Breaking Circus
{{Short description|American post-punk band}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=April 2025}}
{{Infobox musical artist
| name = Breaking Circus
| origin = Chicago, Illinois, USA
| instrument =
| genre = Alternative rock, post-punk
| occupation =
| years_active = 1984–1988
| label = Homestead Records
| associated_acts = Shellac, Brick Layer Cake, Flour, Rifle Sport, Big Trouble House, Man Sized Action
| past_members = Steve Björklund
Peter Conway
Todd Trainer
Phil Harder
Tony Pucci
}}
Breaking Circus was a post-punk band from the 1980s, based in Chicago and later Minneapolis, founded by guitarist and vocalist Steve Björklund.
History
Björklund had played guitar and sang for Chicago punk band Strike Under after a short stint in the group Terminal Beach,{{cite web | url=http://punkdatabase.com/wiki/Terminal_Beach|title=Terminal Beach|accessdate=2008-10-09|publisher=ChicagoPunk}} Breaking Circus was his next project, originally with bassist Bruce Lange and a Roland TR-606 drum machine.{{cite web |url=http://gapersblock.com/transmission/2008/07/11/bands_you_missed_vol_2/|title=Bands You Missed, Vol. 2|accessdate=2008-10-09 | publisher=Gapers Block: Transmission, a Chicago music site | author=Graham Sanford}} Breaking Circus signed to Homestead Records for their first release, The Very Long Fuse EP (1985), featuring the song "Marathon", which has been cited as "stuck in several thousand heads" and a "college-radio favorite"{{Cite journal|last=Hicks |first=Dillon |title=How Could You Idiots Forget...? |journal=City Pages |date=June 8, 2005 |url=http://www.citypages.com/2005-06-08/news/how-could-you-idiots-forget |accessdate=2008-10-09 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20110606051641/http://www.citypages.com/2005-06-08/news/how-could-you-idiots-forget/ |archivedate=2011-06-06 }}
In 1986, Björklund moved to Minneapolis and began working with Rifle Sport bassist Pete "Flour" Conway and drummer/guitarist Todd Trainer.{{cite web|url={{AllMusic|class=artist|id=p12449/biography|pure_url=yes}}|title=Breaking Circus|author=Andy Kellman|publisher=Allmusic|accessdate=2008-10-09}} In 1986 the band released a song, Driving the Dynamite Truck on the Twin/Tone compilation Big Hits of Mid-America Volume Four, with a slightly different lineup having Tony Pucci of Man Sized Action in the drummer's chair.{{cite web |url=http://www.twintone.com/projects/8681.html |title=Big Hits Of Mid-America Volume Four |accessdate=2008-10-09 | publisher=Twin/Tone Records}} Homestead Records released the band's The Ice Machine LP with the album's credits appearing as a Monopoly-style drinking game insert.
Guitarist Phil Harder filled out the band for a national tour before Breaking Circus returned home to record another LP that was to feature four songs by Björklund, four by Conway, and four by Trainer. When the band arrived in the studio, they received word from Homestead that the label would only pay for six of the twelve songs that they had originally planned to record. All four of Björklund's songs and one by each of the other members were recorded and released as the EP Smokers' Paradise in 1987. The band broke up in 1988.
Post-Circus
Phil Harder became a music video director and went on to form the trio Big Trouble House.{{cite web|url=http://www.trouserpress.com/entry.php?a=breaking_circus|title=Breaking Circus|author=Jack Rabid|publisher=Trouser Press|accessdate=2008-10-09}}{{Cite journal
| last = Scholtes
| first = Peter
| title = Seen Your Video
| journal = City Pages
| date = 2007-08-22
| url = http://www.citypages.com/2007-08-22/news/seen-your-video
| url-status = dead
| archiveurl = https://web.archive.org/web/20090216190950/http://www.citypages.com/2007-08-22/news/seen-your-video
| archivedate = 2009-02-16
}} Pete Conway recorded four full-length solo albums as Flour for Touch and Go Records. Todd Trainer released two EPs under the name Brick Layer Cake before founding Shellac with Steve Albini and Bob Weston. Björklund released a final 7" single of solo electropop versions of songs by Naked Raygun and the UK Subs under the name Breaking Circus. He was briefly in the band Balloon Guy before moving on to work as a producer.{{Cite journal|last=Groebner |first=Simon Peter |title=Electronic Flashbacks |journal=City Pages |date=February 17, 1997 |url=http://www.citypages.com/1997-02-17/news/electronic-flashbacks/ |accessdate=2008-10-09 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20100226172448/http://www.citypages.com/1997-02-17/news/electronic-flashbacks/ |archivedate=2010-02-26 }} In the 2010s Björklund returned to making music, forming the band High Value Target with his wife, Liz Björklund, and former Effigies drummer Steve Economou. The group released an EP in 2012.{{cite news |title=High Value Target 12" EP |url=http://www.punkvinyl.com/2012/01/06/high-value-target-12-ep/ |accessdate=14 August 2018 |work=The Punk Vault |date=6 January 2012}}
Legacy
Driving the Dynamite Truck was later covered by the band Seam on the Kernel EP,{{cite web |url=http://www.secondhandsongs.com/song/66794 |title=Song: Driving the Dynamite Truck|accessdate=2008-10-09 | publisher=Second Hand Songs}} and later by Björklund's own group, High Value Target.
Poet Stephanie Burt paid homage to the group in her 2013 collection, Belmont.{{cite book|last1=Burt|first1=Stephen|title=Belmont : poems|date=2013|publisher=Graywolf Press|location=Minneapolis, Minn.|isbn=9781555976446|language=English}} Burt's poem cites the band's college radio hit, "(Knife in the) Marathon", lists the group's entire catalog, namechecks bassist Pete Conway's pseudonym, and refers to the band's slip into obscurity by stating, "I write about you now since nobody else is likely to."
Discography
=Studio releases=
- The Very Long Fuse EP (Homestead) (1985)
- The Ice Machine (Homestead) (1986)
- Smokers' Paradise EP (Homestead) (1987)
- "Home of the Brave" 7" single - included with issue 4 of The Pope fanzine.
=Compilation appearances=
- Big Hits Of Mid-America, Volume IV (Twin/Tone) (1986) - "Driving The Dynamite Truck"
- Oh! You Mean Minneapolis cassette (Skull Duggery) (1986) - "Antient Axes (special demo version)", "Soul of Japan (live)"
- The Wailing Ultimate-The Homestead Records Compilation (Homestead) (1987) - "Song Of The South"
- Minneapolis Bonus cassette EP (Skull Duggery) (1988) - "Song Of The South (live)"
See also
References
{{reflist}}
{{Breaking Circus}}
{{Authority control}}
Category:1984 establishments in Illinois
Category:Alternative rock groups from Minnesota
Category:American post-punk music groups
Category:Indie rock musical groups from Minnesota
Category:Homestead Records artists
Category:Musical groups from Chicago