Dear Nash: Not a bad little tune, eh?

Dear Tom: An album is in the works for late 2011. Early reports claim that some of the album's tracks sound a lot like the 70s soft rock super group Bread. These reports cannot be confirmed. However, according to a reliable source, the band is attempting new strategies aimed at winning female fans. This might explain the soft rock direction.

Dear Borskee: It's been on our minds for some time to do a different record for every circus devils fan. It shouldn't take us very long.

Dear Paqman: Consider the following from Nostradamus: "Behold, a three-headed goat appears in the valley of Ghoel, where the great serpent lays its twin eggs. The goat's murmurings shall trouble the cock, once loyal to Adelon, now raising pikes against his former king." This quatrain is clearly about Circus Devils. If you read it carefully, it also foretells the box set.

Dear Marky Parks: First of all, I hope that's your real name. The Circus Devils feature film is in the talking stage. The current challenge is locating funding for this project. In all likelihood, it will be more like a Circus Devils feature length home video. However, in the event that funds can be acquired, it will be the aim of the band to see the film shown at festivals. If any Circus Devils fans with philanthropic leanings are reading this, please get in touch. Our email is circusdevils@earthlink.net

Dear Oslo: We are still the classic lineup. No personnel changes have ever been made. It seems you are confused on this point. Once we toyed with the idea of allowing a non-human to join the band. We will not go into further detail. All we can say is that there were bites that required stitches, and a really big diaper bill. To answer your second question, we will not play Oslo until we get paid for the last show we did over there, and have our equipment returned. In case you have not heard the story, we were attacked by the sound man at that show. He came at us during our set swinging a lead pipe and screaming in Norwegian. Naturally, we ran for our lives.

Dear Sam: Most of the videos are the work of Todd Tobias and Steve Five. The main source of inspiration is lack of money. To clarify, limited resources means taking trips to the thrift shop for costumes and digging in the basement or in the attic for props. These activities are fun in themselves. Another source of inspiration is humor, which is often mistaken for maliciousness or mean-spiritedness. Nothing could be further from the truth! Lastly, the videos made by local boys Devo back in the 1970s have been a rich source of inspiration.

In addition to Todd and Steve, a certain C. Horn (an Ohio native currently based in Germany) has also created a couple of fine videos for the band. And lastly, a couple of anonymous fans have contributed, but these videos are not currently on the circus devils Youtube channel because the creators have declined to give the band permission to post them. To see the circus devils YouTube channel, go to: www.youtube.com/user/toddsquatch?feature=mhum

Dear Charlie: It's not exactly the same. But yes, it's similar. Now go back and study our records and find the real rip-offs. We'll give you a hint. John Denver and Anne Murray. That's all we’re going to say.

Dear John: Think about the following. You pump filth into the water system. What do you get? Lots of sick people. Do the same with the human mind, and you get the same result. Only the sickness is invisible because it infects consciousness, which unlike the physical body, cannot be properly diagnosed and treated. Psychic and spiritual filth is being siphoned into our heads on a daily basis. We just don't know it. It comes in the form of voices from media outlets, advertisements, insipid entertainment, and antiseptic music. It even comes from our friends and family, who unknowingly spread the infection just by opening their mouths to speak. Some of us suspect that the filth we ingest remains in the occult regions of the subconscious, like a mass of tapeworms that squeeze our souls and suck them dry, weakening us to the point of impotence. And all the while we smile and carry on as if all is normal and nothing is wrong. Well John, let me give you the facts. Something is gravely wrong!

The human animal was not engineered for this sort of psychic invasion. We can't expect to take in reams of noxious mental stimuli without a consequence. Naturally, denial and dysfunction is the result. In some cases the result is much worse. The epidemic of self-medication that is upon us is a direct result of this invasion. Intuition tells us that something is wrong, but the conscious mind is unable to grasp it. For those of us who are unwilling to drug ourselves into a false state of well-being, and unable to join the religious lambs by laying down and taking it, so to speak, there is nothing left to do but confront the spiritual toxins, which swim about in the dark depths of the subconscious before emerging again on the conscious level in the form of symbolic expressions such as stories, poetry, songs and paintings.

The human reaction to an invasion of spiritual and psychic parasites takes different forms. In our case, it takes the form of lyrics and music. Now, how do you beat the devil? Do you beat him by huddling in with the religious sheep and waiting for the shepherd to return? NO, you beat the devil by asserting your strength, and affirming your birthright as a free soul. You take the filth that was meant to smother and subdue your spirit, and you have fun with it. You play with it! You see, this infuriates the devil. The devil wants to see your spirit sicken, and eventually disintegrate in its weakness. In this sense, circus devils is Satan's biggest enemy, because our records are all about playing with the psychic and spiritual material that is meant to make us sick. And when we play with it, we perform a subtle magic trick. We stir up the toxins and parasites, and at the same time, we have a fun time, because we know that a childlike approach to all that is noxious to the soul is the essence of redemption and part and parcel to the undoing of evil.

Dear Steve: SLACK is something we all need from time to time.

