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The Windy City’s Russian Circles is ready to play loud. Very loud.
Courtesy of Squeeze Records, Rough Trade Records and Bloodshot Records
The Russian Circles, an instrumental rock band from Chicago, will play at Mojo's on June 18
June 17, 2009 | 12:00 p.m. CST
Carrying the moniker of an obscure hockey drill, Chicago’s metal-infused, instrumental rock trio Russian Circles began in 2004 with guitarist Mike Sullivan, his former band mate and bassist Colin DeKuiper and drummer Dave Turncrantz. After mutually agreeing to depart with DeKuiper in 2007, the band recorded their second album, Station, with former Botch and current These Arms Are Snakes bassist Brian Cook, whom they had met on tour.
“We just kinda stayed in touch,” Sullivan says. “We’re no longer with the bass player, and he kinda called up and said ‘Hey, I’m around.’ So he offered his services, and we took him up on it. At that point we had no plans for him to join the band, but after playing together so much and through touring, it kind of ended up happening.”
Even before arming themselves with a new bass player, Russian Circles had always hit the open road with their monumental sound. The band’s live show is a no-frills zone (the band rarely speaks on stage) that encapsulates listeners in layers of reverberations built by intricate loops of guitar and bass parts. Meanwhile, Turncrantz’s drums cascade into every nook and cranny between the guitar and bass. The music explodes at the most opportune moments.
“When we play, we kind of zone out for a while and play for each other,” Sullivan says. “However it turns out is the way it works. Sometimes transitions work out; sometimes they work better other nights. As far as what to expect … it’ll be loud. It’s gonna be a loud show.”
Russian Circles played at the South By Southwest Music Festival in 2006 and opened for prog-rock juggernauts Tool on their 2007 U.K. tour, which Sullivan said was a chance to meet one of their favorite bands and expose Russian Circles to a new audience.
“All of the guys in [Tool] we met went out of their way to make us comfortable and take care of us,” Sullivan says. “It was good to see a band who is that big bend over backwards for an opening band and make them feel welcome. It was definitely one of my favorite experiences so far in the band.”
Before playing the Bonnaroo Music Festival for the first time this year, the band was mastering their third CD Geneva for an October 17 release on Suicide Squeeze Records. And if concertgoers didn’t like what they heard, then so what.
“The fact that we don’t have a singer, we don’t really turn some people off with intense vocals,” he says. “If they dig it or they don’t, I’m prepared for whatever. We’ll just keep playing and enjoy it.”
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