I don’t like Mondays, I never have. They’re dirty and ugly and the death of the weekend parade. But today, waking up wasn’t such a bad thing. A rain had brought with it a dark umbrella shading the morning sky, creating an envelope of warmth. A wet, warmth. A dark, wet, warmth that made my early morning trip to interview the members of Circus Diablo at the Shamrock Social Club Tattoo Parlor on Sunset Boulevard not quite so blasphemous.

Sunset is a rock n’ roll experience in itself. The Chateau Marmont, The Whiskey, the Roxy, the Rainbow... I’m sure I can feel the thunder of a drop D tuning echoing off the pavement beneath my wheels as I drive along its well worn artery. It reminds me of a scene in All Dolled Up, the New York Dolls documentary by Bob Gruen and Nadya Beck. The band is shown driving down Sunset engulfed by the strip and awed by all these glorious landmarks.

The landmarks are still here. Unfortunately, many of the original Dolls aren’t. But this is a new day (albeit a dark, wet one), in a new era of rock n’ roll, and the members of Circus Diablo – singer Billy Morrison, guitarists Billy Duffy & Ricky Warwick, bassist Brett Scallions and drummer Jeremy Colson – are ready to shake it up.

And shake it up they do. As the music business has changed its focus over the last few decades to become less about music and more about business. The manufacturing of artists – no not artists – lets call them widgets. The manufacturing of widgets created to market fashions, bubblegum and booze has created the paradigm that new artists – this time I mean artists – must learn from if they want their music to be heard. Fortunately, the band, and Morrison in particular, are well versed in this new language.

“This band came together initially as musicians who liked to write songs. But then we had to look at ways to get those songs heard,” Morrison states. “The trick is to market yourself. You can be in other projects, you can do other things. You have to attack it from all angles. We have the World Wide Web – a network of millions and millions of people at our disposal 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. We also have television, movies, books, DJing, clothing, there’s so many avenues that all work together that allow you to make your music available.”

Living by example, Circus Diablo isn’t Morrison’s only gig. He also founded the superstar jam band, Camp Freddy, which includes Dave Navarro (Red Hot Chili Peppers, Jane’s Addiction), Matt Sorum (Guns N’ Roses, Velvet Revolver), Donovan Leitch (actor and son of legendary folk singer Donovan), Chris Chaney (Jane’s Addiction, Alanis Morissette) and Scott Weiland (Stone Temple Pilots, Velvet Revolver). Plus, he hosts CFR (Camp Freddy Radio) with Navarro on L.A.’s INDIE 103.1FM every Saturday from 6:00 to 8:00 PM.

Certainly, Camp Freddy gigs, the radio show, DJ bookings, and film roles would be enough for anyone, yet somehow Morrison discovered there were more hours in the day than you or I had ever known.

“Circus Diablo just sort of evolved.” Morrison explains. “Before the current line-up of the Cult went back out touring, Billy 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 5 or 6 weeks later, we stepped back and went, ‘wow, what should we do with this?’”

The “Billy” and “Ricky” that Morrison refers to are guitarists Duffy and Warwick, respectively. Duffy, of course, is best known as The Cult’s lead guitarist, but he’s also a multimedia talent, appearing in films such as Lamberto Bava’s Demoni 2 and more recently, Ethan Dettenmaier’s Sin-Jin Smyth. Warwick comes via the U.K. punk/hard rock band The Almighty, and is currently working on his newest solo effort, The Twentynine Palms Sessions.

“We tried to do something a little different than just form a band and get on a tour bus,” Duffy states. “So we started thinking about how we could do this without taking such a cliché approach.”

Over a six month period, the three gathered at Morrison’s home and wrote songs in his demo studio. When they decided to make an album, they needed two more things: A drummer and a real studio. Since they were all friends with Sorum (both Morrison and Duffy played with him in the Cult), and he happened to own a studio, he was a natural choice, “Matt is one of the best rock n’ roll drummers in the world, and he’s a friend. He also owns Drac Studios, so it all came together.”

As the four completed the recordings it came time to think about a live band. Matt was busy with Velvet Revolver so a drummer was needed again. So too a bass player as Morrison felt the need to sing unrestrained.

Enter Brett Scallions on bass and Jeremy Colson on drums. Scallions was Fuel’s lead vocalist, and is currently the bass player for New York band, The X’s. Colson spent the last three years drumming for guitarist Steve Vai. Before that, he was the drummer in Apartment 26.

With their touring lineup set, they’re betting there’s an audience starved for good ‘ol fashioned rock. Said Morrison, “It’s like when you’re 18, and you meet other friends, and they all love Iggy Pop, the Clash and the Sex Pistols. So you make music. We’re confident that we’ve written bunch of good rock songs... which there is a distinct lack of right now.”

Duffy added, “This is very healthy little band. It’s good fun, and I look forward to rockin’ out with it.”

They also agree that their vast, collective experience gives their music a more distinct, cohesive edge, “a great continuity... because of the people involved,” in Morrison’s words. “That’s what’s missing with these fabricated rock albums,” he continued. “There is no character. When Billy Duffy plays lead guitar, you know it’s Billy Duffy. And for better or worse, you can tell when I sing.”

Morrison said there was a lack of good rock music today. Yet, one senses the demand for good rock music is growing fast with all age groups. He agrees. “There’s The Darkness,” Morrison began. “Love ‘em or hate ‘em, but they do have guitars on their records. It’s not out-andout rock n’ roll, but The Strokes and The Killers and all that kind of thing (is) fantastic, because they are kids that are playing their own instruments.” He continued, “Where it went wrong is... a lot of people (are) getting signed that can’t sing, can’t play... because you’ve got Pro-Tools and hit-making producers. And I’m not detracting from the good producers. But at the same time, that doesn’t mean that we don’t know what a good vocal sounds like, and what a good guitar sound is. What you hear on the Circus Diablo record is musicians going, ‘That’s what rock ‘n’ roll should sound like.’”

And then I guess the follow up question would be what does rock n roll sound like? Morrison laughingly and loudly replies, “Let’s see... It’s sex, tattoos, piercings, drugs, drinking, and more sex. That’s what rock and roll sounds like.”

And with that, I exit the church of Circus Diablo under cloudy skies to the beat of Sunset Blvd... my soul has been saved. Long live rock and roll.

Circus Diablo photos courtesy Billy Morrison