Dear Randy: Don't be scared to waste your money on circus devils. You only get the chance to do this once a year. Think about all the money you waste on mediocre food during any given week. All in all, Circus Devils is not a bad gamble. Do you really need to be told? Now, we can see that Mother Skinny has frightened you. As you suggest, it was necessary to make such a record following Gringo, which is a friendly album as far as Circus Devils goes.

Dear Adam: Now let's not get carried away.

Dear Jim: These were the EXACT words that Sgt. Disco used to describe Mother Skinny. The Sgt. has been bad-mouthing the band continually since that record with his name printed on the front failed to go platinum, as was foretold in a vision. Following the release of that album and its failure to reach the billboard charts, the Sgt. claimed Circus Devils would either disband or be afflicted with sores, which he prayed for publicly on his evangelical radio show. Neither of these things have come to pass, and the band continues making records. To be fair, the Sgt. has extended an olive branch, offering to allow the band to be baptized in a public ceremony and perform weekly during the Friday night youth get-togethers at his "cathedral in the sky." The band has declined his offer in writing. Sgt. Disco has since threatened to dispatch certain angels that he knows personally in order to quote "see to the band's undoing." The band is now re-considering the Sgt's offer.

Dear Daddy Short Stick: We will play at your Bangkok go-go bar as long as we get to play all Creedence covers and grow our beards and get the girls for free, along with drinks. Let us know if it's a go. We are stoked about this.

Dear JohnnyCakes: Can we still be warlocks if we make another good record?

Dear Elvis: Thanks to you (and Jesse) for the support! PS: we could use a backup singer if you're no longer busy doing your own music.

Dear Jim: It's an interesting suggestion, but Circus Devils is committed to doing all new material.

Dear Gerald: The band is tied up in the courts over claims that a certain Englishman of great acclaim who recorded a song titled "China Girl" back in the 1980s in fact stole the bass line from the Circus Devils song "8 Legs to Love You." The fact that the Circus Devils song was released almost 30 years after "China Girl" has not hindered the band's determination to see justice prevail.

Dear Git: We suggest you start a flea circus. It's been years since we've seen a good flea circus. Start training those fleas as soon as possible. If you act now you can cover the market. I can see it in lights: THE NEW GIT MacBOB EPISCOPAL FLEA CIRCUS. You need to say it's new so people will think you've been at it for years. You can have the fleas perform to the song NEW BOY. Trust us. It will be a smash.

Dear Len: Yeah. Hi Len.

Dear Christopher: Many thanks for your support. We are pleased to assist you in your endeavor to sleep. We hope that your dreams are as light and airy as our music.

Dear Evan: Circus Devils is the flavour of hot Ape skin.

Dear Nash: How old are you? Seven? Eight? This forum is for grown ups.

Dear Yon: There's no disguising your naked adoration for circus devils. I think it's time to face some unpleasant facts. A world without circus devils is upon us. Not today Yon, but some time down the road. It is clear that you are in denial about your fear over this change. Hence the overblown laughter and hysterical theatrics aimed at overcompensating for your private anguish. It's important that you prepare for this change. For now, consider the following question: What sort of world will it be without circus devils? And consider the answer: It will be no different than it is now! There, we've said it. Now take a deep breath.

Dear Roman: Our techno album was shelved due to creative conflicts within the group.

Dear Nash: Your plans to create strife within your household may be undermined when your family gives in and begins to hum circus devils tunes during their daily chores. This will happen eventually. Then what? Will you move on to different music? I suggest you try modern American pop music of any kind. At first they will enjoy it, then after a couple weeks, they will beg you on their knees to make it stop. It's funny how music can be, isn't it?

Dear Andy: What do you want us to do about it? Our advice is this: give your leg to the hand. After it gets what it wants, it might leave you alone.

Dear Your Friend: Dreams are fun! And big busts are always a hit. Even scary dreams are fun because you can always wake up and laugh about them. Every element in a dream is a symbol with personal significance. Never listen to people who say "it was only a dream." A dream is never just a dream. It always means something. This is the case because the human mind codes all meaning in the form of symbols, or representations that stand for something, be they sounds, pictures, written words, or hand gestures. Metaphors are never just metaphors. All dream elements refer to something real that perhaps cannot be manifested or expressed except through a symbolic image. For example, a stranger who appears in a dream is likely to represent some aspect of your own psyche which needs to be revealed and confronted, such as an inner sad child, or if you're an asshole, your inner nazi death camp officer. Meaning underlies every operation of the mind, including dreams. All dreams have meaning, even if the meaning is simply to discharge an overloaded imagination with all sorts of crazy images and scenes. Nonsense is meaningful in that it allows us to play freely with our symbols without punishment from some governing authority. Rejoice in the magic of symbol play!

Dear Nash: We do too.

Dear Geronimo: Everything you write has already been discussed at length in the book titled "Coming Home to Strangers: A personal history of Inter-dimensional travel" by Dr. Gregory Fleer. Dr. Fleer is a great fan of circus devils and the godfather of our homunculus.