Ether Circus sounds like "punk rock infused with magic and shot out of a cannon onto a stage near you," which made them seem perfect for The Banana Stand. The band features Jake Carpenter on guitar and vocals, Logan Rathman on bass and vocals, Cory Wiese on keyboards and vocals, and Joe Muth on drums. They'll be performing at the 'Stands excellent July 31st show, which also features Curious Hands.
Jake answered questions via email for this interview. (Thanks Jake!)
Banana Stand: How long has the band been together in its current form? How did it come together?
Jake Carpenter: Ether Circus has been around for six years – we started out as a hardcore punk rock band, then decided to branch out and create a new sound.
Banana Stand: How would you describe your sound? What are your key influences?
Jake Carpenter: At our last show someone described us as sounding like Jello Biafra fronting Oingo Boingo. Several people say that we remind them of Mr. Bungle. We all have different musical influences–but mostly music that moves us and makes us move.
Banana Stand: Tell us your thoughts about recording live. What made you want to record a live show at The Banana Stand?
Jake Carpenter: We feel that live recordings capture the essence of a band. Overproduced studio recordings take away from the raw energy that makes a live concert so amazing. We have never had a recording that we feel captures our essence. People have listened to our studio stuff, but don't really get it until they see us live.
Banana Stand: What's your favorite memory of a live show? Least favorite?
Jake Carpenter: We have so many awesome memories of live shows that it is hard to pick just one. We got to open for Subhumans in front of a sold out Hawthorne Theatre, but the best memories are probably the mental images of a packed room full of strangers getting down with our tunes. One time we played a birthday party for a fan that got rained out two songs into our set, we played on the roof of a building on a 105 degree day and almost passed out from heat exhaustion and have had mics slammed into our mouths more times than we can count–but the worst memories have probably disappeared. Nobody likes to remember the bad things.
Banana Stand: What are your favorite live albums?
Jake Carpenter: Chaos UK – 100% Two Fingers in the Air Punk Rock; Dead Milkmen – Now We're Ten; all of Larry and His Flask's albums; a few Gits albums, the names of which escape me at the moment; and other albums that I know I am forgetting about right now.
Banana Stand: What other projects are you all involved with?
Jake Carpenter: Our keyboardist Cory plays drums in a power metal band called Revolution Overdue, but we all mainly focus on the Circus.
Banana Stand: What are you working on lately?
Jake Carpenter: We have been working on juggling, stilt walking, fire breathing, riding unicycle and other stupid human tricks. Hopefully sometime in the near future we would like to incorporate those elements into our stage show, but for now we are focusing on rocking out as hard as we can.
Thanks again to Jake for participating in our interview. Be sure to be at the 'Stand Saturday, July 31st to see Ether Circus record live — it's going to be a great show. Doors at 8:30pm, music around 9:00pm. Also, be sure to like us on Facebook, sign up for our email newsletter and follow us on Twitter!
