Circus Diablo
Encyclopedia
Circus Diablo is a Los Angeles
-based hard rock
band, formed in early 2006 by Billy Morrison
(vocals), Billy Duffy
(lead guitar) and Ricky Warwick
(rhythm guitar). Former Fuel
frontman Brett Scallions
and Velvet Revolver
drummer Matt Sorum
subsequently joined the band on bass and drums, respectively. To date, Circus Diablo have released one studio album, entitled Circus Diablo.
The band's most recent touring incarnation featured Morrison alongside Rob Patterson
(lead guitar), Patrick Cornell (bass) and Charles Ruggiero (drums). The band is not currently active, however, in a recent interview Morrison stated that "Circus Diablo is always together. We can get together and make music when we feel like it."
guitarist Billy Morrison
, The Cult
's Billy Duffy
, and Ricky Warwick
- former member of The Almighty
- meeting at Morrison's home and writing songs in his home studio. Morrison states that:
The band enlisted Velvet Revolver
drummer Matt Sorum
to perform on the band's album, and the four-piece recorded at Sorum's Drac Studios. Former Fuel
vocalist Brett Scallions
joined on bass guitar for live performances, and Jeremy Colson - who had previously worked with Steve Vai
joined as the band's live drummer.
On April 29, 2007, the band signed a record deal with Koch Records
for the release of their eponymous debut album, which was released in July. During the summer, the track "Loaded" featured prominently on the Sirius hard rock
satellite
station Octane
, as well as terrestrial radio, and reached the top 20 slot according to Billboard
. The album itself received a high critical praise by Allmusic's Jo-Ann Greene who exclaimed "The songs are simply superb, not a clinker in the bunch. If this platter doesn't top best album polls in another three decades, it's because the world as we know it is no more."
The band performed on a rotating slot during Ozzfest
2007,but dropped out due to two of the guitarists wives being pregnant and giving birth. In December 2007, the folliwing appeared on the band's official website:
Since then, the band has remained inactive. However in March 2009, Billy Morrison stated:
Los Ángeles
Los Ángeles is the capital of the province of Biobío, in the commune of the same name, in Region VIII , in the center-south of Chile. It is located between the Laja and Biobío rivers. The population is 123,445 inhabitants...
-based hard rock
Hard rock
Hard rock is a loosely defined genre of rock music which has its earliest roots in mid-1960s garage rock, blues rock and psychedelic rock...
band, formed in early 2006 by Billy Morrison
Billy Morrison
Billy Morrison is an English guitarist, singer and actor who performs with the Los Angeles-based cover band Camp Freddy. Morrison is also a member of Billy Idol's current touring band, and has previously fronted the hard rock act Circus Diablo...
(vocals), Billy Duffy
Billy Duffy
Billy Duffy is an English guitarist and songwriter, best known as the guitarist in The Cult.-Early days:He grew up in Manchester, where he began playing guitar at the age of fourteen...
(lead guitar) and Ricky Warwick
Ricky Warwick
Ricky Warwick is possibly best known as the frontman for the Scottish band The Almighty. Starting out as a rhythm guitarist in New Model Army, Ricky formed The Almighty in 1988. Warwick was the lead vocalist and played guitar in various formats of the band. In 1996 he left The Almighty...
(rhythm guitar). Former Fuel
Fuel (band)
Fuel is an American rock band formed by guitarist/songwriter Carl Bell and bassist Jeff Abercrombie in 1989. Originally known as Small the Joy, they changed the group's name to Fuel sometime in 1994...
frontman Brett Scallions
Brett Scallions
Brett Allen Scallions is an American musician. He is currently the lead vocalist for current lineup of Fuel after being the vocalist for the original incarnation of the band from 1993 to 2006. During that time, the band released multiple albums including the double platinum Something Like Human...
and Velvet Revolver
Velvet Revolver
Velvet Revolver is an American hard rock supergroup consisting of former Guns N' Roses members Slash, Duff McKagan, and Matt Sorum, alongside Dave Kushner formerly of punk band Wasted Youth. Stone Temple Pilots vocalist Scott Weiland was Velvet Revolver's lead singer from their formation until...
drummer Matt Sorum
Matt Sorum
Matthew William Sorum is an American rock drummer and percussionist. Sorum is most famous for his 7-year stint in Guns N' Roses and supergroup Velvet Revolver , which is comprised in part of former Guns N' Roses members Duff McKagan and Slash .-Early career :Matt Sorum was born Matthew William...
subsequently joined the band on bass and drums, respectively. To date, Circus Diablo have released one studio album, entitled Circus Diablo.
