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ROBERT POLLARD (voice, song lyrics, album art, founder)

Robert is known by musicologists as the man who founded the band Guided By
Voices in 1983 while he was a school teacher in Dayton, Ohio. In addition to his
work with Circus Devils, Robert enjoys making records under his own name.
Robert makes his home in Dayton, Ohio. In his spare time Bob likes to make
origami sky hawks. He also enjoys waiting by the window in anticipation of his
daily visit from meals on wheels.

Click here for more info on Robert.

TODD TOBIAS (production, drums, bass, guitar, keys and other noises)

Todd makes his home in the forests of northeast Ohio, just north of Akron.
When not toiling in the studio, Todd seeks the seclusion of the deep woods.
Nothing is known about his habits or what he enjoys to do. In addition to his
work with Circus Devils, Todd has produced and performed on records by
Robert Pollard, Guided by Voices, Clouds Forming Crowns, Psycho and the
Birds, and The Celebrity Pilots among others.

Click here for more info on Todd's production work.

TIM TOBIAS (guitars, rock)

Tim has been fronting bands in the Cleveland area since the
early 1980's, including 4 coyotes and Gem. In 1999, Robert asked
Tim to join Guided By Voices on bass. In 2004, Tim formed the
band Clouds Forming Crowns, which has two titles available on
Morphius records. Tim makes his home in Cleveland, Ohio. His
hobbies include watching TV. He also enjoys playing the guitar
and watching TV (at the same time).

Click here for more info on Clouds Forming Crowns.

Some facts about Circus Devils

Circus Devils is a rock and roll band with pretentions of being an "art rock band."
Circus Devils has nothing to do with you, and everything to do with you at the same time.
Circus Devils is from Ohio.
Circus Devils was founded in 2001.
Circus Devils has made lots of records. They are all different from each other.
Circus Devils cannot be heard on the radio.
Circus Devils is not well liked in Canada.
Circus Devils is liked better in The United Kingdom.
Circus Devils would appreciate more female fans.
Circus Devils is unknown in Asia and Mississippi.
Circus Devils is singular in the grammatical sense, referring to one band.
Circus Devils is sympathetic to characters who get lost on life's path, even when that path is clear for
  them to follow. Some of the band's albums contain songs about such characters.
Circus Devils members do not take drugs for inspiration (however, they concede that having a smoke
  while listening to their albums is not a bad idea)
Circus Devils enjoys meat.
Circus Devils is a band with a message. The message is this: "Don't listen to the evil clown who lives
  inside your head. Make sport of him instead."
Circus Devils is a studio band. The only concert performed by the band took place in 2003. The venue
  was called the Assassin's Ballroom, in present day Belarus. The audience was very polite.
Circus Devils believes in the invisible world.
Circus Devils is not interested in Satan.
Circus Devils likes the Beatles.
Circus Devils is not trying on purpose to alienate music fans.
Circus Devils wishes that more jocks and preppies would buy their albums.
Circus Devils is aware that humanity is devolving.
Circus Devils is old fashioned because the band members grew up in an analog world.
Circus Devils is green.
Circus Devils knows when you are sleeping.
Circus Devils is real, according to at least one social scientist (see below).




How it all began.....

Taken from the pamphlet collection titled:
LEST WE FORGET: MILESTONES TOWARD THE END OF A NEW
MONOLITHIC CULTURE: A BRIEF PRE-HISTORY.
(VOLUME 9: RECORDED SOUND AND ITS PURVEYORS)
by Dr. Gregory Fleer.

Time: the late 1970's. Place: the Ohio countryside.
Following a disastrous gig at a local church camp, the
newly formed rock and roll band Baby Q and the Death
Rays are on their way home when their car breaks down
on a remote stretch of road. As they wait for their friends
to return to the stranded car, band members Tim and
Todd, the Tobias brothers, are approached in the dark by a
shadowy figure who crouches in the woods before
showing himself. Todd has a flashlight and switches the
beam on the man's face. To the brothers' surprise and
disbelief, the man's face is covered in hair, like a dog's. In
a voice filled with manic jubilation, the hair-face man lifts
his hands to the sky and proclaims "Circus Devils is real!"
before vanishing back into the dark woods.

Fast forward more than twenty years to the winter of 2000.
Robert Pollard, then front man of the band Guided by
Voices, walks out of a Columbus, Ohio record store
empty-handed and frustrated after failing to find
something interesting to buy. In the parking lot Pollard is
approached by a man whose face is concealed by his
upturned collar and a pair of dark shades. Robert tries
to get into his car, but the stranger stops him and delivers
the words: "Circus Devils is real." Having been a teacher,
Robert promptly corrects the stranger. "No, Circus Devils
ARE real. Devils is plural, my boy." "No," the stranger
insists. "Circus Devils IS real." The stranger then pulls
down his collar and takes off his shades to reveal a face
covered completely with hair. Alarmed, Robert jumps
into his car and speeds away. Shortly after, Robert tells
the story of his strange encounter to the Tobias brothers,
who then tell their story of a similar encounter more than
twenty years before. Something has to be done about this,
Pollard decides, and shortly after, Circus Devils records
begin to appear.







Circus Devils uses
Hagstrom guitars

Circus Devils uses
goat-skin drum heads

A microphone used by
Circus Devils


Circus Devils uses
Starlight drums

The photographs below show equipment used
by Circus Devils



Guitars which Circus Devils plan to use on
their next recording, including the famous
"Red" guitar owned by Chris Sheehan of
the Celebrity Pilots



Click here to see photos of Circus Devils in action at the studio

Click here to see Circus Devils videos

Click here to see a collection of Circus Devils pinups by graphic artist David Crunelle

Click here for the gallery of famous circus devils fans