A Monkey on Your Back: Circus and Music Podcast

Gonzalo Santamaria is a Spanish circus artist, producer, director, and Kaotic Cirkus festival coordinator from Valencia who trained in Bristol, UK, at Circomedia. This interview took place end of September 2020, so it has taken us a while to get it out to you, but it is a lovely interview none-the-less, with music from Spandex Moose, La Trocamba Matanusca, and yet another fabulous tune from The Invisible Circus' house band The Carny Villains. 

PART 2: Mike Finch, founding member of Australia's Circus Monoxide and ex-CEO/ co-Artistic Director of Circus Oz, sits down with Miss Radida for a nice long chat. Here is Part 2 of the  interview, took a bit longer than a week to get this out to you all as work has been pretty hectic lately. We suggest going all the way back to EPISODE 6 to listen to the first half of the interview first. In this episode we ask Mike about his addiction to working in circus, how he views circus life moving forward in the current pandemic crisis, and of course once again we have some more brilliant music from the Circus Oz Band and Sarah Ward, aka Yana Alana (and the Paranas). 

Here is the second part of the Interview GracieB did with the incredible Swedish performing artist David Eriksson.  In this episode David talks about his award winning show; Pink on the Inside, authenticity as an artist and he shares reflective stories about being onstage that also highlight the amazing colourful career he has.   We suggest if you haven’t already go back an listen to Episode 8: David Eriksson (part 1).  This episode will make more sense!

We have a wickid track off the new Father Funk album (thanks Will!)

David also shares a piece of music he did the vocals on a few years back and its AWESOME!

Thanks so much David for the wonderful chats!

In this episode GracieB chatted with incredible Swedish performing artist David Eriksson.  David mixes circus, juggling and acrobatics with absurd comedy making shows with characters that are bizarre yet wonderfully funny!  He has won awards, travelled the globe for the past 22yrs,  worked for some of the most renowned circuses and cabarets and made work that is deep and thought-provoking.  This was a long interview so we have decided to release it in two parts.  In this first part we chat about what it's like performing in the current climate, the need to address and adapt shows.  We speak about David growing up in Sweden and how this shaped who he is today.  We also spoke about his experiences training at Circomedia in Bristol, and how pivotal that was to his life and career.

Thanks so much David for sharing your stories!   

www.baldwithballs.com

insta: @baldwithballs

We have some amazing music by local Bristol based group @binbagwisdom  (Thanks Jack Wisdom!)

www.binbagwisdom.co.uk

binbagwisdom.bandcamp.com

and a beautiful song by another Bristol artist The Undercover Hippy.  (Thanks Billy!)

www.undercoverhippy.com

https://undercoverhippy.bandcamp.com/

A Monkey on your back is an independent production!

Kaptin Barrett, aka AAA Badboy, head of music at Boomtown Fair, DJ and self-confessed music addict joins Miss Radida and Gracie B for a chat about music, Boomtown Fair, and how festivals are coping during these uncertain times. We also play a bunch of great music of course, including the Invisible Circus's fabulous house band The Carny Villains, The Allergies featuring Andy Cooper, Gardna, and a track produced by Kaptin himself for the Big Swing Sound System. This episode was produced by Miss Radida and The Amazing Gracie B, and Gracie did the editing.

Mike Finch, founding member of Australia's Circus Monoxide and ex-CEO/ co-Artistic Director of Circus Oz, sits down with Miss Radida for a nice long chat. It was such an entertaining conversation that once again we have split the interview into two halves for your listening pleasure. Here is Part 1, where we chat about how Mike got into working in the performing arts industry, life on outback Australian roads with a fledgling circus in the 80s, having meetings rudely interrupted by Australian fauna, and finding himself applying to be artistic director of Circus Oz- by ACCIDENT. As usual, we intersperse the episode with brilliant music, this time of course from the Circus Oz Band's extensive back catalogue. Have a listen, and join us next week for Part 2 of this interview. 

