November 9, 2025 • 18 mins
On this episode I chat with Harold Collins & Melissa Miller of CIRCLE THE CITY from Sarnia Ontario about their upcoming projects and the latest single ANOTHER DAY.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:24):
So I'm back with another episodeof the music series on the
Sunday Night Army. Finally.
There's been a little bit, but before we get to today's
fantastic music, make sure you're subscribed, make sure
you're following, make sure you go just to show, but also check
with the playlist that has a bunch of good songs from over
(00:44):
the years, from all the guests that I've been on the show.
And it's just a nice variety of music.
I've been complimented by that this week that the variety of
music on the playlist is fantastic.
Just keep playing it. It's it's like 10 hours of
music. You just have it in the.
Background playing, it's so muchgood stuff, good way of
discovering amazing music for yourself and add to your own
(01:06):
playlist. So that's a good benefit.
So if you're following the show,you're seeing me more active on
Instagram than any of you everywhere else.
So go follow me there. A lot more dates coming up for
interviews. And of course, if you want to
support me, besides just supporting these awesome
artists, you want to support this show and help more artists
get discovered and get more playlists, listings and more
(01:27):
plays and stuff like that to help this show keep going.
Check out their merch store, Lincoln Bio.
And there's going to be a bunch of sales coming U before
Christmas. There's going to be a huge
Christmas sale too. Keep an eye for that.
But every week, every other weekend is like 35% off.
It's a good way to grab some merge and show it off.
And for Christmas, I'm probably going to make a special shirt,
(01:52):
just like a Christmas special. So keep an eye for that too.
Go and support your favorite artists all the time and your
favorite podcasters, wherever that might be, and gonna support
me. That's the best way to do it, of
course, outside of listening. And yeah, look out for more
future dates for interviews before the year ends.
(02:12):
I'm probably going to interview enough people to cover this year
and the beginning of next year because my schedule is crazy.
So to make up for that, it'll besporadic interviews.
But you will not miss any of thefantastic because I'll be coming
to you every Sunday. So all right, let's get to
today's episode. So the last time circle the city
(02:34):
was mentioned on the Sunday night army it was 2019.
Am I getting this correct? 2019?
How long it's been? Yeah, I believe so.
So we were talking about this before we started recording
today. And it's crazy how time flies
even in the music industry, how quickly things go by because I
(02:55):
have I still have circled the city on the playlist for their
show. And it's crazy how things go and
360 and we here we are again like to welcome Harold and
Melissa today show. How are you guys?
Good. How are you?
Awesome, now circle the city. You guys are from Sarnia, not
too far away from me. And it's it's, I guess that
(03:20):
should be before it's been a while since we had fantastic
local, local music on the show. How six years since the latest
track that has been on the show.How you guys been doing since
then? I think, I think, I think pretty
good. You know, as every band I'm sure
(03:42):
has, we've had our ups and downsa lot, a lot of quite a few
lineup changes. But yeah, for the most part,
pretty good. Yeah, that that happens, that
happens. How is cause that was during
COVID way back then. How was?
Again, six years down Rd. It's a separate lifetime.
(04:02):
How? Is the local.
Gigging scene has been between you guys digging in London and
starting and all these other areas.
How is? The scene picked up in the last
five years. Is it back to normal?
I think so. Like there's been quite a few
venues that closed, obviously because of COVID.
(04:23):
I know that the London music scene is like it's kind of
exploding right now. It's gotten really good.
There's a lot of fantastic bandsthat come under there and
they're currently there in Sarnia.
It's not terrible. There's like a, there's quite a
few original bands but there's only a couple of places to
(04:43):
really play so and you can over saturate yourself years, which
is why we don't really play herevery often.
So yeah. So the current version of Circle
the City, you have your three members now.
Let's talk about how you guys got together and what motivates
you to make music right now. Yes.
(05:06):
So I guess the current lineup, our drummer who's not here
today, he he came aboard in the summer of 2024.
Original, our original drummer left the band and then yes,
(05:29):
Kevin is his name. He, he took over in I think it
was June of 2024. He's been a good addition
because he's actually quite skilled on drums and he's a he's
a actually, he plays guitar and bass pretty well too.
So when it comes to writing, he he has a lot of input on that,
which is really good because before it was kind of myself
(05:52):
writing all the guitar parts andkind of the arrangement.
And then our previous drummer would he had, he had some input,
but like it's not like he playedguitar bass.
