From Campground Chaos to Metal Dreams Cirkus Joins the Pipeman at Rocklahoma

0:05 Hey, you're listening to Adventure on W4CY Radio. This is the Pipe Man here on the Adventure's Pipe Man W4CY Radio, and I'm here with... Matt. Gage and Tommy, we're all from Circus. Nice. What a circus Rock, Oklahoma is, huh? Yeah. In the best way possible. Have you guys been to the campground? Speaking of circuses? Oh, yeah. We've been out there. We're staying out there. Nice. It's like Vegas, man. Whatever happens in the ground stays in the ground.

0:46 No doubt. No doubt. I've seen probably like three buttholes. Is that all? You haven't been doing much. Well, you know, I did actually have to go hit the sack early last night to get ready for our show. Yeah, see? I did get my hair cut, too. Yeah. Yeah. Didn't step in any poop dollars yet from those ICP fans, but. It's coming. It's coming. It's coming, yeah. I'm sure it is. It's funny, because I do festivals all over the U.S., U.K., Europe, Canada. This is the one that I do camp at, because this campground is insane. Oh, yeah. Yeah. Like, I would have serious FOMO if I was staying at a hotel. That's what I was telling these guys. It's his first year ever being at Rock, Oklahoma. Really?

1:30 Yeah, and he played it. His first year ever being in the campgrounds at Rock, Oklahoma. Wow. So it's an experience. They could probably elaborate off of it, but you're not wrong at all. You can find anything, everything, and see whatever you want in the grounds. It's a party from day all the way to nighttime. Have you been to the campsite? They're friends of mine. Buses, boobs, and buttholes. This is my fifth year, so I've been to all of them. You know which one I'm talking about, right? It's a big yellow school bus that they built a deck on top of. The big yellow school bus. Oh, yeah. No, we've passed it like fucking probably ten times since we've been out here. We're camped pretty close to it, actually. There you go. Yeah. They're neighbors. Yeah, they're neighbors. So.

2:12 We have some good background music for your interview here. Oh, yeah. I love Living Color, man. They're awesome. They're playing Pride right now. It's my favorite one of their songs. But they're known for cult personality, but they're. Awesome, dude. I love them. Nice. I love it. And you have a Randy Rhoades tattoo. I do. I have two of them. Oh, look at that. He's definitely the number one reason I started playing guitar, as well as Zach Wild, who's playing tomorrow. No doubt. Yes. And I saw Randy live. Oh, wow. Yeah. I got FOMO from that big time. Yeah, that was insane. I'll tell you the story. It was one of those things. I was a teenager. I told my parents that I was staying over at my bro's house. He told his parents he was staying over at my house. And we went on New Year's Eve to go see Ozzy.

2:59 Yeah. And then we get home. And where I lived, like there was this hill in my backyard that went down to a lake. So we're just chilling down by the lake. So my dad wouldn't see us. And we were going to just sneak in in the morning. Yeah. My next door neighbor comes out. And she sees all the swag and she goes, oh, did you boys go to Ozzy? And we're like, fuck, we're busted. She goes, wait here, I'm getting my husband. Oh, fuck what we do. He comes out, brings us up to the house. He has this room that's a whole studio with cassette tapes all over the walls. Turns out he was fucking Ozzy's promoter.

3:40 Oh, that's fucking wild. My next door neighbor. I had no fucking clue. So he gives us all this swag. And then he hands me this cassette tape. He says, this band's not in America yet. They'll be here in six months and they're going to be huge. And that was except Restless and Wild. Yeah. Fast as a shark. Yep. Damn. And so that was a wild Randy thing. And then he died shortly thereafter. So I hit the cutoff. Yeah, absolutely. His first tattoo since he was old enough to get a tattoo. Yep. I got this on my 18th birthday. Really? Yep. Nice. And like you, except different than you, He's the reason I started playing guitar. I used to play drums and then I started playing guitar. He's also the reason I quit playing guitar. Because I found out that he was as good as he was because he practiced eight hours a day. I'm like... Fuck, I don't have eight hours a day.

4:39 I had no social life growing up. That's all I did was playing guitar. Exactly. That's the sacrifice you make to be a great musician, you know, and to do what you love. Yes. You know, it's like people have superheroes they look up to and football players and all that. Growing up, it was Zach, Dime, and Randy and a lot of other guitar players, you know. So that's always been the ultimate goal. And how about you guys? Oh, you go ahead. Um, when it comes to the metal genre, definitely like Phil Anselmo and Ivan Moody, Corey Taylor, super, super, super impressive and miraculous singers, dude. Like it takes so much out of you and to do it consistently every day in tour, that's just something that you like strive to do and be the best at, you know?

