Circus Devils

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On this page: Circus Devils discography, sound files, videos, downloads and press reviews.

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The first Circus Devils record appeared in 2001, when Robert Pollard and the Tobias brothers collaborated on a musical experiment titled "Ringworm Interiors." Since then, this Pollard/Tobias collaboration has resulted in the appearance of more titles, all waiting to be enjoyed by the children of the land. To have Circus Devils albums appear at your doorstep, click on the album covers below for links to merchants, or go to the order music page.

ANNOUNCING THE OFFICIAL CIRCUS DEVILS WEBSITE: CIRCUSDEVILS.com

SGT. DISCO (2007) Produced by Todd Tobias. Voice, lyrics and cover art by Robert Pollard. Musical instruments by Todd Tobias.

Track listing: 1) Zig Zag 2) In Madonna's Gazebo 3) George Took a Shovel
4) Pattern Girl 5) Nicky High Pockets 6) Love Hate Relationship with the Human Race 7) Brick Soul Mascots (part 1) 8) Break my Leg 9) Outlasting Girafalo 10) The Assassins Ballroom (get your ass in) 11) Winners Circle 12) Constable's Headscape 13) In Your Office 14) New Boy 15) Puke it Up (inst.) 16) Swing Shift 17) Happy Zones 18) Pit Fighter 19) Bogus Reactions 20) Hot Lettuce (inst.) 21) Safer Than Hooking 22) Dead Duck Dinosaur 23) Do This (inst.) 24) Brick Soul Mascots (part 2) 25) Caravan
26) Lance the Boiling Son 27) War Horsies 28) French Horn Litigation
29) Baby that Never Smiled 30) Man of Spare Parts 31) Rose in Paradise 32) Summer is Set

CIRCUS DEVILS: FIVE (2005) Fading Captain Series #34. Produced by Todd Tobias. Voice, lyrics and cover art by Robert Pollard. Musical instruments by Todd Tobias. Track listing: 1) the Bending Sea 2) Look Between What's Goin' on 3) Just Touch Them 4) Artheroid Vogue 5) Dog Licking Baby 6) Thelonius has Eaten all the Paper 7) Strain 8) Animal Motel 9) Future for Germs 10) Effective News 11) No Wonder they don't Stand Tall 12) We Taught them Rock and Roll 13) Eyes Reload 14) Her Noise 15) In the Mood 16) Tell em the old man is Coming Down 17) Dolphins of Color 18) Dreaming the Temple 19) The Word Business 20) Headhunter who Blocks the Sky 21) People Thing 22) You take the Lead 23) the Other Heart

click player below to hear Dolphins of Color from the album FIVE

REVIEW excerpt of the album FIVE by David Tandy (Music Underwater):

The songs that comprise Five often don’t feature a single guitar, instead relying on Todd Tobias’s trademark aural textures to create moods often bordering on ambient, a new and exciting background for Pollard to ply his trade . . . Animal Motel is the first song featuring distorted guitars, and it’s still as bizarre as everything else on the record. A metal riff accompanied by drums low in the mix and swooping sound effects behind Bob’s aching vocals. After convincing you it’s the closest you’re going to get to a straight-forward rock song, it descends into Pollard crying, “It’s not me – It’s the bee” repeatedly over more chaotic noise. The theme continues through No Wonder They Don’t Stand Tall. A beautiful Pollard vocal performance is accompanied by a perfectly toned background, Tobias knowing just when to tone down his influence and allow Bob to shine. If I were forced to pick my favourite song from these, track 14, Her Noise would be in the running for some time. A whistling sound affect and a stumbling plucked guitar assist Bob as he delivers a vocal dripping with desperation and yearning. However, at a push, I think my vote would have to go to Dolphins Of Color, an understated beauty. Tobias’s music gently roars beneath Pollard’s low pitch singing. It’s one of the most moving songs Pollard has ever created. It’s the perfect soundtrack to late night contemplation. You Take The Lead is, after a somewhat downbeat album, among Pollard’s most uplifting songs. It buzzes into motion and lazily clatters along before the vocal kicks in and the shiver goes spiralling down your spine. It’s an album of wonderful aural scope and intelligence, filled with emotion. Whenever Pollard attempts a style of music with which he’s unfamiliar, the results are always at worst interesting; here they’re nothing short of spectacular.

CIRCUS DEVILS: PINBALL MARS (2004) (#29 in the Fading Captain Series). Produced by Todd Tobias. Lyrics and cover art by Robert Pollard. Music by Tim and Todd Tobias.

track listing: 1. are you out with me? 2. gargoyle city 3. pinball mars 4. sick color 5. don't be late 6. inkster and king 7. a puritan for storage 8. alien 9. plasma 10. dragging the medicine 11. bow before your champion 12. glass boots 13. (no)hell for humor 14. raw reaction (a. nutrition is vital""b. strange journey (see you inside)" "c. inside , d. come out swinging

Click player below to hear Sick Color from the album Pinball Mars

REVIEW excerpt of Pinball Mars by Bart Bealmear (allmusic.com): "Strange journey/See you inside," sings Robert Pollard near the conclusion of Pinball Mars, the third album from Circus Devils. It's repeated in that spooky whimsy that Pollard reserves for the allegorical tales he conjures up with the band. This time around he has given himself the creative challenge of a fully realized rock opera (the title character is a Tommy reference), complete with multiple characters and an engaging storyline. The Tobias brothers once again provide the waves of sound — the nightmares of color. A gang of three, led by Pinball Mars, is residing in a big city at a time when it appears that anarchy rules, but society is actually very much controlled by the powers that be. Flush, Z, and Pinball are consumed by drugs, and feel they may be losing their souls because of their abuses. Both God and the Devil (as the Alien and in the form of the slippery drug dealer, Eel) appear. Pollard plays the roles of all (including the narrator and other observers), his voice often manipulated electronically and by his own howling. The soundtrack is one of blood-curdling fancy merry-go-round rides. One wants off, but can't because of what awaits. It's as if an illicit IV has been administered during REM sleep, drawing the listener closer to the protagonists, and further into their shady world. The theme of good and evil has always been Circus Devils' focus, but here the concept feels different, more human. In the end, Pinball has either succumbed to the vices and has descended into hell, or is simply living in it. Only Pollard knows for sure what's exactly going on here (and maybe only in the deep recesses of his mind). It is a strange journey. See you inside.