Julian Bracey, co-artistic director of Bristol-based performance company Cirque Bijou Ltd, sits down for a chat with Miss Radida and The Amazing Gracie B. We talk about his life as an artist and director, being known as the guy who can achieve huge things in a short amount of time, and how he sees the future of the arts industry given the current Covid-19 crisis. We talk about what it was like to build spaceships and 7 metre robots for rock-band Muse's tours, working with Taylor Swift and Take That, as well as featuring brilliant tracks by female world beatboxing champion Bellatrix, the soulful voice of Bristol-based artist Lady Nade, and a stunning instrumental cello piece by Rob Lewis. Of course, we also play our intro theme once again by Aussie duo Spandex Moose. This episode was produced by Miss Radida and The Amazing Gracie B, and Gracie did the editing. 

Artistic Director and performing artist Chelsea McGuffin from world-renowned Australian circus company, Company 2, joins Miss Radida to talk about life as an artist, running a circus company, and what that looks like in the current world climate- including yet another tale of a circus company stuck on the other side of the world when the Covid-19 lockdown came into effect. This time, they were stuck in Berlin with the full cast and crew of their current touring show "Le Coup". We also talk about past shows, including 2012's London South Bank Spiegeltent hit "Cantina" and finding herself on stage in front of Madonna! This episode features music from Australian duo Spandex Moose, alongside music featured in "Le Coup" by Father Grant and the Blunt Objects and Bonnie Stewart.  This Episode was produced by me, Miss Radida, and Gracie B, and edited by me. 

Episode 3: Gracie B sits down with Australian musician and performing artist Ben Walsh.  We chat about Ben's passion for live jungle , his career with The Bird that spans over 2 decades and some memorable highlights of a very multi-dimensional career.

We do swear a little, and there is also a drug reference and nudity warning for this episode!

I really enjoyed this episode, Ben is very funny and his stories are excellent.

This is the second half of the interview with The Amazing Gracie B after her 5 month stint away from the UK, which included arriving in Australia for xmas 2019 whilst Australia was engulfed in national bushfires, traveling to Perth for the Fringe Festival to perform with Dreamstate Circus, and her prolonged trip to Panama to perform at the Tribal Gathering Festival just before the world went into lockdown for the Covid-19 pandemic. In this episode we discuss Gracie's life in circus, and we also delve into a part of the story that we touched on in the first episode- the passing of Gracie's mother due to cancer that took place before she travelled to Panama. We talk about VAD, or Voluntary Assisted Dying, and the positive experience Grace and her family had being able to share in their mother's journey.

In this episode, Miss Radida is finally joined by her co-presenter The Amazing Gracie B from award-winning performance troupe Flame Oz, as she tells of the adventures of the past 5 months away from the UK. The journey covers time in Australia through the recent bushfires, performing at Perth Fringe Festival with Dream State Circus, and being stuck in Panama after traveling over for the Tribal Gathering Festival just before the Covid-19 lockdown came into full effect. Music showcased in this episode by Spandex Moose, a new track by Dub FX and crew featuring JFB, Sahida Apsara and Mr Woodnote, a funky number by The Chicken Brothers, AND a currently unreleased track by the incredible Mz Phoebe Blue. 

In this episode Miss Radida discusses online shows she was in last weekend, including first ever Feel Good Global Alliance and Shindig at Home with the Interstellar Circus before returning to finish the interview with aerial artist Shyamtara Smith. We talk about what it is like to be an aerialist in Vegas, moving to Miami to learn how to fly planes just before the Covid-19 pandemic lockdown came into effect, and how that has affected her life as a professional circus performer. This episode features music by Spandex Moose, Nuala Honan, and Smerins Anti-Social Club. 

Episode 1: Miss Radida is joined by aerial circus artist Shyamtara Smith to talk about being a professional aerialist in Las Vegas for 15 years and then moving to Miami to learn how to fly planes the week before the Covid-19 lockdown. We also feature music from Australia's lycra-clad comedic musical duo 'Spandex Moose' and a special Lockdown musical exclusive from 'Father Funk'.  A Monkey on your Back: Circus and Music is a podcast interviewing circus artists, producers, directors, writers, from the wonderful colourful world of circus that also showcases original music from our friends, too!