The Circus Tents were an American band active from 1989 to 1993 from

Grass Valley, California Grass Valley is a city in Nevada County, California, United States. Situated at roughly in elevation in the western foothills of the Sierra Nevada mountain range, this northern Gold Country city is by car from Sacramento, from Sacramento I ...

, United States. It consisted of

Matt Wedgley Viva Hate is a rock band that was formed late in the summer of 2004 by Geoff Kresge after he left Tiger Army. Shortly after forming Viva Hate, Kresge was asked to join the HorrorPops, with whom he played guitar with from 2004 to 2006, although ...

as the lead vocalist,

Jon Sortland Jon Sortland (born September 12, 1973) is an American musician, record producer and video director, currently playing the drums for indie rock band The Shins. Sortland has also played drums, bass, keyboards and backing vocals in the band Broken ...

on drums, Chad Cox on bass, Scot Pickering and Jeff Jones on guitar. They released a 12 song self-titled cassette tape in 1990 (only 100 copies being made) and a 4 song 7" record titled ''Hard Up'' on Insurrection Records in 1992 (only having 1,000 copies made). They had a couple of songs featured on early

Powell Peralta Powell Peralta is an American skateboard company founded by George Powell and Stacy Peralta in 1978. The company rose to prominence in the 1980s as skateboarding began maturing as a sport. The company featured the Bones Brigade, a team featurin ...

skate videos for Chris Senn. They achieved international publicity when

Billie Joe Armstrong Billie Joe Armstrong (born February 17, 1972) is an American musician who is the lead vocalist, guitarist, and primary songwriter of the rock band Green Day, which he co-founded with Mike Dirnt in 1987. He is also a guitarist and vocalist for t ...

put a Circus Tents sticker on his guitar and

AFI AFI may refer to: * ''Address-family identifier'', a 16 bit field of the Routing Information Protocol * Ashton Fletcher Irwin, an Australian drummer * AFI (band), an American rock band ** ''AFI'' (2004 album), a retrospective album by AFI rele ...

covered their song "Open Your Eyes" on their record ''

Answer That and Stay Fashionable ''Answer That and Stay Fashionable'' is the debut studio album by American punk rock band AFI. It was originally released on July 4, 1995, through Wingnut Records and rereleased on April 22, 1997, through Nitro Records. Background ''Answer Tha ...

''. The Circus Tents also recorded the song "I Hate Cops" by The Authorities for an unreleased tribute album to The Authorities, which also featured the bands

Screeching Weasel Screeching Weasel is an American punk rock band consisting of Ben Weasel (vocals), Mike Kennerty (guitar), Mike Hunchback (guitar), Zach "Poutine" Brandner (bass) and Pierre Marche (drums). Screeching Weasel is originally from the Chicago subur ...

and

The Meatmen The Meatmen are an American punk band headed by Tesco Vee, originally existing from 1981 to 1988, before reforming in the mid-1990s, and again in the 2000s. They were known for their outrageous stage antics and offensive lyrics. They reformed in ...

Reunion

In 2018, The Circus Tents and

The Force The Force is a metaphysical and ubiquitous power in the '' Star Wars'' fictional universe. "Force-sensitive" characters use the Force throughout the franchise. Heroes like the Jedi seek to "become one with the Force", matching their personal wi ...

briefly reunited at The Miners Foundry Cultural Center to play a concert in honor of former member Chad Cox, who had died in 2014.

Hunter Burgan Hunter Lawrence Burgan (born May 14, 1976) is an American multi-instrumentalist. He is the third and current bassist of AFI. Biography Burgan was born in Los Angeles County, California and grew up in Grass Valley, California. He is a vegan. ...

played bass for The Circus Tents in Cox's stead, and Jon Sortland filled in his role as drummer for The Force.

Bands after breakup

, The Wimpy Heroes,

Viva Hate ''Viva Hate'' is the debut solo studio album by English singer Morrissey. It was released on 14 March 1988 by HMV, six months after the final studio album by the Smiths, ''Strangeways, Here We Come'' (1987). Vini Reilly, the leader of the Eng ...

Dirty Filthy Mugs Dirt is an unclean matter, especially when in contact with a person's clothes, skin, or possessions. In such cases, they are said to become dirty. Common types of dirt include: * Debris: scattered pieces of waste or remains * Dust: a genera ...

: E V Kain,

Cigar A cigar is a rolled bundle of dried and fermented tobacco leaves made to be smoked. Cigars are produced in a variety of sizes and shapes. Since the 20th century, almost all cigars are made of three distinct components: the filler, the binder l ...

, American City, Leopold and His Fiction,

Broken Bells Broken Bells is an American indie rock band composed of artist-producer Brian Burton (better known as Danger Mouse) and James Mercer, the lead vocalist and guitarist for the indie rock band The Shins. Broken Bells compose and create as a duo, ...

The Shins The Shins is an American indie rock band formed in Albuquerque, New Mexico, in 1996. The band is the project of singer-songwriter James Mercer, who has served as the band's sole constant member throughout numerous line-up changes. The band's cu ...

* Scot Pickering: The Wimpy Heroes, Superuin * Chad Cox:

*Jeff Jones:

Notes and references

{{DEFAULTSORT:Circus Tents Punk rock groups from California Musical groups established in 1989 Musical groups disestablished in 1993