Bread and Circus

Hailing from the Tucson borderlands of the Sonoran desert, Bread and Circus plies a unique hybrid of musical styles, with songs that run the gamut from raucous up-tempo stomps, to gritty rockers, to heady down-tempo psychedelic desert blues jams. With influences that range from Peter Green to Rory Gallagher, early Alice Cooper to Gram Parsons, Bread and Circus takes a singer/songwriter approach to its music that might be simply described as guitar-fueled rock n’ roll.

Taking their name from a satire by the Roman poet Juvenal, where a democratic populace willingly gives up it’s political rights in favor of bread and circuses, the band was formed in 2005 by John Axtell (vocals, guitar).  Axtell, who formerly played with various bands including Medicine Hat, Sun Zoom Spark, and Daddy Mac and the Drunk Tank, along with former Dharma Bum Sam Donaldson (drums), began recording material as a duo. What started out as causal late night recording sessions, soon developed into a large, diverse collection of material that showcased Axtell’s story-driven narrative lyrics.  In early 2006, Bread and Circus invited former Sun Zoom Spark/Black Sun Ensemble instrumentalist Eric Johnson and Los Federales bass player, Joe Yearego to join to both help complete a studio project already in the works and assist in developing a live set of the material.

By the beginning of 2007, the CD “Spare Me Over” was released on SlowBurn Records to positive reviews and featured the band, as well as several other Tucson illuminaries on the recording.  The group began to play out often and was a featured artist on local radio and at a variety of music events around Tucson.

In late 2008, Bread and Circus re-entered the studio to begin work on their follow-up to “Spare Me Over,” however personal circumstances led to Donaldson leaving the group to be replaced with former Sun Zoom Spark drummer, J Ratcliff.  Having already started the recording process, the band chose to re-record some of the material with Ratcliff.  The band continued to play out and work on their new recording, when guitarist Eric Johnson left the group in late 2008 for personal reasons.

During the hiatus, Joe Yearego was replaced with Greyhound Soul bassist, Duane Hollis.   The trio of Axtell, Hollis and Ratcliff again tried to pick up the mantle of the new recording project and recorded several songs during this period.  In summer 2009, Johnson rejoined the band to find that the new incarnation of Bread and Circus was a leaner, tighter ensemble than when he left months earlier.   Ratcliff left the group in early 2010 to move to DC.  He was replaced with former Illuminarios drummer, Jim Howell.

A new album is scheduled to be released on SlowBurn Records in early 2011.