So he couldn't come at it from that perspective.
And then Melissa, she actually came aboard in January of this
year, 2025 as a fill in for a couple shows and then.
(06:17):
It just kind of stuck. So she's been with us since
January of this year and I thinkit's going well.
We've recorded 4 songs with her and I think they they turned out
pretty good so. Yeah, prior to this, I had no
(06:41):
real experience with the recording process.
It's all just been, you know, live performances.
So it was a new experience. It was a challenge and
something, you know, that I've been wanting to explore but
really hadn't had the opportunity.
So I'm pretty happy with this band that I've had the
opportunities to do things that I've never gotten to do before.
(07:02):
Well, that's fantastic. And I like surprises on the
show. And Melissa, you mentioned that
I, I was, I don't even know that.
You. Your music.
Was already on the show previously with another band,
which just blew me away because things just happen then.
That's fantastic. And, you know, 2019 when COVID
(07:22):
happened, the other band that I was in, it's a cover band, you
know, we were just really getting started.
And when COVID happened, all of the gigs and things that we had
lined up were obviously cancelled.
So we decided to take it online and we, you know, started
performing on Twitch and Facebook Live and things like
that. Just just to stay fresh, just to
(07:46):
have something to do. And when your program was one of
the interviews that we did during that time, and when
Harold told me that we were going to be interviewing with
you today, I was like, Oh my gosh, that's crazy.
So here we are again. Yeah, it's funny and there's a
lot of good pills. You guys listening that's been
that have been listening for that long and jeez, bless your
(08:07):
little hearts if you've been here for six years listening to
this show. But there's a lot of good
episodes going back and there's a lot of good Canadian music to
get into. So let's talk.
About music and. Writing.
I want to get into a little deepdive on some of the topics you
guys tackle in your music and writing and with this four song
EP that just came out, what wentinto it?
(08:29):
Is there a theme? Uh, I think the theme of the
album or EP is, is communicationand the lack of it.
I think this this past year for for us, there was a, there were
a couple of line-up changes and I think that was stemmed from
(08:52):
miscommunication and lack of communication.
And then just just in everyday life, it happens.
But yeah, a couple of the songs in terms of musically, like
they're different than kind of what we've written before.
And it was more just trying to be a little bit more
adventurous, I guess. And I don't know, like I'm, I, I
(09:18):
really love jazz guitar and I'm very terrible at it.
And so the little bit of jazz that I do, no on guitar, I just
try to stick it in on a couple of songs and and then blend it
with the stuff that we normally do.
And it kind of worked and sounded weird and cool, so we
went with it. That's awesome.
And then the track we have today, another day.
(09:42):
Walk me through the process of this particular track.
Yeah. So it's an older if a couple of
years ago, I think it was 2023, I bought a baritone guitar
because one of my favorite bandsI mother earth, they did almost
an entire album with a baritone guitar.
And I was always intrigued on trying to write with on.
(10:02):
And this, this particular riff is I think it was maybe one of
the first things I wrote when I sat down and played the guitar
for the first time, like literally the first time I just
started playing and working out chords.
And and this came about it it obviously when I brought it to
the band it it, you know, changed a little bit in some
(10:28):
parts were added. But yeah, it was an older riff.
We were planning on releasing itor we had started recording it
initially in early 2024 and we were hoping for it to be single.
And then just with a couple lineup changes and some other
(10:49):
song ideas we had at the time itit wasn't ready.
And then we, we, we revisited itagain, I think this spring,
yeah. And then the drummer and myself
really fleshed it out like the the arrangement and doing some
(11:10):
odd time signature changes in itand then kind of had a concept
for lyrics and, and melody and then brought it to Melissa.
And we kind of, you know, she kind of added her thing on it.
And then we recorded it and the base, the base line in it was
played and written by played by three people and written by two.
(11:36):
So I played bass on the verses in this song.
I think it's the first time on any of our recordings I've ever
played bass. And then our session basis we
had in the summer, he played on the rest of it.
But Kevin, our drummer actually wrote the baseline for the the
chorus and I think maybe the bridge.
(11:57):
So it was a, it was a big collaboration, so.
That sounds like that's awesome.I really like the track.
I've been listening to the last few days since I got it.
Big fan. And I think that's a good way to
build up this track to let everybody else hear it.
So we should do that. We should play it right now on
the show. Here is a circle of city.
(12:18):
Another day. What's wrong?
