Intervju - Alex Mitchell, Circus of Power Alex Mitchell, sångaren från kultgruppen Circus of Power, har nu en ny skiva ute med gruppen Fat Nancy; Pure American Muscle, Baby. I saw you in Circus of Power when you played the K.B hallen in Copenhagen back in 1990 (I think) together with Black Sabbath and Thunder. What do you remember from the tour? Any memory from Copenhagen? That tour sucked for us, it wasn't the original black Sabbath it was the spinal tap black Sabbath and we weren't much better. My head wasn't in a good place at the time, I think I was depressed. Europe was beautiful, if I came there now I would fucking love it. I don't remember anything about Copenhagen, just that it was also beautiful. Who were your main influences when you started Circus of Power? My influences have always been the same-what matters is the guys around me, like the guitar players, what they're into. That dictates a lot of what the band will sound like. But off the top of my head lynyrd skynyrd, Johnny winter, the cult, zodiac mindwarp, stuff like that. But I listen to everything-the damned might be might favorite band, queens of the stone age, motorhead, generation x, buzzcocks, clash, humblepie, I love soul music like marvin gaye, chi lites, al green, james brown, I love lounge like frank Sinatra, I love silly stuff like abba and Saturday night fever disco, I love mellow shit like joni Mitchell. Jazz...john Coltrane, miles davis. Everything that's good, and not much good music comes out now. It all sucks, almost all of it. Do you have any contact with the guys from CoP today? I stay in contact with ryan the drummer and marc the bass player. Gary and rick once in a blue moon. I'd like to play with them but I don't know what they're into. What is your most precious memory from those days? I enjoyed the period right before we got signed-it was a trip to go from laying sheetrock and bumming drinks to signing a record deal in the greatest city in the world, new york. You have written and published a book called "Life Is A Phantom K-Mart Horse Starting Up In The Middle Of The Night". Can you tell us a bit about the book? (Is it a novel, short story, journals, poems?) I am very proud of the book, it was written over the last year and it's sort of short stories that were written in a fragmented form, like free verse maybe. There is some funny stuff, some sad stuff, some angry stuff. There hasn't been anyone who has read it that has not loved it and I can't tell you how good that makes me feel. You can get it off the website, and soon on amazon.com. Have you always been writing? No. writing is not easy. It takes a lot of work to make it look really good, to make the words dance on the page. I have tons of respect for good writers, it takes dedication.. can you imagine john steinbeeck or dostoyevski writing a thousand page book on a typewriter? It's insane. On a computer, you can just hit the 'backspace' button and it fixes your fuck ups. Which authors are your inspirations? charles bukowski, john fante, ernest hemingway, j.d. salinger, john Steinbeck, jeff muendel (he's on the press my book is on, he's good) edgar allen poe, so many good ones. Your new band is called Fat Nancy. Where does the name of the band come? Is there a real fat Nancy out there? The name came from watching some kids in a playground teasing a fat girl named nancy. Kids can be mean. Tell us some fun memories from the recording of "Pure American Muscle, Baby". We did that record like a punk rock record-it was all done in one week, the whole thing. It has some damn good songs on it- hot lottie, children of the midnite sun,secret love, American monster...I like it, it's so raw. What is your opinion of these records today: Circus Of Power First c.o.p. I love, but it could have been recorded better. A classic little record, though. Still Alive Still alive, the versions are very similar but with some more life. Vices Vices I dig a lot, first four songs are good plus junkie girl I love. Live At The Ritz Live at the ritz, yeah pretty good stuff but we didn't cut loose enough. My fault. Magic & Madness Maijic and madness I never listen to, it's not that it's a bad record it's just not my favorite. The band was cooked by then. Uncle Max's Cosmic Band Uncle max has some good moments, letters from the inside, is one of my best songs. Green river, cool. Plastic Gator Machine Plastic gator machine is one of my favorites, it gave me a chance to get down on some country flavored music, some honky tonk blues, some dirty rock. Love that record and will do another one in spring. What are your plans for 2006? 2006 I want to release another book and I don't know what I'll be doing musically. It's tough when you get older and you're not making any money off of it. I want to tour with some one good, like queens of the stone age or turbo negro. Someone would get those guys our c.d. so they can see what's up. There's so much crap out there it's sickening!
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