Soul Sirkus’ Highly Anticipated Debut Album, 'World Play,' Available Now Exclusively At www.SoulSirkus.com

December 9, 2004 - The highly anticipated debut album from Soul SirkUS, WORLD PLAY, has finally been made available exclusively at the band's website (www.soulsirkus.com) starting this week.

Soul SirkUS is a group of legendary talents born out of the ashes of Planet US, a band originally featuring guitarist Neal Schon and drummer Deen Castronovo of Journey along with Sammy Hagar and Michael Anthony of Van Halen.

When Hagar and Anthony left the band to return to their roles in Van Halen, Schon and Castronovo joined forces with former Yngwie Malmsteen and Talisman singer Jeff Scott Soto (who also provided lead vocals for the feature character in the movie “Rock Star”) and bassist Marco Mendoza (Ted Nugent, Whitesnake) to create Soul SirkUS which picks up where Planet US left off.

Thanks to the Internet, word about the band spread like wildfire when fans all over the world discovered six sound clips available on the band’s website. Since then, sound clips of the entire album have been posted and the fan base is growing daily.

Here are some examples of the rave reviews emanating straight from the fans:

“Thanks Neal, JSS, Deen & Marco for the most rockin’ CD I've heard in over a decade. Young musicians should pay attention to you guys!”

“Thanks for restoring my faith in ROCK!”

“Hearing Soul SirkUS is like a breath of fresh air.”

“The best music I've heard this year.”

“Stunning…excellent…fantastic…awesome…brilliant…incredible...”

“…a supergroup, formed by super musicians!!!”

“Just what the world needs!”

“This must be the greatest band on earth.”

WORLD PLAY was recorded at Journey keyboardist Jonathan Cain’s home studio (Wild Horse Studios) in San Francisco, CA in only two days. Cain engineered the project and Schon and Soto sat at the producer’s helm.

Soul SirkUS came together in January 2004 when Schon and Soto met and jammed together at the Winter NAMM Convention in Los Angeles. Schon had also caught Mendoza performing at a showcase that weekend, which in turn sparked an idea to create “one of the coolest bands anyone's heard of in a long time,” according to Schon. Once Castronovo and Mendoza were on board, Schon and Soto quickly got to work, collaborating on a number of songs, the results of which can be heard on their debut album.

Neal Schon recently commented on the vibe of the band: “The new stuff is cool, melodic and has plenty of edge. We are very much looking forward to getting it out and playing live. I definitely feel we have the goods. It is sounding very cool to say the least. It's raw, in-your-face rock…the way rock should be.”

In touring news, Soul SirkUS has lined up their first batch of U.S. dates, with more to be announced in the coming weeks. Fans can check them out at the following stops:

DATE CITY VENUE

Fri 1/7 Solana Beach, CA Belly Up Tavern

Sat 1/8 West Hollywood, CA House of Blues

Sun 1/9 Anaheim, CA House of Blues

Thu 1/13 Santa Cruz, CA The Catalyst

Fri 1/14 San Francisco, CA The Independent

Sat 1/15 Lake Tahoe, NV Harrah’s South Shore Room