Your mouth goes. I'm still choking on the smoke
(12:44):
of your choice. Shadows.
The truth won't stay. Tracing the cracks, You tired?
(13:07):
I'm. Hear this still?
(13:37):
Thank you. You want.
Dusty Tracy. I've been breaking.
(14:16):
Still just day. Breaking in still choose.
(15:25):
In the it's still just day. There you go, there was another
day circled the city. Put it on your playlist and make
(15:48):
it even easier to be on my playlist.
You guys listening already know the top indie playlist on
Spotify is we're going to get this music.
Go check it out wherever you listen to your music by Michael
subscribe, support independent artist.
That's what we do here now. Harold, Melissa, Goals for
20/25/2020 Six. Since we're very close to the
(16:08):
end of the year, what do you have coming up?
Well, we're going to be spendingthe next couple of months really
working on the writing process and hopefully get some things
recorded. We do have some releases that
are due next year, so we'd like to, you know, work on the songs,
give them room to breathe and evolve and, you know, get to
(16:29):
where we're satisfied with the sound and then work on recording
and getting all of that ready. We're hoping to take part in
some festivals and things next year and, you know, take it all
out on the road and see how it resonates with people.
And yeah, I've got big plans fornext year.
Yeah, Ditto. I think.
(16:52):
We're good, yeah. I think playing live is where
we're trying to get back to you on a steady basis.
We're close enough to 2026 whereyou're gonna have to start
looking into next year for sure.Now keep up with the what's
circle the City is doing? Where would you like the
audience to go and follow? We're on everything.
I think we're on TikTok, unfortunately, we're on
(17:19):
Facebook, Instagram. You can check us out on every
streaming platform, Spotify, Apple, YouTube, YouTube.
Yeah, we're on there. Where you.
Have a band? Camp.
We do have a band camp. Yeah, you're on there too, so
you can check us out. We're, you know, we're, we're
active on social media, maybe not as much as we should be, but
there's a lot of stuff going on behind the scenes.
(17:40):
So we're kind of busy doing thatstuff too.
Easy. I have the band tag with this
episode everywhere and it's easy.
Follow Like, Subscribe, Get the music.
That's just easiest way to go and follow and support
independent artists. Especially locally because we.
Need that so. Harold, Melissa, thanks so much
for coming on the show and sharing your music with me.
(18:01):
Thanks a lot.
So I'm back with another episodeof the music series on the
Sunday Night Army. Finally.
There's been a little bit, but before we get to today's
fantastic music, make sure you're subscribed, make sure
you're following, make sure you go just to show, but also check
with the playlist that has a bunch of good songs from over
(00:44):
the years, from all the guests that I've been on the show.
And it's just a nice variety of music.
I've been complimented by that this week that the variety of
music on the playlist is fantastic.
Just keep playing it. It's it's like 10 hours of
music. You just have it in the.
Background playing, it's so muchgood stuff, good way of
discovering amazing music for yourself and add to your own
(01:06):
playlist. So that's a good benefit.
So if you're following the show,you're seeing me more active on
Instagram than any of you everywhere else.
So go follow me there. A lot more dates coming up for
interviews. And of course, if you want to
support me, besides just supporting these awesome
artists, you want to support this show and help more artists
get discovered and get more playlists, listings and more
(01:27):
plays and stuff like that to help this show keep going.
Check out their merch store, Lincoln Bio.
And there's going to be a bunch of sales coming U before
Christmas. There's going to be a huge
Christmas sale too. Keep an eye for that.
But every week, every other weekend is like 35% off.
It's a good way to grab some merge and show it off.
And for Christmas, I'm probably going to make a special shirt,
(01:52):
just like a Christmas special. So keep an eye for that too.
Go and support your favorite artists all the time and your
favorite podcasters, wherever that might be, and gonna support
me. That's the best way to do it, of
course, outside of listening. And yeah, look out for more
future dates for interviews before the year ends.
(02:12):
I'm probably going to interview enough people to cover this year
and the beginning of next year because my schedule is crazy.
So to make up for that, it'll besporadic interviews.
But you will not miss any of thefantastic because I'll be coming
to you every Sunday. So all right, let's get to
today's episode. So the last time circle the city
(02:34):
was mentioned on the Sunday night army it was 2019.
Am I getting this correct? 2019?
How long it's been? Yeah, I believe so.
