Streetlight Circus comes to town

Yes, Streetlight Circus singer-bassist David Shaw is thinking about hiring some clowns for the band's album release party. But don't worry, the Valley Stream-based band is serious about its rock.

"I think it's really hard for original hard rock bands to push what they do forward," says Shaw, who has opened for loads of hard rockers from Great White and L.A. Guns to White Lion and Faster Pussycat. "I love the bands we play with. We grew up listening to a lot of these guys. But when you play with these bands, people can pigeonhole you a bit. We hope the album will open some ears to our band and the genre as a whole."

For their eponymous debut, Streetlight Circus -- Shaw, guitarists George Giannoulis and Fabio Bargna and drummer Erik Fehrenbach -- try to pay tribute to their roots, while still looking to offer something new. Songs like the hard-driving "Love You Til the End" and "This Ain't Hollywood" combine elements of '80s metal with bits from bands from today like Foo Fighters and Buckcherry.

The combination has worked well for the band, which will play its biggest show yet next month at the M3 Rock Festival at the Merriweather Post Pavilion in Maryland, with Night Ranger, Queensryche, Ratt and other rockers.

Shaw says the festival show and the new album are good signs that he made the right decision on returning home to New York and music-making, after a short stint in Los Angeles.

"I'll be a songwriter till I'm dead," Shaw says. "Being onstage? There's no better feeling in the world . . . I can't see myself not doing it."

Streetlight Circus plays Sullivan Hall, 214 Sullivan St., Manhattan, at 7:30 p.m. Saturday. Tickets are $10 through sullivanhallnyc.com.

Contact The Long Island Sound at glenn.gamboa@newsday.com or follow @ndmusic on Twitter.