Circus Mort was an American

post-punk Post-punk (originally called new musick) is a broad genre of punk music that emerged in the late 1970s as musicians departed from punk's traditional elements and raw simplicity, instead adopting a variety of avant-garde sensibilities and non-roc ...

band from

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

. Formed in 1979, the band included future

Swans Swans are birds of the family Anatidae within the genus ''Cygnus''. The swans' closest relatives include the geese and ducks. Swans are grouped with the closely related geese in the subfamily Anserinae where they form the tribe Cygnini. Sometim ...

singer

Michael Gira Michael Rolfe Gira (; born February 19, 1954) is an American singer-songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, author and artist. He is the main force behind the New York City musical group Swans and fronted Angels of Light. He is also the founder of ...

on vocals, guitarist Rick Oller, bassist

Dan Braun Dan Braun (born circa 1962) is an American musician, composer, writer, editor, art director, and film producer. Early music career Dan Braun and his twin brother Josh have performed, separately and together, in bands including Circus Mort with si ...

Josh Braun Josh Braun (born 1961) is an American businessperson, film producer, musician and comics publisher known for his work in the bands Circus Mort and The Del-Byzanteens, for his formation in the companies Submarine Entertainment, and New Comic Co ...

on keyboards and Angelo Pudignano on drums.

Jonathan Kane Jonathan Kane (born November 4, 1956) is an American musician and composer. Coming out of New York's Downtown Music scene of the early 1980s, Kane is known for his work with minimalist composers La Monte Young and Rhys Chatham, and was a found ...

, also of Swans, would become the third drummer for the group. The group recorded only one EP, a self-titled effort on Labor Records, before disbanding in 1981.

History

The first members of Circus Mort included Don Christensen on bass guitar. Before adopting the name Circus Mort the band was called Metal Envelope. Twin brothers Josh and

joined in September 1979 on the recommendation of Christensen, followed by Pudignano who answered an advertisement in the ''

Village Voice ''The Village Voice'' is an American news and culture paper, known for being the country's first alternative newsweekly. Founded in 1955 by Dan Wolf, Ed Fancher, John Wilcock, and Norman Mailer, the ''Voice'' began as a platform for the creat ...

''. The band recorded two songs at Sorcerer Sound Studios in late 1979, "Require Require" and "Working for Pleasure", which led to the interest of promoter Jim Fouratt. He hired the band to play at the rock disco Hurrah in February 1980, opening for Snatch. Pudignano left the band, and was replaced by Mike Pedulla. The band gigged around New York throughout 1980 playing at various clubs. In late 1980, Pedulla announced that he was leaving the band, and Jonathan Kane took his place. Shortly after, the band landed a

recording contract A recording contract (commonly called a record contract or record deal) is a legal agreement between a record label and a recording artist (or group), where the artist makes a record (or series of records) for the label to sell and promote. Artists ...

with the newly formed Labor Records. The band recorded

demos Demos may refer to: Computing * DEMOS, a Soviet Unix-like operating system * DEMOS (ISP), the first internet service provider in the USSR * Demos Commander, an Orthodox File Manager for Unix-like systems * plural for Demo (computer programming) ...

of two songs, "Children Remember" and "Yellow Light" at Sorcerer Sound to prepare for a forthcoming EP. Producer Peter Ivers oversaw the recording of further tracks at Minot Sound in

White Plains, New York (Always Faithful) , image_seal = WhitePlainsSeal.png , seal_link = , subdivision_type = List of sovereign states, Country , subdivision_name = , subdivision_type1 = U.S. state, State , su ...

. Their first

concert A concert is a live music performance in front of an audience. The performance may be by a single musician, sometimes then called a recital, or by a musical ensemble, such as an orchestra, choir, or band. Concerts are held in a wide variety a ...

after the recording was supporting

Bauhaus The Staatliches Bauhaus (), commonly known as the Bauhaus (), was a German art school operational from 1919 to 1933 that combined crafts and the fine arts.Oxford Dictionary of Art and Artists (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 4th edn., 200 ...

in early 1981 which was recorded on video but has never been released. The band's final performance was in Boston, with

The Neats The Neats were a Boston rock band that existed from the late 1970s to early 1990s. They first recorded for the independent Propeller label, which in 1981 released the song, "Six", a swirling, Vox-washed slab of garage rock reminiscent of Question ...

, before disbanding thereafter. Gira, with Kane, later went on to form

also joined Swans for a short period, and recorded live with them at

CBGB CBGB was a New York City music club opened in 1973 by Hilly Kristal in Manhattan's East Village. The club was previously a biker bar and before that was a dive bar. The letters ''CBGB'' were for '' Country'', '' BlueGrass'', and '' Blues'', Kri ...

, which was released as ''

Body to Body, Job to Job ''Body to Body, Job to Job'' (stylized on the cover as ''Body To Body Job To Job.'') is the third compilation album by the American experimental rock band Swans. It was released simultaneously on LP, CD and audio cassette in 1991. It present ...

''. Kane went on to play with

Rhys Chatham Rhys Chatham (born September 19, 1952) is an American composer, guitarist, trumpet player, multi-instrumentalist (flutes in C, alto and bass, keyboard), primarily active in avant-garde and minimalism, minimalist music. He is best known for his "g ...

and

La Monte Young La Monte Thornton Young (born October 14, 1935) is an American composer, musician, and performance artist recognized as one of the first American minimalist composers and a central figure in Fluxus and post-war avant-garde music. He is best kno ...

. Gira later formed

The Angels of Light Angels of Light were an American folk band that was formed circa 1998 by singer-songwriter and musician Michael Gira after he disbanded Swans, the group he had founded in 1982. The band has marked a distinctly different style for Gira since he ...

, and was the founder of

Young God Records Young God Records is an independent record label formed by Michael Gira in 1990 that specializes in experimental, avant-garde and often non genre-specific releases. The label was named after an EP released by Gira's band Swans called '' Young God ...

Discography

;EPs *''Circus Mort'' (1981, Labor Records)

References

External links

*
Circus Mort
at

Last.fm Last.fm is a music website founded in the United Kingdom in 2002. Using a music recommender system called "Audioscrobbler", Last.fm builds a detailed profile of each user's musical taste by recording details of the tracks the user listens to, e ...

{{Authority control Rock music groups from New York (state) Musical groups established in 1979 Musical groups disestablished in 1981 Musical groups from New York City