So we were talking about this before we started recording
today. And it's crazy how time flies
even in the music industry, how quickly things go by because I
(02:55):
have I still have circled the city on the playlist for their
show. And it's crazy how things go and
360 and we here we are again like to welcome Harold and
Melissa today show. How are you guys?
Good. How are you?
Awesome, now circle the city. You guys are from Sarnia, not
too far away from me. And it's it's, I guess that
(03:20):
should be before it's been a while since we had fantastic
local, local music on the show. How six years since the latest
track that has been on the show.How you guys been doing since
then? I think, I think, I think pretty
good. You know, as every band I'm sure
(03:42):
has, we've had our ups and downsa lot, a lot of quite a few
lineup changes. But yeah, for the most part,
pretty good. Yeah, that that happens, that
happens. How is cause that was during
COVID way back then. How was?
Again, six years down Rd. It's a separate lifetime.
(04:02):
How? Is the local.
Gigging scene has been between you guys digging in London and
starting and all these other areas.
How is? The scene picked up in the last
five years. Is it back to normal?
I think so. Like there's been quite a few
venues that closed, obviously because of COVID.
(04:23):
I know that the London music scene is like it's kind of
exploding right now. It's gotten really good.
There's a lot of fantastic bandsthat come under there and
they're currently there in Sarnia.
It's not terrible. There's like a, there's quite a
few original bands but there's only a couple of places to
(04:43):
really play so and you can over saturate yourself years, which
is why we don't really play herevery often.
So yeah. So the current version of Circle
the City, you have your three members now.
Let's talk about how you guys got together and what motivates
you to make music right now. Yes.
(05:06):
So I guess the current lineup, our drummer who's not here
today, he he came aboard in the summer of 2024.
Original, our original drummer left the band and then yes,
(05:29):
Kevin is his name. He, he took over in I think it
was June of 2024. He's been a good addition
because he's actually quite skilled on drums and he's a he's
a actually, he plays guitar and bass pretty well too.
So when it comes to writing, he he has a lot of input on that,
which is really good because before it was kind of myself
(05:52):
writing all the guitar parts andkind of the arrangement.
And then our previous drummer would he had, he had some input,
but like it's not like he playedguitar bass.
So he couldn't come at it from that perspective.
And then Melissa, she actually came aboard in January of this
year, 2025 as a fill in for a couple shows and then.
(06:17):
It just kind of stuck. So she's been with us since
January of this year and I thinkit's going well.
We've recorded 4 songs with her and I think they they turned out
pretty good so. Yeah, prior to this, I had no
(06:41):
real experience with the recording process.
It's all just been, you know, live performances.
So it was a new experience. It was a challenge and
something, you know, that I've been wanting to explore but
really hadn't had the opportunity.
So I'm pretty happy with this band that I've had the
opportunities to do things that I've never gotten to do before.
(07:02):
Well, that's fantastic. And I like surprises on the
show. And Melissa, you mentioned that
I, I was, I don't even know that.
You. Your music.
Was already on the show previously with another band,
which just blew me away because things just happen then.
That's fantastic. And, you know, 2019 when COVID
(07:22):
happened, the other band that I was in, it's a cover band, you
know, we were just really getting started.
And when COVID happened, all of the gigs and things that we had
lined up were obviously cancelled.
So we decided to take it online and we, you know, started
performing on Twitch and Facebook Live and things like
that. Just just to stay fresh, just to
(07:46):
have something to do. And when your program was one of
the interviews that we did during that time, and when
Harold told me that we were going to be interviewing with
you today, I was like, Oh my gosh, that's crazy.
So here we are again. Yeah, it's funny and there's a
lot of good pills. You guys listening that's been
that have been listening for that long and jeez, bless your
(08:07):
little hearts if you've been here for six years listening to
this show. But there's a lot of good
episodes going back and there's a lot of good Canadian music to
get into. So let's talk.
About music and. Writing.
I want to get into a little deepdive on some of the topics you
guys tackle in your music and writing and with this four song
EP that just came out, what wentinto it?
(08:29):
Is there a theme? Uh, I think the theme of the
album or EP is, is communicationand the lack of it.
I think this this past year for for us, there was a, there were
a couple of line-up changes and I think that was stemmed from
(08:52):
miscommunication and lack of communication.
And then just just in everyday life, it happens.
But yeah, a couple of the songs in terms of musically, like
they're different than kind of what we've written before.
And it was more just trying to be a little bit more
adventurous, I guess. And I don't know, like I'm, I, I
(09:18):
really love jazz guitar and I'm very terrible at it.
