History & Biography Clown Alley was formed in the mid-’80s in San Francisco and featured New Mexico-bred David Duran. The group’s name was inspired by the film, The Greatest Show on Earth. The band had a self-titled demo in 1985. London-born Mark Deutrom and Lori Black (the daughter of actress Shirley Temple no less!) went on to join the Melvins, but not before issuing Circus Chaos. The Melvins also rerecorded the song Theme off Clown Alley’s album. The album was originally issued on Deutrom’s Alchemy Records, but was resurrected in 2006 by Southern Lord. The re-release featured bonus material.
Reviews CLOWN ALLEY - CIRCUS OF CHAOS - SOUTHERN LORD 
It is hard to speculate what the band was thinking when choosing its leisurely/ironic name and album’s title, while in contrast the style and sound are much easier to describe. The group is influenced by the likes of DRI, Black Flag and GBH and, in turn, has influenced the sounds of other Bay Area bands like Vio-lence. Compare the vocals of David Duran to Vio-lence’s Sean Killian. The songs are a collection of fairly fast and nimble crossover adjuncts, with the usual bashing drums and howled vocals. The lyrics are funny if not political, and the sound fairly respectable given the age of this 20-year old recording. It is not difficult to guess why the Melvins (which years later featured two musicians on this recording) later covered the song Theme. It is slower and more brooding than much of the rest of the material.
The disc tags on bonus material like a fairly punk rock radio interview and several live out-takes. - Ali “The Metallian”
Interviews
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