The band's most recent touring incarnation featured Morrison alongside Rob Patterson
Rob Patterson
Rob Patterson is currently a member of the post-industrial band Filter.-Background:Patterson's first major band was the metal, female-fronted Otep. He played on their first two albums, Sevas Tra and House of Secrets.He began playing guitar for Korn in July 2005...
(lead guitar), Patrick Cornell (bass) and Charles Ruggiero (drums). The band is not currently active, however, in a recent interview Morrison stated that "Circus Diablo is always together. We can get together and make music when we feel like it."
History
Circus Diablo formed in 2006 with Camp FreddyCamp Freddy
Camp Freddy is a group of established musicians who play rock and roll covers at various shows around America. The band is composed of core members Dave Navarro , Billy Morrison , Matt Sorum , Donovan Leitch, Jr. and Chris Chaney...
guitarist Billy Morrison
Billy Morrison
Billy Morrison is an English guitarist, singer and actor who performs with the Los Angeles-based cover band Camp Freddy. Morrison is also a member of Billy Idol's current touring band, and has previously fronted the hard rock act Circus Diablo...
, The Cult
The Cult
The Cult are a British rock band that was formed in 1983. They gained a dedicated following in Britain in the mid 1980s as a post-punk band with singles such as "She Sells Sanctuary", before breaking mainstream in the United States in the late 1980s as a hard rock band with singles such as "Love...
's Billy Duffy
Billy Duffy
Billy Duffy is an English guitarist and songwriter, best known as the guitarist in The Cult.-Early days:He grew up in Manchester, where he began playing guitar at the age of fourteen...
, and Ricky Warwick
Ricky Warwick
Ricky Warwick is possibly best known as the frontman for the Scottish band The Almighty. Starting out as a rhythm guitarist in New Model Army, Ricky formed The Almighty in 1988. Warwick was the lead vocalist and played guitar in various formats of the band. In 1996 he left The Almighty...
- former member of The Almighty
The Almighty (band)
The Almighty are a hard rock/heavy metal band, from Glasgow in Scotland who formed in 1988. They have released seven studio albums, two anthologies and one live album.-1988-1993:...
- meeting at Morrison's home and writing songs in his home studio. Morrison states that:
Circus Diablo just sort of evolved. Before the current line-up of The Cult went back out touring, Billy [Duffy] would come over and we'd just write songs together. We both knew Ricky from back in the day, so we called him up and invited him to join us. It was an organic thing. It wasn't done to put a band together at all. We wrote a bunch of songs and about five or six weeks later, we stepped back and went "wow, what should we do with this?"
The band enlisted Velvet Revolver
Velvet Revolver
Velvet Revolver is an American hard rock supergroup consisting of former Guns N' Roses members Slash, Duff McKagan, and Matt Sorum, alongside Dave Kushner formerly of punk band Wasted Youth. Stone Temple Pilots vocalist Scott Weiland was Velvet Revolver's lead singer from their formation until...
drummer Matt Sorum
Matt Sorum
Matthew William Sorum is an American rock drummer and percussionist. Sorum is most famous for his 7-year stint in Guns N' Roses and supergroup Velvet Revolver , which is comprised in part of former Guns N' Roses members Duff McKagan and Slash .-Early career :Matt Sorum was born Matthew William...
to perform on the band's album, and the four-piece recorded at Sorum's Drac Studios. Former Fuel
Fuel (band)
Fuel is an American rock band formed by guitarist/songwriter Carl Bell and bassist Jeff Abercrombie in 1989. Originally known as Small the Joy, they changed the group's name to Fuel sometime in 1994...
vocalist Brett Scallions
Brett Scallions
Brett Allen Scallions is an American musician. He is currently the lead vocalist for current lineup of Fuel after being the vocalist for the original incarnation of the band from 1993 to 2006. During that time, the band released multiple albums including the double platinum Something Like Human...
joined on bass guitar for live performances, and Jeremy Colson - who had previously worked with Steve Vai
Steve Vai
Steven Siro "Steve" Vai is a three time Grammy Award-winning American guitarist, songwriter and producer who has sold over 15 million albums. Steve Vai is widely known as a flamboyant guitar virtuoso....
joined as the band's live drummer.
On April 29, 2007, the band signed a record deal with Koch Records
Koch Records
E1 Music , the primary subsidiary of E1 Entertainment LP, is the largest independent record label in the United States. It is also distributed by the Universal Music Group in Europe under the name E1 Universal...
for the release of their eponymous debut album, which was released in July. During the summer, the track "Loaded" featured prominently on the Sirius hard rock
Hard rock
Hard rock is a loosely defined genre of rock music which has its earliest roots in mid-1960s garage rock, blues rock and psychedelic rock...
satellite
Satellite radio
Satellite radio is an analogue or digital radio signal that is relayed through one or more satellites and thus can be received in a much wider geographical area than terrestrial FM radio stations...
station Octane
Octane (Sirius)
Octane is an active rock radio station on Sirius Satellite Radio channel 37 and Dish Network channel 6037. As a part of the Sirius XM Merger, Octane replaced the XM station SquiZZ on XM channel 48 and DirecTV channel 835 beginning November 12, 2008...