5:26 Oh, no doubt. Been practicing, um, you know, you practice hard and just, you know, replicate, man. That's, that's what you got to do. Um, Other than metal, I mean, when it comes to singers, I love my OG, my GOAT, Freddie Mercury. Oh, well, yeah. I mean, come on. That's a high standard, I know. But, like, I was obsessed with Queen growing up and, you know, Paul McCartney. I love the Beatles. You know, his singing's a little off now, but he's, you know, he's 70-something. All right, then I have a trivia question for you. And this trivia question has actually come up this weekend a lot. And I only bring it up when somebody mentions something that relates to it. Who is one of the best, best bass players ever that was originally a guitarist and the only reason he was a guitarist is because he had to go to bass, is they already had two guitarists and he drew the short straw and had to be the bassist. Shit and now that you said shit. I'll tell you I did give you a really good hint.

6:36 Okay Yeah What is it? He didn't hear it ask it again I might have it who's one of the. Most famous bassists of all time that wasn't a bassist to begin with He only became a bassist because there were already two guitars. So he had to switch from guitar to bass. Oh So did the band that he ended up being famous in continue to have two guitar players? Yes. Give me an era. I'll give you a hint. A hint. Give me a hint. It's something he said. The Beatles area? I thought Queen.

7:22 No. Should I give it to you? Yeah. All right, you were close, and then he said, no, you're not. Paul McCartney. Oh. It's not the Beatles, is it? Yeah. Paul McCartney. Yeah. Well, you had Pete Bass and Stu, but George and John are guitarists. Yeah. I just fucking flopped the gun on that one, dude. I just, wow. He's the buff on the Beatles. Yo, I'm a super Beatles buff, let it be known. You can play any Beatles song, like first, like second, I'll know what it is. Okay, so I'll ask you another trivia question then. Oh man, I'm going to feel, okay.

8:02 Who, what Beatles song inspired one of the most renowned serial killers of all time? Who never killed anybody himself? Who never killed somebody himself. Oh, it's Helter Skelter. Yep. There you go. It's Helter Skelter. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. By Motley Crue. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Probably shouldn't say this on the air, but I'm like big into serial killers, so I would have got that one. Me too. Yeah. So you'll love this. I did Milwaukee Metal Fest a few months ago, and I was interviewing Chop Top. Oh, yeah. With the Ambassador Hotel behind us as the backdrop.

8:45 Wow, man. Yeah, that was trippy. Chainsaw Massacre? Yep. Wow. And the Ambassador Hotel is where Dahmer killed you. Yeah. Damn. Eerie. That's pretty wild right there. Now we have to, I think, come up with a... Trivia question for you. We'll have to figure that out before we're done with the interview. Yeah, I'll give you a little background. My influences probably dig really deep down from my parents put Metallica on me growing up. So Lars Ulrich, right? And then Megadeth, right? Nick Minza. And then I started getting a little heavier. I started getting like the Lamb of Gods of the world. The Rev from AX7. I love his.

9:25 Joey Jordanson from Slipknot. I kind of pull inspirations. And I can't forget one of the biggest influences for me is just because he's powerful is Vinnie Paul. Nice. From Pantera, you know. And they all just got me really hooked into drumming. I've been drumming probably since I could hold a stick. Took a little bit of a break, you know, because life got really hectic. And then met this guy and got really back into it. You know, that's all we do now. That's all we do. That's what it takes, connecting with the right people. Absolutely. You know? Vinnie Paul, I interviewed him before he died. Joey Jorison, before he died. I love Joey Jorison. One of my favorite drummers of all time. Shoulda. Should be here on Sunday, but isn't. Can you tell me who it is? Slayer.

10:06 Lombardo. Yeah, Slayer, for sure. Exactly. I was at their first show ever. I was at Metallica's first show ever. Now I have another trivia question for you. What current member of Metallica was they were going to kick out of the band a long time ago in the very beginning? Current member? Current member. Well, they pulled Kirk from Exodus, and then, of course, they kicked out Dave, and then James and Lars are the ones that founded the band.

10:46 Yeah, but Lars, I thought. They were going to get rid of Lars because he was just the money. Probably Lars. Probably Lars. Yep. Yeah, yeah, yeah. The thing is, Lars had ties. His dad had ties with all the promoters and all the money. Well, not only that, he was smart. Yeah, smart, yeah. Okay, the shit he did. And even the fact, okay, listen. Everybody gave him shit for Napster, but he was right. Now, all you bands are fucked. Oh, fucked. Because nobody listened to Lars, okay? Yeah, we get paid. 0004 cents per stream. And you can say what you will, okay? Like, everybody likes to give him shit that he's a terrible drummer. Listen to Injustice For All. But he is in the biggest band ever in history, pretty much, at this point. And at his age, he's still killing it on the drums. Like, the newest album is, like, old school Metallica.

