Something wicked this way comes, indeed, as Andrew Brough's Ray Bradbury-inspired lyric kicks off the local contender for single of the year.

Circus Kids brings Andrew Brough's classic touch once more to a song based around his angelic voice, chiming guitars and a truly spine-chilling chorus. If Bike's 1996 debut single Save My Life, or Straitjacket Fits' timeless hit Down In Splendour (recently resurrected by Debbie Harwood) didn't have you convinced already, Circus Kids shows Andrew Brough to be our premier writer of majestic guitar pop.

The three-piece sound of Bike is the perfect vehicle for these songs. Andrew formed Bike in Auckland in 1995 to work on songs written in the two year hiatus since he had left Straitjacket Fits. He wanted a band that combined simplicty and power, that would drive these new songs along in the same way he had enjoyed in the Straitjackets and, before that, the Orange.

Bike recorded Save My Life and three other songs to make up an EP last year. York Street studio producer Malcolm Welsford (Shihad, Supergroove) was at the controls and Andrew found a real chemistry with Malcolm as they built Bike's studio sound into a huge wall of guitars, especially spectacular on Old & Blue.

Save My Life was a finalist for APRA's Silver Scroll songwriting award for 1996, and also earned Bike a nomination as Most Promising New Band at the NZ Music Awards. Bike's performance of that song at the televised Music Awards was considered by many a highlight of the evening.

Bike and Malcolm Welsford reunited at York Street at the end of 1996 to record the band's debut full-length album. As the first indicator of those sessions, Circus Kids is fully convincing with its spell-binding, world class sound. Neil Finn, a regular visitor to York St, heard this song and commented that it's "Proof again that Andrew Brough writes a damn good tune". The album "Take in the Sun" was released by Flying Nun Records in September 1997 and by March Records (www.marchrecords.com) in 1998.