Prime Circle expands sphere

Prime Circle embarks on new journey with the announcement of Prime Fest, their own music and lifestyle festival, writes Shingai Darangwa

WITH countless awards, sold-out local and internationals tours and dozens of charttopping hits under their belt, rock band Prime Circle have built a singular career.

They are set to diversify their brand with the launch of Prime Fest, their very own music and lifestyle festival.

“We’ve been playing for about 15 years and since like the first year we were a band, we were thinking about how cool it’d be to host our own festival,” said Prime Circle frontman Ross Learmoth.

“We’ve always wanted to do this and we had goals put in place… This is the next step. It just feels like the right timing for us. We’ve met up with the right team and I think the right venue as well, with Casalinga.”

“We wanted to make it a family thing as well, so as much as we want it to be diverse in sound, we want it to be for young and old. It’s a festival for families. There’ll be food trucks, massage parlours and a kiddies’ area, so there’s a lot to see and a lot to do.”

There’s a five-year plan in place for the festival, and the idea is to make it an annual event. Not only will they be looking to start bringing international bands in, they’ll also be looking at a trade exchange with some of these bands where local artists can also tour overseas.

“A lot of bands we see internationally want to come here, they’re just looking for the opportunity, which is the same on this side.”

Prime Fest has a youthful and sonically diverse line-up featuring the likes of Riky Rick, Goodluck, Jo Black, Mafikizolo, Fokofpolisiekar, Martin Bester and Band, Timo ODV and Majozi.

“We wanted to make a South African festival and the best way to do that was to try to include every style and sound. I think a lot of people nowadays are listening to a lot more of a variety of music, and it just makes sense for us to host a festival with a different style.”

Learmoth said he feels inspired by the direction that South African music is taking, and how our sound is starting to permeate the global stage.

“It’s amazing, we’re a lot more daring now. We are actually starting to set trends globally.”

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