Breaking Circus
| Company type | Band |
|---|---|
| Industry | Music |
| Founded | 1984 |
| Founder | Steve Björklund |
| Defunct | 1988 |
| Headquarters | Chicago, Illinois; later Minneapolis, Minnesota , United States |
| Products | Music recordings (EPs, albums) |
Breaking Circus was a post-punk group active throughout the 1980s, initially rooted in Chicago before relocating to Minneapolis. The band was established by guitarist and lead vocalist Steve Björklund.
History
After his tenure with the Chicago punk outfit Strike Under, Björklund created Breaking Circus alongside bassist Bruce Lange and utilized a Roland TR-606 drum machine. Their first release, the EP The Very Long Fuse (1985), came out on Homestead Records and included the track "Marathon," which received significant attention on college radio stations.
In 1986, Björklund moved to Minneapolis and joined forces with Pete "Flour" Conway, bassist of Rifle Sport, and multi-instrumentalist Todd Trainer. That same year, Breaking Circus contributed the song "Driving the Dynamite Truck" to the Twin/Tone compilation Big Hits of Mid-America Volume Four, featuring Tony Pucci from Man Sized Action on drums. Homestead Records issued their full-length album The Ice Machine, distinguished by an insert resembling a Monopoly drinking game.
For a national tour, guitarist Phil Harder was added to the lineup. Plans for a subsequent LP intended to feature four tracks each from Björklund, Conway, and Trainer; however, Homestead limited the budget to six songs. This resulted in the 1987 EP Smokers' Paradise, which contained all four of Björklund’s compositions alongside one track each from Conway and Trainer. The band dissolved in 1988.
Post-Circus
Following Breaking Circus, Phil Harder pursued a career directing music videos and formed the trio Big Trouble House. Pete Conway released four solo albums under the name Flour through Touch and Go Records. Todd Trainer issued two EPs as Brick Layer Cake before co-founding Shellac with Steve Albini and Bob Weston. Björklund put out a final 7" single of solo electropop cover songs under the Breaking Circus moniker, briefly joined Balloon Guy, then shifted focus to production work. In the 2010s, he re-entered the music scene by creating High Value Target with his wife Liz Björklund and former Effigies drummer Steve Economou; this group released an EP in 2012.
Legacy
The track "Driving the Dynamite Truck" was later covered by Seam on their Kernel EP and subsequently recorded again by Björklund’s High Value Target. Poet Stephanie Burt paid tribute to Breaking Circus in her 2013 poetry collection Belmont, referencing their college radio hit "(Knife in the) Marathon," enumerating their discography, and noting bassist Pete Conway’s alias, emphasizing the band's relative obscurity.
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—distributed 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)"