The Fantastic Circus

The roots of the Fantastic Circus can be traced as far back as 1996, that's when Justin Malone and Joshua Herndon began playing music together. A few years later, in 1999, Wesley Ross would join up with the two for the band Glasshouse. The Fantastic Circus officially formed in late 2003 with Justin Malone, Wesley Ross, Joshua Herndon and Mark Risinger. Mark had played with the others sporadically in the 90's. This line-up wrote and recorded together until Mark left the band. The band's sound evolved from everyone bringing ideas to the table and throwing those ideas together into a crazy tales and epics, a process that would continue with each line-up. Jonathon Kitchens, who first drummed with Malone and Herndon from 1996-2000 and sporadically afterward, became the group's second drummer from 2006 to 2007. While no new material was recorded during this time, his short time was important as he allowed the band to keep their momentum. In early 2007, Mike Hill was brought into the fold and the band began practicing and performing more often than ever before. They re-recorded a handful of the earlier songs as well as wrote and recorded newer material in same epic fashion. During this time the band played further distances and was even featured on NBC for an interview and performance. The band has now parted ways, but the musicians are still active. Mark is playing with Built For Speed, Jonathon is involved in a few musical projects in the Portland area, Mike is playing with Truffula Tree and Wes played with The Papers for a brief period before leaving to work on a new project.