Circuit began life as Dry Heat in 1969 when David Foley, Mike Born ,Paul Davidson and John (Stubby) Stubbs, all kids from the Raffles Estate-played at a Morton School Christmas party. Strangely, Stubbs was on drums and even more strangely ....he didn't turn up! Their set that night: Beatles, Stones, Creedence, The Move - all number ones in that year- reflects what an exciting time it was to be in a band (or a ‘group' as we had it in those days of ‘records' ‘singles' ‘LPs' ‘courting' ‘milky coffee' ‘wimpy burger with that serrated sausage wrapped around it.') And they –like everybody else- including the ones who pretended otherwise-worshipped at the feet of the FABs (as George Harrison would call them.)

After playing at Wigton British legion that same year- the poster read ‘Things are looking hot for Dry Heat…a modern pop group'- The group changed its name to Circuit and would keep this name for a 1000 gigs. They weren't the best band in the town but they were the next generation coming through, they played their own songs
and believed that rock and roll should be about screaming a lot and jumping around on stage.

Punishing rehearsals began for the Raffle's boys in Barney's hall (St Barnabas Shady Grove Road) where weekend sessions would carry on until no one could speak and they were all full of Robson's chips and Dandelion and Burdock. Long Tall Sally was a favourite in Beatle key of G rather than the Little Richard original in F. Outstaying their welcome the band moved to Trinity Church Hall on Wigton Road where David Foley was told by the vicar that things would be fine “as long as we have none of your camp followers here too.” Not having a clue what he meant they filled the place with mates and girlfriends.

 The Victory hall in Dalston on Saturday the 3rd April 1971 was the scene of one of their first paid gigs (£20 equivalent to £100 today) for the marriage of Lesley Bird and Lenard Salkeld. After getting a regular spot at the British Telecom (Telesport) club in Fisher Street, Andy E Park (or Colonel Tom/Andy Epstein as the boys called him)-then a more than aspiring agent with a diary; an enormous pile of coppers in his local Denton Holme telephone box and let's be honest -incredible drive, would later become manager of the group and the potential for: money, aggravation, petulance, fun, sexual indiscretion, alcohol and substance abuse were all greatly enhanced.

This period in the group's history was the most exciting: being 17 or 18, gigging like the older guys they admired: 22nd Street, Lemon Grass, Cottage -getting mentioned in the paper or recognised in Woolworths etc. David Foley remembers his moment of band epiphany quite vividly watching Rue and the Rockets during Uncle Macs ABC Minors Saturday morning show at the Lonsdale Cinema, 1964. “The came on in their blue lamé suits and the girls around me went nuts. I'm doing this , I remember thinking!” Five years later and still unable to sneak into the Gretna in Lowther Street he would stand in the back lane listening to Northern Soul on a Sunday night as the rain ran down his neck. Edwin Starr - 25 miles -

I got to keep on walkin'
I got to walk on
I, I, I, I, I'm so tired but I just can't lose my stride
Walk on let me tell you ya'll I, I, I, I, I, I'm so tired
But I just can't lose my stride”

One of the strangest gigs for this band was to perform on the back of a flat bed truck as it drove around the Hell Drivers course (Silloth) between demolition derbies. The drummer nearly fell off- his cymbals definitely did…and the generator was louder than the band. The programme read: “Lofty Stoddart is loaning his lorry…..and you will get your fair share of their fine music.” The strangest gig of all was playing for a group of expectant mothers who as ‘shamed' single parents had been sent to the seclusion of Coaldale Hall on Newtown Road .

The Friday Night Dance
In the land before discos and breathalysers, getting to Skelton village hall tanked up
looking for a fight and upsetting the girlfriend was standard practice-and that was just the band! Foley remembers lots of fights and how women in short skirts and handbags clambered out of the mayhem onto the stage. “I remember great old dears brewing vats of tea in the back while condensation streamed down the walls….and one solitary figure (one of the twins-again!) surrounded by an arc of antagonists- standing like the Hulk in the middle of the dance floor, shirt ripped and bloody-icy stare, hunched back, clenched fists shouting ‘come on then!' This was rural Cumbria 's Cavern Club if you like, bursting well beyond fire regulations. Foley remembers being so excited by the whole experience that when he got home to his Grans off Wigton Road , he got his Hofner club 40 out of its cardboard box and played until his fingers bled and the sun rose.
It was also at these dances that Circuit were able to further their musical education playing alongside the Capricorn Soul Show from Manchester (a ‘ coloured group' it read on the poster -with coloured underlined.) or admiring Neil's slide playing in Cottage. Playing the Hilltop Hotel in support of the Chris McClure section was enough to make you pack in then and there as they blew the band off the stage with their version of Jo Jo Gunne's Run Run Run . Circuit by now were focusing on early Slade numbers –after seeing Steve and the boys in Question playing Coz I luv You the week it came out, spell-checker confounding numbers such as:
Get Down and Get With It / Gudbuy T' Jane/ Mama Weer All Crazee Now. This meant that they could carry on their primal therapy screaming but drop the now dated Little Richard numbers.