An intimate audience with Circa

Wairarapa fusion band Circa will play live at The Common Room in Hastings on Saturday.

Behind the microphone Holly McGeorge is a force to be reckoned with, the Circa front woman can work any genre from soul to drum and bass.

The singer put out a request on Facebook in 2012 for musicians - finding guitarist Sam Mitchell, bassist Ewen Mason and drummer Jordan Tredray - after moving to Wairarapa.

What started as a "jam session" in her garage quickly turned to something special and the group have developed a following for their sound.

"There's a lot of thinking outside the square," she tells VIBE. "We do soul and blues, reggae, roots, we even do a little bit of drum and bass as the evening goes on."

McGeorge has been writing music since she was 10-years-old, cutting her teeth in competitions such as SmokefreeRockQuest, where she learned to be adaptable.

Whatever the song style, her lyrics always contain a deeper meaning featuring positive messages inspired by 60s stars Carole King, Stevie Wonder and Chaka Khan as well as modern artists Joss Stone and Hollie Smith. "In 2001, I won a lyricist award, when everything else seems to trouble you, music is always there to lift you up.

"You have relationships and you learn, but I try to focus on who's going to be listening, I have previously been a youth worker so I try not to be overtly expletive and I make sure there's messages in there that you don't need a text book to decipher."

Circa have performed at King Street Live, Bodega and Mighty Mighty, taking part in events such as Greater Wellington Brew Day, Petone Carnival Festival, Carterton Daffodil Festival and Round the Vines.

With a four-track EP available for free download on Soundcloud, they found success touring with Katchafire, opening for Six60 and sharing a stage with Macklemore and Ryan Lewis, and at La De Da with Shapeshifter and De La Soul.

On Saturday, they will be introducing themselves to Hawke's Bay in an intimate setting at The Common Room. "We don't want to be playing to millions, although that end will be nice, I like to keep it at a local music level."

The band are working on their first full-length album Touche with Warren Maxwell (Trinity Roots) at Stonefeather Studios and hope to have it released by the end of November.

Currently, they are on their Fusion of Soul tour with dates set for Masterton, Palmerston, Wellington and Hastings.

On the side, McGeorge is working on developing Terradakdoor Records, a label that she uses to help other up-and-coming artists get a head start. "We are still in the foundation level, we have got some of the bands that we want to work with, from metal to rock, reggae, to fusion.

"When you try to do something in our own strengths it's quite hard to be noticed, but we can work together and get recognised by other labels, we are a bit of a springboard."

Catch Circa at The Common Room in Hastings on Saturday from 8.30pm, koha at the door.

• For more on the band see: www.circamusic.co.nz.