Circus Of Power

Circus Of Power


Who else here loves COP, one of NYC finest bands. They were wrongly called New York's answer to Guns N' Roses, probably due to frontman Alex Mitchell's preference to wearing a bandana ala Axl Rose (I think both got that look from Ian Astbury in the 'She Sells Sanctuary" video).
Both bands were contempary's and way to authentic to be a reaction to one or the other, i'm pretty sure both bands liked each other though.
Anyway COP's sound combined CCR's swampy cajun boogie with the huge righteous grooves of Electric era Cult. Slip sliding metallic guitar worthy of Lynryd Skynryd's Rossington/Collins and a vocalist with a voice like a southern fried Ian Astbury or Jim Morrison with balls, Alex Mitchell had that mysterious shaman thing down pat (He also had the best ink of anyone in rock n' roll, really puts those Avenged Sevenfold and Metalcore posers with their desinger sleeves to shame).
Of course goth, punk, AC/DC, Motorhead and the Stones also reared their head in the original authentic rock n' roll sound of Circus Of Power.
They were the heirs to the fine biker metal tradition forged by 70's bad boys the Godz, the Boyzz and Rose Tattoo and before all them Steppenwolf.
The first album Circus Of Power (1988) is a stone cold classic and an album no fan of hard rock/metal/rock n' roll should be without, the live EP Still Alive (1989) is a great live album recorded infront of a bunch of drunken detroit bikers (includes a rousing cover of Rick Derringer's Still Alive And Well). The second studio album Vices (1990) is a great album but not nearly as classic and essential as the first. And the final album Magic & Madness (1993) showed the band incorporate the Alice In Chains's grungadelia metal sound, which was no surprise since Jerry Cantrell worked with them on this album. Its different than the others yet has its charm, even boasts the 'electric wizard' himself Ian Astbury on guest vocals aswell.
The band split up and guitarist Gary Sunshine moved on to the criminally underrated NY Loose and then later on to being the guitar teacher of one Axl Rose! There has been several one off reunion shows without Mr. Sunshine, and there is talk that a new album is in the works.

Circus Of Power - Call Of The Wild Video
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AfRHhX_0wtY

the only one i have is Magic & Madness... it's ok.

Love this band....grungy biker metal.

KILLER!


Do you like FAT NANCY? Alex Mitchell fronts them ....pretty good stuff.

I used to have the tape with the song "Call of the Wild" on it... I forget the title now... would like to have it on CD, it's been years since I heard it.

They sounded kinda like a combo of the Ramones and The Cult to me... good stuff.

I remember seeing them on Morton Downey Jr's show back in the day.

I saw a video of them playing on Morton Downey Jr. Show, and that's all Ive heard of them

Bumped!!! Just cause their so great.

Is it me or has all hard rock/rock n' roll/punk/heavy metal fallen short of this band's 1988 death n' glory debut.

Apparently a tribute cd is in the works for COP.


Circus Of Power - Call Of The Wild live on the Morton Downey Jr show
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lEfR9-b2N70

I remember back in the day, a buddy gave me a tape copy of one of their albums (their debut probably, I don't remember) telling me "If you like GnR, you'll love these guys". I did not, mostly because I wanted them to be GnR clones I guess. I'm sure if I listened to them again today, I'd be more open-minded and might dig 'em for what they are instead of what they weren't.

Yep they were unfairly saddled as NY's answer to Guns N' Roses. Even though they were around the same time. This might have been due to Alex Mitchell's preference for wearing a bandana ala Axl Rose, but as i said they probably both got that idea from Ian Astbury. Plus Circus Of Power played up their biker image and affiliation with biker gangs, so they were full of bandana's and tattoo's.

Anyway the debut is a great shotgun marriage of The Cult's Electric, CCR's cajun swamp stomp, Rose Tattoo's biker boogie and a bit of punk, goth and the Stones. They really were outsiders at the time, so maybe the Guns N' Roses comparison was fair considering they played a gritty sleazy hard rock n' roll that drew from all the right influences (NY Dolls to AC/DC, The Damned to Nazareth etc) that was at odds with what was hard rock/heavy metal at the time.

Weren't The Throbs also lauded as 'New York's answer to Guns N Roses'?

How many answers did New York need?

HellRaiser wrote:

Weren't The Throbs also lauded as 'New York's answer to Guns N Roses'?

How many answers did New York need?

They sure were, it's all about record companies selling records and using the hype machine.

The Throbs were a totally different band to Guns and Circus. But if anything those bands were linked through their differences and outsider aesthetic, if you get what i'm saying.

rattpoison wrote:

HellRaiser wrote:

Weren't The Throbs also lauded as 'New York's answer to Guns N Roses'?

How many answers did New York need?

They sure were, it's all about record companies selling records and using the hype machine.

The Throbs were a totally different band to Guns and Circus. But if anything those bands were linked through their differences and outsider aesthetic, if you get what i'm saying.

Very true.

I do own "The Language of...." and all the GNR comparisons seem rather silly when listening to it.

Now if only I could find their Proud To Be Loud EP where they sound like the Ramones. I actually volunteered at a university radio station in Ottawa a few years ago who had that thing (on vinyl of course). Had I known how damn rare it is, I would have offered to buy it off them, or at least bootleg myself a digital copy

I have heard one track from that forthcoming C.O.P. tribute...by the great band RUSTY EYE...their hot drummer/singer sent me a link to it after I glowingly reviewed their latest cd....

It was up on their myspace page last I checked in....

Shiney wrote:

I have heard one track from that forthcoming C.O.P. tribute...by the great band RUSTY EYE...their hot drummer/singer sent me a link to it after I glowingly reviewed their latest cd....

It was up on their myspace page last I checked in....

Mama Tequila, nice.


My favourite rendition that i've heard is by Bourbon And Branch and their stunning take on 'Circles'.

http://www.myspace.com/bourbonandbranch

I thought they were ok, but just wasnt a band I ever really heavily got into. I believe I traded Shiney my only cd actually.

DeathCult wrote:

I thought they were ok, but just wasnt a band I ever really heavily got into. I believe I traded Shiney my only cd actually.

Lucky Shiney!