Paul Ransom, Journalist

"I wouldn’t wanna take away from that certain mythic quality that the night, the dark, the moon and the stars all possess.”

"In many ways, I treated it like a recovering alcoholic – which I am. When I used to drink I tried to fight it with my will, and that involved picking up the sword every day and trying to slay the dragon."

“Looking at such an extensive back catalogue, and we are able play about 90 per cent of that, we can make our choices wisely."

"Before I did my first album, which I really didn’t wanna do, I maybe would have thought I couldn’t handle it. But now, I really think it’s important that it’s out there and people ask me questions because there are some people that don’t know how to deal with it."

"There’s every chance it could go wrong and the theatrical tension that you can find inside that is so interesting.”

“With the world becoming more digital, people realise, ‘Ah, that’s how it feels’. Y’know, you sit there, the lights go down and master showmen give you the most polished ten minutes of their life and it’s an experience that happens now.“

"These festivals, they’re running on a shoe-string budget, so this is about getting ninety of our performer friends together and sharing our oddness.”

"It gives you something that you can’t get at a typical circus show. It’s a got a bit more of an ‘anything’s up for grabs’ kinda feel to it.”

"I composed and produced the original when the punk revolution was happening and disco was king of the dancefloor and I was influenced by what was going on around me, but that’s all in the past now."

“Only about 20% of the music that gets uploaded to iTunes ever gets downloaded... Some bands can’t deal with it. They retreat to ‘I’m going to practise my guitar because I’m all about my art’. Y’know, I call people on that because that’s just fear.”

Even if you are tiring of the seemingly endless circus revival, two hours ringside with La Soiree will make you whoop and holler.

“People aren’t obligated to stay and you hope that when you start your show you can convince them to hang around for an hour. But y’know, they didn’t pay to just come see you.”