1992 by Black Dragon Records, Paris. The record company made a record title out of the name of the project and put MANILLA ROAD on the CD. Mark was not happy with this decision. Black Dragon Records were almost "dead" in 1992 and there was no promotion for this album at all. For some fans of the band this is something like a "lost album" now.

Iron Glory Records from Germany, the home of the Road since their rebirth, decided to release this most controversal record of the MANILLA ROAD catalogue now in 2002. This time there are no bonus tracks to be found but the total playing time is 68:25 minutes.

Mark Shelton worked with Aaron Brown (Drums and vocals) and Andrew Coss (Bass, Vocals and Keyboards). Even the two musicians are very talented they tend into other musical directories than Mark Shelton and you can hear that on the CD. On three songs Mark is singing and these are the tunes that really sound like Manilla Road, epecially "Forbidden Zone". The other songs, sung by Andrew and Aaron are very different. "Lux Aeterna" is a ballad which reminds me a little of AOR music, also "No Touch". Pretty weird stuff and very extraordinary are the songs "Spiders", "In Gein We Trust" and "Hack it off". No chance to compare this style with any other band.

All in all CIRCUS MAXIMUS is a very interesting and entertaining listening experience, especially ten years after its official release. The sound is very good and the cover-artwork is great too (by Aaron Brown).

We talked with Mark about the album:
MARK, YOU ONCE CALLED CIRCUS MAXIMUS NOT A MANILLA ROAD ALBUM. DO YOU STILL THINK THIS WAY?

 

Yeah! I still think that it is a Circus Maximus album but Iron Glory had a good point when they said that it had already been released as a Manilla Road album and if they put it out as just Circus Maximus now that the fans might think it was a brand new project. I had to agree with them and we decided to keep it titled as a MR project.

WOULD THRONE OF BLOOD, NO SIGN FROM ABOVE and FORBIDDEN ZONE HAVE BEEN ON THE FOLLOW UP TO COURTS OF CHAOS IF YOU WOULDN`T HAVE SPLIT UP THEN?

 

No! I had a whole different bunch of material for that album in mind. Even though those songs from Circus that you mentioned did have a little more of the Manilla Road feel than any other on the project. Circus Maximus started out to be my first solo album. I picked Aaron and Andy up as musicians for the album only and I was going to call it Shark. But as we started working together I found out very quickly that they were great songwriters in their own rights. So we decided to make it a band project instead of my solo album. They both have great voices and are extremely talented musicians and we actually toured together in the midwest for about 2 or 3 years before we all went different directions.

DO YOU KNOW WHAT AARON AND ANDREW DO TODAY?

 

Yes! As a matter of fact they were both over to my house and we hung out in my Midgard Sound Labs (my studio) and listened to the new Manilla Road album. They were both blown away I think. They really like my new line-up for the band. We have remained close friends and Andy comes over quite often. Aaron does not live in Wichita anymore so I don't see him that often but he still has family here and everytime he comes to town he drops in on me. Andy sings lead for a band here in Wichita and Aaron has been finishing his art degree in college but he also still plays drums for a band.

CIRCUS MAXIMUS is released by Iron Glory Records. It is distributed by ZOMBA with the order-number 314.7022.2. If you have problems finding it in your shop (what shouldnīt happen in Germany!!) then vist the Iron Glory Homepage or check the mailorder companies worldwide.