CIRCUS DEVILS: The Harold Pig Memorial (2002)
#25 in the Fading Captain Series. Produced by Todd Tobias. Lyrics and cover art by Robert Pollard. Music by Tim and Todd Tobias.

Track Listing: 1. Alaska To Burning Men 2. SavedHerself, Shaved Herself 3. Soldiers of June 4. I Guess I Needed That 5. Festival of Death 6. DirtyWorld News 7. May We See The Hostage 8. Do You Feel Legal? 9. A Birdcage Until Further Notice 10. Injured? 11. Foxhead Delivery 12. Last Punk Standing 13. Bull Spears 14. Discussions in the Cave 15. Recirculating Hearse 16. Pigs Can't Hide (On Their Night Off) 17. Exoskeleton Motorcade 18. Real Trip No. 3 19. Vegas 20. The Pilot's Crucifixion/IndianOil 21. Tulip Review 22. The Harold Pig Memorial

Click the play arrow below to hear A Birdcage Until Further Notice from the album the Harold Pig Memorial

REVIEW excerpt of the Harold Pig Memorial by Nick Benson:: In spite of the grim subject matter of this concept album, the overall result is more accessible and less pointedly experimental than the first Circus Devils CD Ringworm Interiors.

The Harold Pig Memorial opens with a delicate plaintive piano melody (reprised at the end of the CD) before the main mournful vocal part of "Alaska To Burning Men" begins. The Tobias brothers set the perfect tension behind Pollard's vocals with a mixture of acoustic and subtle fuzz guitars. There is an unusual combination of sinister and serene atmospheres on tracks such as "Festival Of Death", "May We See The Hostage?" and "Injured?" "Foxhead Delivery", "Bull Spears" and "Vegas" rock really hard and boast great melodies. "Last Punk Standing" seems to consist of two different intertwined songs - one extrapolated from the album's main piano theme and the other a mid-tempo rocker. "Recirculated Hearse", "Pigs Can't Hide" and "Tulip Review" pit Pollard's spoken poetry against intriguing noisy backdrops. "The Pilot's Crucifixion/Indian Oil" shows off Bob Pollard's acknowledged early Peter Gabriel influence with dark ambience and elegant dissonance.

Splitting the musical duties, with Tim and Todd Tobias concentrating on the instruments and Bob Pollard focusing on the vocals, results in bringing out the most inventive aspects of each. The Harold Pig Memorial succeeds as a concept album and a collection of individual tracks; the songs stand on their own to relieve the somber weight of the whole. I enjoy just about anything these musicians are involved in but this CD strikes me as a particularly strong achievement.

Circus Devils: Ringworm Interiors (2001)(#15 in the Fading Captain Series). Produced by Todd Tobias. Lyrics and cover art by Robert Pollard. Music by Tim and Todd Tobias. track listing:
1. DEVIL SPEAK 2. FEEL TRY FURY 3.BUFFALO SPIDERS 4. WORLD 3 5. BLANKS 6. NORTH MORNINGSTAR TRIP 7. RINGWORM INTERIORS 8. SPECTACLE 9. YOU FIRST 10. KNIFE SONG 11. KINGDOMOF TEETH 12. OIL BIRDS 13. LIZARD FOODS 14. NOT SO FAST 15. APPARENT THE RED ANGUS 16. PLAYHOUSEHOSTAGE 1 7. STRAPS HOLD UP THE JAW 18. CORRECTO 19. STAR PEPPERED WHEAT GERM 20. SILVEREYEBALLS 21. DECATHALON 22. PEACE NEEDLE 23. DRILL SGT.SOUL 24. PROTECT THY INTERESTS 25. LETS GO BACK TO BED 26. STERILITY MEGA PLANT 27. NEW YOU (YOU CAN SEE AND BELIEVE) 28. CIRCUS DEVILS THEME

Click play arrow below to hear KNIFESONG from the album Ringworm Interiors.

REVIEW excerpt of Ringworm Interiors by Bart Bealmear (allmusic.com): Ringworm Interiors is like no other record in Robert Pollard's pop canon. By and large, this has to do with the fact that Todd Tobias (he dressed up a couple of tracks on Isolation Drills) and is the brother of GBV bassist Tim Tobias, who plays guitar here) creates sound collages that are loud and eerie — frightening at times. It features psychedelic boat rides that lead to a poorly lit and wicked place, where even the nursery rhymes of youth become foreboding. Here beauty dances with ugliness. Furthering the connection, many of Tobias' instrumental beads could be effectively re-scored to works like Twin Peaks and Rosemary's Baby. There are occasional breaks from the intensity (for the melody-driven "You First" and the acoustic-based numbers "Apparent the Red Angus" and "Playhouse Hostage"), but the vibe is always lurking. There's even an attempt near album's end at putting a positive spin on the proceedings with the type of lo-fi arena rock that recalls vintage GBV. But the trio really shines through the darkness when ominous musical warnings are merged with cryptic tales of an unmoral universe, voiced with an unsettling whimsy. The point is made — even in the brightest of light, "the night lurks without a spine."

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