Circle of friends in a circle of music

POLOKWANE – Years ago, Marco Gomes decided to form a band, and when it was time to name it, he settled for Prime Circle.

“We are a circle of friends and it is a circle of music,” said Marco told Review after the group’s performance at the Polokwane Show and Music Festival on Saturday.

The band is made up of five members, Ross Learmonth, Dale Schnettler, Dirk Bisschoff, Neil Breytenbach and of course, Marco.

“We were all playing in other bands when we decided to form Prime Circle,” said Ross.

Their first performance as a band was at the Rock Café in Witbank.

Asked which song was their best, Ross said the band’s best song has not been written yet. “I love all our songs.” Marco agreed with Ross, while Dirk admitted that it was hard to say which song was the best. Dale on the other hand thought that Never Gonna Bring us Down was their best song, while Neil said Breathing was his favourite.

Neil is the only one in the group who has always wanted to be a musician. Ross said he wanted to be a firefighter when he was younger, and Marco said when he was three, he wanted to work in a video store. “I was just thinking of all the videos and games I could get for free,” he said.

Dale laughed and said he had always wanted to be a drummer for Prime Circle.

“But seriously, I would like to be a psychiatrist or psychologist.”

Dirk on the other hand is adamant he wants to be a fighter pilot.

Their most memorable performance? “Once, the power went off while we were performing and the crowd just sang. It was really nice and when the electricity came back on, we were all just standing on stage not knowing how to react.”

They said their saddest performance was at the funeral of a fan. The fan wrote to Reach for a Dream saying he wanted to meet us. We made appointments and plans to go, but before we arrived, he died. It was one of the saddest funerals and days in Prime Circle’s career,” said Ross.

Each member said they had hidden talent: Ross’ hidden talent is drawing, Marco said his was still hidden, Dale said he could read women’s minds, Dirk said horse riding, while Neil said his hidden talent was surfing.

Asked what motivated them, the replies varied from family members to the band and the fans.