John: When did you guys get started?
Tia: It was 2000.
Daniel: Yeah. Six years ago.
John: You guys did a week in New York earlier in the year, but this is pretty much your first US tour. How did it go for you?
Tia: I think it went great.
Daniel: Everything that we booked on this tour started off with SHoD, so all the dates that were added on were pretty much... We had a tour with Year Long Disaster. It was already set up and fixed, but they got this deal with Clutch, so they had to pull out. So we were stranded. That was in June. We [though], �Fuck, we want to play SHoD, we want to do some shows.� That was our plan, to do SHoD and shows around that. When Rich called me and said they had pulled out, we just e-mailed everybody. And Stephanie Shamer [board member EvilfFanny] was really supportive and Josiah [who was supposed to tour with them] was like, �We have to do this, we have to pull it through.� From then on, we were offered shows in the Midwest and in Arkansas and in St Louis and all around. It ended up with shows on the West coast and this was the major thing. We`re just happy it finally came through.
John: You guys get a good turnout? Were people pretty receptive to you?
Daniel: At least at the places where the people knew who we are. We played Fresno on a really strange bill, because the bands there � nice people, really nice bands from San Francisco and LA � and we had a really good response from the audience, but the turnout wasn`t that good, even though it was a Saturday night. We would love to do that Year Long Disaster tour. That would be great.
John: You have three guitars going on. How difficult is it to write songs and make sure that each guitar has something to do. What I noticed tonight was that you all were doing something different.
Tia: I guess if I had the dream set up, it would be six guitars. I have a studio at home and I write the songs and I just put on stuff. We really need those three guitars and we probably would have six to make the dream.
John: That would be a shit ton of equipment.
Daniel: We actually toured in Europe with four guitarists, with one acoustic added on to it. There was a lot of technical stuff � we really needed a sound check for that. But it turned out good. The acoustic guy, he also plays xylophone and other stuff.
John: With the EP, you called it Morbyn Outtakes. Were they outtakes from the first record or was it new shit and that was just the name you came up with?
Daniel: We had a bunch of songs and we needed to record them in order to move on. We knew we couldn`t release a full length, but we were in the middle of pre-production and we were totally frustrated. So we put down six tracks and then added on seven or eight more and then we said to Freebird Records, �We want to release something. We don`t want to sit at home and do nothing.� So we picked a couple of songs. On the full-length, there will be one song -
Tia: Two tracks.
Daniel: Maybe two tracks from that recording. I don`t know if it will be the songs from the EP or just from the recording.
(Bj�rn Billgren shows up)
John: Bjorn, you`re new to the band, right? How tough is it fitting in with the rest of them?
Bj�rn: The biggest difference is that I`m from way down south in Sweden, and they`re all from the way up north part. There`s a cultural difference going on. I`m more European.
John: So you`re saying they`re hillbillies.
Bj�rn: No � Russians.
John: That`s even worse. So how`s the work on the next album coming along?
Tia: It`s scheduled for October, but the recordings are finished. The thing with us is that it takes two days to record it, but a couple of years to mix it. At least it feels like that. It`s all recorded, and when we get back home we`re going to finish it.
John: What do you guys think is the biggest obstacle in getting your music out there?
Bj�rn: Touring.
Daniel: And PR. Freebird Records, they have the heart in it, they have the soul, but they don`t have the finances, and it`s too bad, because they`re good guys. So that`s one thing, and also as Bjorn says, touring. We would love to play a lot more.
John: Have you guys played any of the big festivals in Europe?
Daniel: We played EuroSonic last year. That`s a major music industry thing. We did a tour around that. That was really good.
John: Bjorn, you have like 800 pedals and everyone else has one or two. What`s the deal?
Bj�rn: We have three guitarists, right. And two of them aren`t using any pedals at all, so I have to use so many more.
John: So you have to compensate for their shortcomings.
