Following his dismissal from Van Halen in 1996, frontman Sammy Hagar continued working with the band's original bassist, Michael Anthony, in projects like Los Tres Gusanos, Planet Us, and Chickenfoot. The longtime bandmates also teamed up to launch the Circle, a hard-rock supergroup whose lineup was completed by guitarist Vic Johnson and drummer Jason Bonham. Johnson had previously performed with Hagar as a member of the Waboritas, while Bonham — the son of Led Zeppelin's legendary drummer, John Bonham — represented a link to the iconic band whose music inspired Hagar's first project, Montrose. Formed in Miami in 2014, the Circle immediately hit the road, playing shows whose set lists included hit songs by Van Halen, Led Zeppelin, Montrose, and Chickenfoot. At Your Service, a double-disc live album featuring 19 performances from the Circle's first tour, was released in April 2015 as the band's debut. Four years later, the Circle released their first studio album, Space Between. Co-produced by Hagar, Johnson, and Jaimeson Durr, Space Between debuted at Number 4 in America, tying with Chickenfoot's 2009 debut as the second-highest chart placement of Hagar's career. When the album's accompanying tour was postponed indefinitely by the COVID-19 pandemic, the Circle launched the Lockdown Sessions in March 2020, with all four bandmates using their iPhones and home studios to record a series of socially-distant videos. Those recordings were compiled onto the band's second album, Lockdown 2020, which featured eleven cover songs and released in January 2021.
