Circus Battalion – “Scumming Attractions”
This band is called Circus Battalion and ain’t we livin’ in a circus today?
No, not a world that is an amusement park filled with Merry Go Rounds and Ferris Wheels. No cotton candy, shoot the water for the prize here. More like one with haunted houses, dangerous roller coasters and scary rides.
We have an evil clown as President. Whose presidential term is not so much like a short, SNL skit but an absurdist, Monty Python skit that goes on for far too long, for four years.
Recently, he illegally tear-gassed peaceful demonstrators so he could do a photo-op holding up a bible. That would be akin of me holding up a copy of a Grateful Dead record.
Oh, and what is the definition of battalion? “A large body of troops ready for battle.” Take a look at your television or laptop screen and that’s what you might be seeing right now, on both sides.
Yes, I can see them on social media, empowered by the powers that be. Let’s give cash to working class white folks (cops) so they can fight with working class (black folks) and young people sympathizers
Sounds splendid to me! How spectacular! Let’s pit poor against poor and make American life more vicious and as cruel as it can be. But I guess this is a music review and not a political dissertation.
Okay, just think of this part as a commercial you clicked on, on your You Tube. You know, when it says “Skip Ads” in three seconds.
Please click on that box now:
“Misery” bounces out like a conglomeration of The Germs and The Misfits. “What a drug! She had ’em all- all she ever wanted.” This song bashes and dashes along in a kind of punk rock reverie. “Misery, never happy till you’re unhappy…deadly rush of ecstasy…hanging from the Christmas tree.” This song is full of anger, energy and realism poetry and is a tune that actually makes me feel very happy.
“Rat Race” rips out like a panther striking out at its’ prey and heaven forbid if your ears are in its’ perimeters. “We’re running a rat race, lookin’ to be fed…be quick or be dead.” This rockin’ song strikes out like the bite of a poisonous snake. But its’ garage-y, goth-y, punky venom somehow doesn’t kill you, but brings you back to life.
“Something’s Gone Wrong” bangs out four fuzzed, ferocious, fearless chords with a beat whose intent appears to be to rip your soul out. Along with a vocal that is passionate and hysterical- sounding like someone about to leap off a bridge.
“Baptized in the mutant pool, something’s very wrong. Weirdo in the special school…Anxiety will set you free. Society is all diseased. Don’t you point that gun at me.” One of my punk daughters, Lindsey Loogie, contributed to the music and she can do no wrong in my eyes. And my ears tell me everything is more than right in this song.
At first, I thought this was some kind of super group that combined members of Nickleback, Phish and Frankie Goes To Hollywood but then I realized that I had combined the wrong drugs, once again. (This is a joke, hard drugs kill. Please stick with your weed and mushrooms, my young friends, just don’t offer them to me!)
Then I thought, this is The Four Horsemen sent from the after world to provide some semblance of order to the world we now know.
Then I threw up. Seems I, actually, combined too many varieties of alcohol.
But afterwards, during clean-up, I realized- Hey, I know these guys! There’s Craig the bassist from Unlisted, a no wave band I really liked a few years ago. And there’s David, the guitarist from Sewer Buddies, a band I still love. And there’s John Wayne Swayce, I swear I know him from someplace. Oh, he must be the lead singer from Nickleback, but I could be wrong.
There’s a heap, healthy, hot serving of pervasive punk and hellacious hardcore served up here. And a lot of disservice to the notions towards the musical genres they’re supposed to be lumped in with, like yesterday school cafeteria mashed potatoes.
I hear snatches of The Damned and The Misfits and Black Flag here, but I doubt that you’ve ever heard of these groups I mention.
But I’d like to put them in the genre I call “music I really like”, “music I want to take a bite of”, and I’m thinking you will, too.
(Slimedog)