Bj�rn: Seriously, though, the whole sound of the Circus, the key sound is that it`s so clean. What I want to do as a guitarist is add some flavors to the clean sound.
John: Who would you say your contemporaries are? Who do you associate yourselves with?
Daniel: We`ve been compared to Mammoth Volume.
Tia: Jethro Tull.
Bj�rn: We get that question all the time, and in a way we`re against putting labels on thing. So to turn that question around, because that`s more interesting to us, who do you think we sound like?
John: Mammoth Volume. The first thing I thought when I heard your self titled debut, I though, �These guys are picking up where those guys left off.� After seeing your set tonight, it`s just pretty. You guys just write some damn pretty music with a lot of depth to it.
Daniel: I don`t think there`s a lot of bands doing the same thing as we do. That`s a good thing and a bad thing.
John: Do you find it hard making inroads because of that?
Daniel: I believe that if we continue to do what we do... We`ll finish this record and we`ll be ready for more touring. We really believe in what we`re doing, and no one will have the power to put us down or shut us up. This guy [Tia] is shitting out ten songs a week and we`re trying to keep up and arrange all the shit.
John: Now when you write a song, do you have the basic framework that you bring to the band or do you plan out individual parts?
Tia: In the studio we try it out and arrange it and people come up with different ideas. I don`t dictate each song.
John: One of the songs that you played tonight from the debut album had the line �I fear and hate mankind.� Now what`s that about?
Tia: This is a long story. A couple of years ago, I had a girlfriend and we all moved to Stockholm from way up north in Sweden. My girlfriend got hooked up with him [Daniel].
John: No shit, that`s dirty pool!
Tia: I just wanted to get out. �Fuck this, fuck it all.� And I wrote �Infected Grounds.�
Daniel: We`re the best of friends.
Tia: I played it for him.
Daniel: And it`s not a problem.
John: Now are you still with the girl?
Daniel: Yeah.
John: That`s nutty.
Daniel: That`s the thing with the Circus. Not that we`re trading girlfriends, but we`re not bailing out on each other. Me and him, we have a friendship that goes way back.
John: What exactly is behind the name Dexter Jones` Circus Orchestra?
Tia: Shit, that`s a long story.
Daniel: It`s always long stories. We played in a band � me, David [Israelsson], and Tia � like in the mid `90`s. To make money, we played crazy and varied rock n roll. Like string scales and disco mixed with hard rock. We toured and played a lot of universities and parties. One of our best friends took the part as the manager. He had a nickname called �Dexter Jones,� who was like the Peter Grant manager type. He took all the money to himself and treated us really bad. But it was a semi-ironic type of thing. We had the stage outfits and strange instruments.
When we started doing this shit, we asked what name should we do? We hadn`t been playing music in so long, why not take the manager name? It was kind of a joke.
John: How tough is it for you guys to travel to the US and tour? You had to get work visas?
Daniel: We applied for a couple of grants back in Stockholm and we tried to get some money for this tour. But we didn`t get it, but we`re applying for other grants as well. We really wanted to get into the game and have this opportunity to play for the right kind of people, so we put our money on the table and said, �Let`s go.� We`re not regretting it.
Bj�rn: Let me paint you the picture � for the whole tour, we`ve been trying to get twin rooms at motels and putting the two beds and all five guys are sleeping together. That`s how hard it is for us to tour in America. And it`s all fucking worth it.
John: I hope none of you have lice. Alright, last question. Number one album of all time.
Bj�rn: Can I pick five?
John: Sure.
Bj�rn: Okay, top five, no top three for right now: Appetite for Destruction, Machine Head (Deep Purple), and Volume Four by Sabbath.
Daniel: I`ll say three albums that important to me are Captain Beyond`s first album; Thin Lizzy, the three albums from `74 to `76, and also... I`ll leave it at that.
Tia: I`d say Jethro Tull Benefit, Ace of Spades, and Bad Reputation (Thin Lizzy).