11:38 In my opinion. Yeah, like Bucks Eterna and, like, Screaming Suicide. A couple tracks off their new album, yeah. Yeah. I mean, you can't give any, no one's ever given ACDC shit. You know what I mean? That's one of the most broad, most powerful bands you can see live and it's rinse and repeat on all their songs. You know what I mean? It's about how you connect, how your music connects with people's souls. You don't have to be the. Most technical player. You know, if you want to go see them, go see Dream Theater, go see Tool, Rush, Rest in Peace, Neil Peart. That's also another one. my big influences. But yeah, you gotta be the best, man. That's how you move people. No doubt. And he is a great businessman. So, like, he's the reason Metallica goes places. It's not just the talent.

12:18 You know, like, what he did with Slagle was genius. He didn't even have a band. Did you know that? He went... Metal Massacre 1, Brian Slagle, like, I knew Brian Slagle. He was a record store clerk at this place, Oz Records in the Valley in LA. Me and my friends would go there and he would promote... the records to us, he's like, you gotta check this album out. Oh, go to this show. They were all his bands. He started Metal Blade Records while he was a record store clerk at Oz Records. Fucking brilliant. And he didn't do it on purpose. But Lars approached him because he was doing the Metal Massacre one and wanted to get on the album. Didn't even have a band. And Brian's like, if you have a band... I'll put you on the album.

13:04 And that's how Metallica started, because that's when he placed the ad and met James and put that whole band together just to be on that first compilation album. Didn't they go to the same high school? Probably. You know who just signed to Metal Blade Records that we know of, we played with them before? Void. There you go. Yeah, Void just got signed to them last year. They came to our town, we played the show with them, dude. Super thrash band, but yeah, they're... Making waves now. Yeah. Mel Blade's amazing. Like, I just, I think about it now. I talked to him a few years ago, and I was like, what you did back then was brilliant. And he said, I was just a record store clerk. But I think about it, like, what a brilliant marketing plan.

13:44 How better to build a record label than to work at a record store? But he worked at the record store first, so it's not like that's what he set out to do, I don't think. But, hey, we wouldn't be sitting here right now if that didn't happen. Hell, yeah. No, we wouldn't. That's wild. I know, right? There are a couple music stores that will sell our shit. And it ain't going to be Spotify. So tell everybody how they can reach out to you guys. Check out all your stuff. Buy your merch because they can't listen to my show unless they buy your merch. On Facebook, we're just Circus. On C-I-R-K-U-S, a lot of people think, oh, there's a K in your name. I didn't know. And we couldn't find you. And I'm like, oh.

14:30 And then on Instagram, it's X underscore Circus Official. And then on TikTok, it should just be Circus. We're on Apple Music, Spotify, Pandora, Tidal, Deezer. Everything. Napster. Yeah, we're even on Instagram and YouTube as little songs you can put over your reels and stuff. Yeah. Very soon after this show. Nice. So, is there anything else you want to let the listeners know that we haven't covered already? Well, I mean, if there's anything that I would want to let... any listener out there, like, listening or wanting to get into music, the best way to do it is to just do it. Like, that's exactly what we did. We started doing it, and we're here playing at Rock, Oklahoma.

15:14 There's literally no ceiling to how far you can go and what you do. Like, I'll tell you right now, two years ago, I wouldn't have thought that we'd be here right now getting interviewed. So... Yeah, we formed just under two and a half years ago. Nice. It was all of our first bands, like real band, you know. Wow. Playing all of our first show together, you know. It was meant to be. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Be on the lookout for some new music. We're going to be writing quite a bit of music whenever the festival season starts dying down. We have another festival in October, and then we're going to Dallas. Which one? Aftershock? It's called Rock the Equinox. It's a little smaller festival in Oklahoma, in Stigler. And then we're going to Dallas-Fort Worth, Texas in two weeks. We're playing at the Rail. And then we have, I think, another show in October. And after that, we're going to really grind down on cooking some new music.

16:04 We want to put another album out next year. Beautiful. I love it. Yeah, we're going to go towards a boy band vibe on our next album. Just like Bring Me the Horizon. Exactly. No, I'm kidding. No, next album is going to be heavier and harder and better and more badass than the first one. So we're not worried about that. Yeah, don't worry. There might not be another Fly Away on there. If you've ever heard that song, listen. I love that song. But yeah, it's experimental rock for sure. Well, sometimes that's what you got to do. To me, heavy metal is experimental. Yeah, absolutely. Everything about it. That's what created all this is experimenting. You even take Tony Iommi.

16:49 He took a really bad, tragic thing. and experimented and came up with a new sound that is the basis of all metal today. Dang, well, you heard it here first. It sounds like we're going to have 30 more flyaways on our next album. There you go. There it is. Damn right. We'll see about it. Well, you guys rock. I'm glad you were here at Rock, Oklahoma, and thanks for being on the Adventures of Pipe Man. Thank you, brother. This is Matt from Circus. Gage from Circus. Tommy from Circus. Thanks for having us. Thanks for having us. Thank you for listening to The Adventures of Pikeman on W4CY Radio.