The Joy Circuit >> Shouldn't you know why?

The Joy Circuit - "The New Sunrise" (demo) ∆

(self-released, 2004) ∆

Jeff Garber, mastermind of National Skyline (see previous post), moved to SoCal in the early '00s and became active with the band Year Of The Rabbit, and soon after that he co-founded The Joy Circuit.  This band is not to be confused with the '80s band also called The Joy Circuit; both bands presumably named themselves after the Gary Numan song of the same name.

The Joy Circuit in L.A., ca. 2005; L-R: Solomon Snyder, Tim Dow, Jeff Garber
Official press/promo photo; photographer unknown
(This photo is sometimes incorrectly labeled online as being of National Skyline)

TJC consisted of Jeff Garber on vocals & guitar, Tim Dow on drums, and Solomon Snyder on bass, all three of whom were in Year Of The Rabbit.  Hence, after learning what they look like via the pic above, you can observe all three members of The Joy Circuit in YOTR's video for the shoulda-been-hit "Last Defense":

YOTR's singer was Keanu Reeves lookalike Ken Andrews, former lead singer of the space-grunge band Failure, whom I saw live in '94 (opening for Tool & Flaming Lips) right after their album Magnified came out.  You probably remember Failure's huge (only) 1996 alterna-hit "Stuck On You," or at least remember its distinctively cinematic video:

I downloaded TJC's untitled demo EP when it came out in late '04, as it was posted on TJC's website as a free download.  I was totally blown away.  The synths of Nat Sky had been stripped away, reconfiguring the engine to run on pure guitar adrenaline and spiky, bombastic drumming.  Garber reasserts himself as a guitar god on this song / EP, after the sometimes guitar-free soundscapes of National Skyline.  It was really startling to me to hear Garber shredding his vocal cords on this songs, as opposed to the "clean" and almost androgynous voice he used in National Skyline.  But it makes sense when you keep in mind that he started off as the singer for the angular indie rock / emo-ish band Castor (whose recordings I don't personally recommend checking out).
I think the name of this song is taken from The Church's stunningly beautiful little 1983 gem "Fly," which has the lyric "Trapped inside her painted eyes / Takes herself into the new sunrise."  Here's the video, the last 20 seconds of which are sorta NSFW:

"Fly" uses a lot of guitar harmonics to give that plinking, spine-tingling, xylophone-ish, church-bell-ish sound, a technique I mentioned a few posts ago, so please go look up how to do it and go play some harmonics on your guitar already.

The four songs that make up TJC's demo EP are simply incredible, enough to reaffirm one's belief in the power of music.  Some wise record label needs to release this EP on an actual physical format, such as 10" vinyl.  The Joy Circuit went on to release an awesome, and more shoegaze-y, EP in early 2005, simply titled EP 1.  My hopes were sky-high for this band's certain dominance of the indie rock scene, especially with the whole post-punk revival going on, but they never recorded, or at least never released, anything else, and hence faded into complete obscurity with only nine songs to their name.  All nine of them are keepers, though, meaning they made more great songs in a few months than were spewed forth by the entire careers of most other bands.  They'll always be a towering tornado of rock to me.  Someday I'll also post "Run In Circles" from this EP, and something from EP 1, so hold onto your hats, because it could be a white-knuckle ride, a ride for which you'll probably need a hat.

Update, Aug. 7, 2011: On my old computer I found a copy I had saved of the press release that announced TJC's existence.  It was posted on 6/29/04 at http://discussions.elektra.com/wm-yearoftherab/messages at 11:09 PM:

"Hello all,

While the Rabbit seems to be in deep hibernation for now, there has been some related activity.

In January 2004, Tim Dow, Jeff Garber, and Solomon Snyder began jamming in a small Los Angeles rehearsal space.  After a week or two had passed, it was apparent that a new band was forming.

The band took the moniker THE JOY CIRCUIT, and over the past few months the group has written at least 30 new songs.

The Joy Circuit has booked some studio time for the end of July, and the band hopes to have something released before the end of the year.

THE JOY CIRCUIT will perform on July 8th at The Troubadour in Los Angeles. (...)

Check out www.thejoycircuit.com for more info and music.

thanks"

So there's 21 other songs?!? Oh man, now I'll never be able to sleep.

Planets with similar climates: Swervedriver - "Son Of Mustang Ford" (1990), National Skyline - "Reinkiller" (2001), The Sound - "The Fire" (1981), The Church - "Reptile" (1987), U2 - "Like A Song..." (1982), Prosaics - "Teeth" (2004), Feverdream - Vortex (1995).