After writing a spotlight article on this band a while ago, we were lucky enough to be able to interview them as well: Full Circle! Jagger Moon, James Herron, Jason Pieters, and Sean Garrity had an early morning to meet with us to talk about their journey as a growing boyband, as well as looking back on their achievements so far and looking forward to their plans for the next year!
To start off the interview, we were wondering who the band looks up to most within the music industry. There was one name that the whole band immediately thought of: Michael Jackson. “His influence is undeniable. He was so good at what he did, both musically and performance wise, and we are trying to see how we can get ourselves to that level.” Jagger explained. The band has very different music tastes, but their love for Michael Jackson really unites them. There was also another artist they mentioned: Taylor Swift! The band’s youngest member, Sean, happens to be a major Swiftie. He added: “Yeah, from a non-fan perspective, the things that Taylor Swift is doing right now gives me so much hope for the sheer impact one person can have, she keeps getting bigger.” With such big names to look up to, we can be sure that Full Circle will become bigger and bigger.
When it comes to songwriting inspiration, the band had some diverging ways of working. Jagger was the first to answer: “For almost a year and a half, it was just all about my ex girlfriend. But now, it’s just been more… happier, just about life or experiences. Sometimes I find it easier if I come up with a character and a whole storyline for this different person and write it that way.” Jason also likes to keep it personal, but more from a storytelling perspective. He adds his own special ‘spice’ by getting his style inspiration from R&B artists, giving the band’s songs a unique sound. The storytelling method is a recurring theme for James, but his inspiration doesn’t always come from his own experiences: “I prefer to put myself in someone else’s shoes. These things may have never happened to me, but I think that’s the fun of it.” Out of all the band members, Sean has the most special way of writing songs. Writing the melody first, he sings along to his melodies with gibberish, and then tries to match words to the music. “It’s really important for me that it rhymes and it works out with the vowels. I like it complicated!” he laughed. Despite these different sources of inspiration and writing styles, they always manage to create awesome songs.
Of course, we then had to ask which of their songs is their favourite currently. As might be expected, they had difficulty with just choosing one song. Their answers had a lot of overlap, but also some differences. “’Dangerous’ will always be my favourite. I remember when we wrote ‘Dangerous’, me and Jason stayed up until 4 in the morning with the writers, and it was just *chef’s kiss*” was Jagger’s immediate answer. Jason agreed; for these two members, ‘Dangerous’ holds a special place in their hearts. Another favourite song mentioned by Jason is ‘Vegas’, but he thinks it would have fit better with the song’s vibes if it had come out in the summer. “It’s too cold for me to vibe to it right now!” James couldn’t choose between two of their songs: “I like ‘Make You Believe’ and ‘Bigger Picture’, I’m not sure if that’s because I really like the songs or the choreographies, but probably both!” Sean couldn’t help but tease us a bit. While stating his two favourites from the band’s growing discography, ‘Transparency’ and ‘Could’ve Been’, he revealed that the band is working on a new song: “The song on my desk is also looking really good right now!” We can’t wait to hear it!
As they are a relatively new band, there are constantly new experiences and achievements for Full Circle. This year, for example, they were finalists in Audacy’s Opening Act contest, which got them their first award. The band has also gotten better at harmonies: when they started out, they didn’t know what harmonies actually were, and now they’re incorporating harmonies into their songs. They also grew on social media: they have passed 1000 videos on YouTube, and after losing their old TikTok account, their new account has been gaining a lot of attention and engagement. These achievements are very deserved, as they have been working very hard. After some of their plans were unfortunately cancelled, including both their performance at the Somos Festival in Brazil and the Boys of Summer tour, they had to come up with alternatives to perform for their fans. However, the band managed to keep a positive outlook for the future: “This year we’ve had a lot of setbacks, but our plans for 2024 sound really good and exciting!” Unfortunately, we weren’t able to convince them to tell us about these plans. But a potential hint could be that the band really wants to perform outside of the United States for the first time.
Besides these exciting plans, the band also has some ambitious dreams for the future. Some of their dream venues to perform at are the O2 Arena, Wembley, and Madison Square Garden. Sean had some more abstract ideas for performance locations: “I’d love to perform in different environments, whether it’s on the beach in Brazil or somewhere in the snow… You know, testing the limits.” This idea is very interesting, and we are totally in as long as it brings them to Europe as well! The band would love to headline Coachella in the future, and they aim to plan carbon neutral tours when they have the means to do so. But they have to start small: when asked what they would name their first album if they had to choose at that moment, they all had different ideas. Ranging from simply ‘One’, to maths-related ideas inspired by Ed Sheeran, to titles related to their band name, there were many ideas for them to still discuss and decide between.
Of course, we had to ask Full Circle our classic final question as well: what song did they last listen to? They teased us a bit more with their new unreleased song, as they had listened to that one before the interview, but they could not give us any more information about that. So, they opened their Spotify and Apple Music to give us a more concrete answer. Jagger listened to one of the songs on their set list for their most recent shows: ‘Tearin’ Up My Heart’ by *NSYNC. Jason had listened to one of their own songs, ‘Could’ve Been’, and James’ song was ‘Better in Time’ by Leona Lewis. And last but not least, Sean listened to ‘Cry’ by Cigarettes After Sex. We had a great time interviewing Full Circle, and we are excited to see what they have planned for 2024!