, as well as terrestrial radio, and reached the top 20 slot according to Billboard
Billboard (magazine)
Billboard is a weekly American magazine devoted to the music industry, and is one of the oldest trade magazines in the world. It maintains several internationally recognized music charts that track the most popular songs and albums in various categories on a weekly basis...
. The album itself received a high critical praise by Allmusic's Jo-Ann Greene who exclaimed "The songs are simply superb, not a clinker in the bunch. If this platter doesn't top best album polls in another three decades, it's because the world as we know it is no more."
The band performed on a rotating slot during Ozzfest
Ozzfest
Ozzfest is an annual festival tour of the United States featuring performances by many heavy metal and hard rock musical groups. It was founded by Ozzy Osbourne and his wife Sharon Osbourne, both of whom also organize each yearly tour with their son Jack Osbourne...
2007,but dropped out due to two of the guitarists wives being pregnant and giving birth. In December 2007, the folliwing appeared on the band's official website:
Billy Duffy (who co-wrote and recorded the album with Billy Morrison and Ricky Warwick) played the first few shows before moving back with The Cult. Brett Scallions became a first time dad, joined the remaining members of The Doors and filled the shoes of Jim Morrison in Riders On The Storm. Both Billy and Brett were influential parts in the Diablo story, and will be missed. The current V2.0 line up of Circus Diablo features ex Korn guitarist Rob Patterson (who traveled the US with Diablo during the summer Ozzfest tour) and session bassist / solo artist Patrick Cornell. "Both Billy and Brett were influential parts in the Diablo story, and will be missed.
Since then, the band has remained inactive. However in March 2009, Billy Morrison stated:
Circus Diablo is always together. We can get together and make music when we feel like it [...] I love Billy [Duffy] and Ricky [Warwick] and Matt [Sorum], and the timing worked out: we wrote and recorded that shit really quickly. Then we toured with a different line-up, and what does that matter? We played the songs and had fun. Then I got busy, the tour support dried up, and that was the end of round one. Now I find myself wanting to record more music. So I began writing. And, of course, I am still very good friends with Billy and Matt. So the way I see it is this: write songs first, without worrying about what they’re for, or where they’re gonna’ come out. If the managers put a “Diablo Album Number Two” deal together, maybe we’ll do that. Who knows? All I care about is being creative and making some cool music, either solo or in a “band” environment.
Last incarnation
- Billy MorrisonBilly MorrisonBilly Morrison is an English guitarist, singer and actor who performs with the Los Angeles-based cover band Camp Freddy. Morrison is also a member of Billy Idol's current touring band, and has previously fronted the hard rock act Circus Diablo...
- vocals, rhythm guitar (2006–present) - Rob PattersonRob PattersonRob Patterson is currently a member of the post-industrial band Filter.-Background:Patterson's first major band was the metal, female-fronted Otep. He played on their first two albums, Sevas Tra and House of Secrets.He began playing guitar for Korn in July 2005...
- lead guitar (2007–present) - Patrick Cornell - bass (2007–present)
- Charles Ruggiero - drums (2007–present)
Former members
- Billy DuffyBilly DuffyBilly Duffy is an English guitarist and songwriter, best known as the guitarist in The Cult.-Early days:He grew up in Manchester, where he began playing guitar at the age of fourteen...
- lead guitar (2006–2007) - Brett ScallionsBrett ScallionsBrett Allen Scallions is an American musician. He is currently the lead vocalist for current lineup of Fuel after being the vocalist for the original incarnation of the band from 1993 to 2006. During that time, the band released multiple albums including the double platinum Something Like Human...
- bass (2006–2007) - Ricky WarwickRicky WarwickRicky Warwick is possibly best known as the frontman for the Scottish band The Almighty. Starting out as a rhythm guitarist in New Model Army, Ricky formed The Almighty in 1988. Warwick was the lead vocalist and played guitar in various formats of the band. In 1996 he left The Almighty...
- rhythm guitar (2006–2007) - Matt SorumMatt SorumMatthew William Sorum is an American rock drummer and percussionist. Sorum is most famous for his 7-year stint in Guns N' Roses and supergroup Velvet Revolver , which is comprised in part of former Guns N' Roses members Duff McKagan and Slash .-Early career :Matt Sorum was born Matthew William...
- drums (2006) - Jeremy Colson - drums (2007)