And so the little bit of jazz that I do, no on guitar, I just
try to stick it in on a couple of songs and and then blend it
with the stuff that we normally do.
And it kind of worked and sounded weird and cool, so we
went with it. That's awesome.
And then the track we have today, another day.
(09:42):
Walk me through the process of this particular track.
Yeah. So it's an older if a couple of
years ago, I think it was 2023, I bought a baritone guitar
because one of my favorite bandsI mother earth, they did almost
an entire album with a baritone guitar.
And I was always intrigued on trying to write with on.
(10:02):
And this, this particular riff is I think it was maybe one of
the first things I wrote when I sat down and played the guitar
for the first time, like literally the first time I just
started playing and working out chords.
And and this came about it it obviously when I brought it to
the band it it, you know, changed a little bit in some
(10:28):
parts were added. But yeah, it was an older riff.
We were planning on releasing itor we had started recording it
initially in early 2024 and we were hoping for it to be single.
And then just with a couple lineup changes and some other
(10:49):
song ideas we had at the time itit wasn't ready.
And then we, we, we revisited itagain, I think this spring,
yeah. And then the drummer and myself
really fleshed it out like the the arrangement and doing some
(11:10):
odd time signature changes in itand then kind of had a concept
for lyrics and, and melody and then brought it to Melissa.
And we kind of, you know, she kind of added her thing on it.
And then we recorded it and the base, the base line in it was
played and written by played by three people and written by two.
(11:36):
So I played bass on the verses in this song.
I think it's the first time on any of our recordings I've ever
played bass. And then our session basis we
had in the summer, he played on the rest of it.
But Kevin, our drummer actually wrote the baseline for the the
chorus and I think maybe the bridge.
(11:57):
So it was a, it was a big collaboration, so.
That sounds like that's awesome.I really like the track.
I've been listening to the last few days since I got it.
Big fan. And I think that's a good way to
build up this track to let everybody else hear it.
So we should do that. We should play it right now on
the show. Here is a circle of city.
(12:18):
Another day. What's wrong?
Your mouth goes. I'm still choking on the smoke
(12:44):
of your choice. Shadows.
The truth won't stay. Tracing the cracks, You tired?
(13:07):
I'm. Hear this still?
(13:37):
Thank you. You want.
Dusty Tracy. I've been breaking.
(14:16):
Still just day. Breaking in still choose.
(15:25):
In the it's still just day. There you go, there was another
day circled the city. Put it on your playlist and make
(15:48):
it even easier to be on my playlist.
You guys listening already know the top indie playlist on
Spotify is we're going to get this music.
Go check it out wherever you listen to your music by Michael
subscribe, support independent artist.
That's what we do here now. Harold, Melissa, Goals for
20/25/2020 Six. Since we're very close to the
(16:08):
end of the year, what do you have coming up?
Well, we're going to be spendingthe next couple of months really
working on the writing process and hopefully get some things
recorded. We do have some releases that
are due next year, so we'd like to, you know, work on the songs,
give them room to breathe and evolve and, you know, get to
(16:29):
where we're satisfied with the sound and then work on recording
and getting all of that ready. We're hoping to take part in
some festivals and things next year and, you know, take it all
out on the road and see how it resonates with people.
And yeah, I've got big plans fornext year.
Yeah, Ditto. I think.
(16:52):
We're good, yeah. I think playing live is where
we're trying to get back to you on a steady basis.
We're close enough to 2026 whereyou're gonna have to start
looking into next year for sure.Now keep up with the what's
circle the City is doing? Where would you like the
audience to go and follow? We're on everything.
I think we're on TikTok, unfortunately, we're on
(17:19):
Facebook, Instagram. You can check us out on every
streaming platform, Spotify, Apple, YouTube, YouTube.
Yeah, we're on there. Where you.
Have a band? Camp.
We do have a band camp. Yeah, you're on there too, so
you can check us out. We're, you know, we're, we're
active on social media, maybe not as much as we should be, but
there's a lot of stuff going on behind the scenes.
(17:40):
So we're kind of busy doing thatstuff too.
Easy. I have the band tag with this
episode everywhere and it's easy.
Follow Like, Subscribe, Get the music.
That's just easiest way to go and follow and support
independent artists. Especially locally because we.
Need that so. Harold, Melissa, thanks so much
for coming on the show and sharing your music with me.
(18:01):
Thanks a lot.
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