Circus Boy

Mike Jtone, founding member and singer with Circus Boy, is not your average punk rock front-man. Amiable and warm yet charmingly shy, the veteran of the scene spent years observing band after band, soaking up the charisma and raw energy that so many Detroit singers exude, before finally plucking up the courage to put together a project of his own.

Over those years, Jtone became known by some of those same musicians that he was taking tips from and when Circus Boy was born, he had few problems convincing some of his acquaintances to perform with him (from time to time). As a result – though -- there is a fixed spine to the group; Circus Boy has something of a rotating line up.

On Sunday, Circus Boy play at The Painted Lady in Hamtramck with up-and-coming local band the Friends of Dennis Wilson. It promises to be an unpredictable and exciting night of punk rock mayhem. As Jtone told MMX, every show is a unique experience.

When and how did you start the band?
It was the beginning of 2005, and I got some guys together that I thought would want to make noise like what I remember listening to back when I hanging out in the ‘70s. We’d hang out at my house, and we started jamming. They were a totally different group of people back then to now.

You have a revolving line up. Why is that?
The thing is, that’s how we’ve kept it going. In the beginning, our regular drummer Andy Frost, who used to drum for (Scott Morgan’s) Powertrane, he’s a great drummer but he took off and I had to get somebody else to fill in. After that, I got hold of Bootsey X. He played the first show we did at the 2500 Club.

But that’s how it is. I never know until the last minute who’s gonna play, but that keeps it interesting. At the 2500 Club, the guy pulled the plug on us because we were playing Chuck Berry, right in the middle of our set.

Our bassist, Skid (Marx), has a big reputation around town. Because Skid was in the band, Bootsey would play with us. Then a lot of other people from the Bookies (Detroit’s first punk rock club) era came along. Greasy (Carlisi) loves the band. He likes the attitude of the band, and he’s an awesome musician. He knew Margaret (Doll Rod) and she was looking to do something. These guys have other things going on, which is why I have so many people coming in and out. But we have a semi core.

How do you pull in so many local names, like Bootsey X (The Lovemasters), Margaret Doll Rod (Demolition Doll Rods) and Greasy Carlisi (Dark Carnival)?
It amazes me that these guys want to play with me. Before this band, I’d never made music, although I wanted to. I never used to hang out with the people that were playing; I just went to the shows and stayed to myself. I never put myself forward like that, but there was always something that I thought I had in me.

Describe the band’s sound.
It’s got a trashy, rock ‘n’ roll, punk sound. That’s the way I like it. I literally get off on it.

Why the name Circus Boy?
When we first started, we were called the Prophets of Destruction. After our first show, and what a disaster that was, I realized that the name sounded like we were a metal band. I wanted to get a new name early, before we got locked into an identity. Our then guitar player mentioned the name Circus Boy, and I liked it. He came up with it because it used to be a TV show with Mickey Dolenz from The Monkees.

Do you fit in within the Detroit scene?
Sure, yeah. I can’t think of any reason why we wouldn’t. Our sound is punk, it’s raw, and that’s what I like about Detroit rock ‘n’ roll. We have other genres here, but that’s what I feel Detroit is best at. It’s unpretentious. I don’t care if you like it or not, but hopefully you’ll enjoy it. It can be as sloppy as anything, but people will still have a good time.

The last show we did at I-Rock, the sound guy told us that he’d never seen a band have so much fun. When the sound guy says that, you know you have something.

But as far as us fitting in, I would say ‘who cares?’ We at least fit in with the people that I know.

What do you think of the current state of rock ‘n’ roll in Detroit?
I love the younger bands that I can learn from. The Clone Defects, The Piranhas – I like them a lot, the way they’re unrehearsed. There are bands like that going on today, like the Terrible Twos. I’m not into the indie type stuff, but I think the scene in general is healthy. When I go to other towns, which isn’t often because I don’t travel much, but I miss being around here because of the music. We have a healthy and diverse music scene here in Detroit.

What can people expect from your show Sunday night at the Painted Lady?
We’re gonna do our thing. Every show is kinda unique and we’ll see what happens. We’ll be ourselves and it’ll be special. We’ll have Greasy with us that night. Derek (Murtagh, guitar) is going to be out of town but we’ll have Gary (Adams), our regular guitar player, Sean Murtagh, Derek’s brother, will be on drums, and Skid will be on bass.

This band boats! So do the wild Friends of Dennis Wilson – Tony (Thrush) is an awesome front-man. This should be a great show.

Every show is special, we never know what is going to happen so we will just be ourselves and see what happens, it is truly spontaneous and unplanned chaos.

Do you have any plans to record an album?
We’ve never recorded and it’s never been a priority with me because I want to get out, do shows and have fun. But we’re at a point where we have eight of our own songs, and there another five songs that I have that we’ve not been doing but we could do. We’re setting up a day at a studio to see how it goes.

A lot of my band know what they’re doing in there but I’ve never done it, so we’re setting up a day to go in there, maybe have a few beers, and record. We won’t be real stylistic and tight, but it’ll be interesting. We have some really cool songs. I’d like to get a good recording of these songs that we’ve been doing.