Circle C

Websites:  No
Origin: Vancouver, British Columbia
Biography:

Circle C was a Canadian alternative rock band, active in the 1990s. The band was launched by vocalist Thomas Anselmi and guitarist Christian Thorvaldson, former members of the short-lived and controversial punk rock band Slow, with new bassist Eric Marxsen and drummer Pete Bourne.

Initially, the band spelled its name as the symbol ©, pronounced as "Circle C". Under that name, they released a self-titled debut album on Geffen Records in 1991. That album sold poorly, and the band was dropped from Geffen. After a few years of struggling to continue in the music industry, they were subsequently signed to BMG Music, releasing their second album Love Story in 1996 under the name Copyright. The album The Hidden World followed in 2001.

Mystery and legend enshroud this artifact (if you can find a copy of it) released by Geffen in 1991 and just as quickly buried by the company because, allegedly, David Geffen himself was offended by the band’s super-bratty behaviour. Whatever mischief occurred behind the scenes, the record remains a towering crystallization of Tom Anselmi and Christian Thorvaldson’s post-Slow art-rock ambitions (“State to State”) married to their native Stonesy dirtbagginess (“The Epiphone Song”). And “Dust” will always be the greatest song ever written about getting high and killing your fiancée in a car accident on the Stanley Park Causeway. How Vancouver is that?!

Here's a lost chapter in the long and storied history of Canadian alt-rock. This band was originally known by the symbol (c)...and that loosely translated into the name "Circle C". This was their debut album, released on Geffen in 1991. It's a good, solid, odd record. However, it didn't matter how good this or any other record could have been, especially in 1991, especially on Geffen. Any promotion and A&R work for a small act like this would have fallen away completely as a result of another Geffen band's exploding popularity (ie, Nirvana ). So, a small-time act like Circle C didn't get its due.

They got dumped from Geffen after this, and ended up releasing two more records under the name "copyright ". But to be honest, I've never heard any of the other albums.

However, I really listened to this CD a lot when it came out. In fact, I still remember buying it second hand at Blue Moon records in Port Huron, Michigan. It's a bit alt-rock, a bit country, a bit Neil Young, and a bit honky-tonk. "Epiphone Song" (track 2 on the CD), for example, is a rush of cross-genre fun. There is a piano that sounds like it should be playing in an Old West saloon , and the main riff makes you want to get up and dance a dosey-doe...

The high point of the CD is track 3, however, "Dust." This song was on every mixed tape I made for anyone in those days. It starts off light and soft, singing sounding desperate...then boom, it bangs itself wide open and rocks your socks off. Still heavy on the piano, still riffy...but this one makes you want to jump into a mosh pit.

This band must have been great live, if they sounded anything like this record. Too bad they never got to a wider audience, it's still a blast to listen to these tracks 16 years later.