Lets face it, the American music scene has become stale and predictable.  You can tell what a band is by just looking at them, there is no surprise anymore.  That has changed with the arrival of Circus Diablo, that rare L.A. act that burst on the scene this year and has taken the music world by the throat.  Billy Morrison, the enigmatic member of Camp Freddy fronts this disturbingly good and yet very dangerous band along with Ricky Warwick slinging a mad axe and both of them had plenty to say. 

Interview with Billy Morrison and Ricky Warwick by Jeffrey Easton. 
 
 

Jeffrey:  What was the idea behind Circus Diablo? 

Billy Morrison:  I have known Billy Duffy for many years as well as being in the Cult with him and as well as being apart of my other band Camp Freddy.  He always thought I would be a good front man and we decided to write together.   After Ricky Warwick came to America to be a third songwriting partner we were sitting on 12 songs.  It was only then that we decided to release the songs.  We never thought we were going to release a record together.   

Jeffrey:  Why is that if you had something good going on? 

Billy:  We did not know.  The thing about Circus Diablo is that it was a very organic process.  I know a lot of bands say that  but we started writing songs, I was singing because I had a lot of things to say and I had waited a long time to say it and it was only when we went into record with Matt Sorum on drums did we know we had an album.  It was a fun process to go through and that is probably why the album sounds so good.   When you spend a million on an album in three months, you are working from the waist up, you lose the cock and pussy of Rock And Roll. Rock And Roll is from the waist down.   We did ours in 17 or 18 days  on our own dime because we do not have time to mess around.   

Jeffrey:  The guitars sound great, where were you coming from when you were writing the riffs? 

Ricky:  It was no different than the way I wrote for The Almighty.  The Almighty was a very riff based band.  Billy is into riffs and I would come up with a riff and there was not much difference between a riff for the Almighty or Circus except for Billy.  Billy has a unique sound and a different way of approaching it.   

Billy:  Mary Shadow (bonus track on Japanese release) is a great example.  He came in with a riff that he was playing at 90 miles an hour  so I listened to it and told him to slow it down and after he did I said that’s a song.   

Ricky:  That is the genius of Circus Diablo, you bring it in, bang it out and it works.  

Jeff:  So Circus Diablo is the Devils Circus. 

Ricky: Yes it is. 

Billy:  It is a freak show, where the freaks can feel at home.  It was not as contrived as that seems.  We went through every name under the sun  and we finally grew into that name just because we are the outsiders. 

Ricky:  I came up with the Diablo name and when I Mentioned it to Billy he immediately said Circus Diablo.  We told Duffy and at first he was not sure but he came in one day and said it‘s great.  It is a cool band name as band names are hard to come by these days.  It is a good band name that conjures up an image and it fits what we do. 

Billy:  It was a lot better than Penis Head.  You wake up sweating, please do not let us call the band Penis Head. 

Jeff:  When I slipped the record in the first thing that came to mind was Alice Cooper, circa Trash.  The sound of your vocals and the feel of the music have brought that sound back that Alice forgot about.   

Ricky:  Someone came up to me one time and said that Billy’s voice reminded him of early Alice Cooper which I love.   

Billy:  I am very happy that you said that as I am a big Alice Cooper fan but I really do not think when I sing, it is just what comes out.  It is hard to hear comparisons, I just sing what I sing.  I have heard a little bit of Oasis, Johnny Rotten and Scott Weiland as well but to hear Alice Cooper it makes me feel great. 

Jeff:  It is a cross between early G n R and Alice Cooper, it is a very Dangerous record. 

Billy:  The thing is, lyrically, this was not a hard album to write and the reason that is that I have been waiting 15 years to say what I want to say.   I have album number 2 and maybe number 3 as well, I have been waiting so long to say what I am wanting to say.   

Jeff:  Why did you wait so long then? 

Billy:  Because I have been busy doing other things.  I have Camp Freddy, a radio show, I have been in The Cult, I act and I write screen plays, I am a busy man.  I was happy playing guitar but I am ready to take the lead role and run with it.   

Jeff:  Where did all of it come from, the lyrics? 

Billy:  Years of pent up emotion and aggression and drug abuse as well.  I am telling you kids, don’t do this at home but I have 14 years of living on the streets shooting up a lot of drugs and if you are lucky to get out alive you have a lot of dysfunction to draw of off.   

Jeff:  You have a big fat notepad do you not? 

Billy:  That is a fucking great quote, I wish I had said that.  So yea I am enjoying writing the lyrics and I believe that I have something to say.  I was stressing out last night and my wife asked me why am I doing this and it is not for the fame because I am not famous and it is not for fortune because I am fucking broke.  What it is for is to connect.  The feeling I get when a kid comes up to me and says “I want you to know that you changed my life” means the world to me.  So to write lyrics and speak to people, I do not care if you like what I am doing but I want you to listen.  

Jeff:  What are some of the songs about? 

Billy:  In Rock N Roll you have to write about women but I try not to write about one woman.  Take the song Mary’s Shadow, it is about a fictional woman but is made up of many real women that I know.  I draw on character traits from one woman, how another is and how I felt when another kicked me to the curb. Red Sun Rising is about a woman that lives in the subway system of New York.  Now I do not know any women that live in the New York subway system but wouldn’t that be fucking cool if there was one? 

Jeff:  I am sure there are one or two that do. 

Billy:  I am sure there are but I wrote a song about her.  (laughter)  Now there is a song on the record called Shine that is the exception to that rule.  It is a song about my wife, it is the only song I have ever written about a real person.   

 

Jeff:  Why did you write it? 

Billy:  Because she changed my life.  I was the consummate whore, a player to the end.  So in the middle of The Cult/Aerosmith world tour I said no more and you can imagine what that was like.  So I just walked away from it.  There are also songs on there about drugs, Mad Parade is about a well known British pop singer who I had a falling out with.  It was a very cathartic experience to be able to sing and get that out. 

Jeff: Naming names? 

Billy:  Just listen to the lyrics and work it out, its not hard. Anything that burns a hole in my stomach I will write about because when I scream and shout that every night it is a cathartic experience.  

Jeff:   What are you using on the album, equipment wise? 

Ricky:  We are using Gibson’s, Marshall’s  and Mesa Boogie Amps.  

Billy:  The reason it sounds so good is that we did the record in Matt Sorum’s back garden.  Now it is probably the nicest back garden in Hollywood but is a small homely affair.  What he has is very good front end equipment, Neve preamps, the old valve stuff.  There was no new stuff used.  Every guitar was beautifully set up, everything was basically Gibsons with the exception of a few Tele’s.  The one thing we did not do is fuck with it, that is why it sounds so good.  We did not fuck with because we did not have time to.  I think that is where people go wrong is that they fuck with their sound to much.   

Jeff:  The record is out on Koch, how well is it doing? 

Billy:  We are completely and deliberately staying out of that.  The only thing I want to know is what city are we in, where is the Starbucks and what time do we go on stage.   

Not to many records can take you by surprise like the debut from Circus Diablo, this band is worthy of your undivided attention.

www.circusdiablo.com