The Borderland by Hardwicke Circus

Just in case you’re wondering, Hardwicke Circus is from Carlisle,
and “Where the F**k is Carlisle!” greets us gig after gig.

You only end up in Carlisle by accident. It’s on the boundary of England but not Scotland, on the edge of the Lake District but not the countryside: we don’t fit. This storm centre of English drunkenness is home to an arms depot and an economy reliant on biscuits & the Blues, with a business icon in Eddie Stobart whose sole purpose is to take things away from Carlisle via the city’s best known roundabout, allegedly named after this gang of travelling brothers. Carlisle does not suffer fools; we export them.

At first glance heritage is foggy - some things are right in front of your eyes and you still can’t seem to find them! But when you look a little closer, they’re right in front of you. It’s everyday life; in the river Eden flooding the Great Border City, in its red Norman castle, along Hadrian’s Wall via the cursing stone to the gallows at Harraby Hill - and into the hands of our factory’s Cracker Packers.

Testament to the turbulent history of the city is the legacy of the Border Reiver clans running deep in these Debatable Lands: from the Peel Towers to the ruling family names of Armstrong, Ridley and Forster. Time & again when the old frontier burst open, siege, hardship and endurance were part of life. Raiding and marauding was survival. Don’t come between a man and his meal, or always come between a man and his meal! We’re not sure which. You can’t blame us - it’s bandit country!

From the Delta Blues to the Mersey, music never stands still; it evolves, with every modern artist drawing on the seminal works that came before them. To paraphrase T.S Eliot “Amateurs borrow, Professionals steal”.

The Borderland is our labour of love. We live in a nation of many tongues all with tales to tell of struggle, anger, hope, love, joy and redemption. We all share similar private battlefields…this is ours!

We raided the past to shine a light on where we must go. But
this ain’t true! It’s an Alternative Fact! We say what must be said & play what must be played.

So here we are but where is we?

Be Just & Fear Not,
Hardwicke Circus

"Meet the five-piece band who are not only turning heads with the confident glide in their stride; they're literally bulletproof” - Paul Sexton (Sunday Times)