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Vicious Circle
Australia - Melbourne, VIC

History compiled by James from Perth, Discography by Gavin/Chris Alongside Depression, the Melbourne band Vicious Circle was that city's most influential hardcore band of the 1980s. Vicious Circle also proved to be a very prolific recording outfit, and while the band's records sold to a dedicated few in Australia, they sold reasonable quantities outside their own country in places like the US West Coast. Perth born drummer Russell Hopkinson replaced original drummer Michael in 1984. From the earliest Vicious Circle recordings, "Blood Race" and "Police Brutality" appeared on the compilation Eat Your Head (No Masters Voice, 1984) which also featured tracks by Civil Dissident, Murder Murder Suicide, End Result and more. "Police Brutality" was also featured on the legendary P.E.A.C.E. comp LP (R Radical Records). The same year the band issued their first EP, Search for the Solution, on Phil McDougall's Reactor label. The EP sold all 1000 copies, incentive enough for the band to record its debut album The Price of Progress (Reactor, 1985). The album was a groundbreaking release in the annals of the local hardcore scene. UK label Children of the Revolution licensed the album in November '85. The US connection led to them issuing a split album with California band Youth Brigade in April of 1986, in the same month Reactor released the first Vicious Circle single "A Nightmare So Quick/Viewing Time". By that stage, David Ross had replaced Hopkinson on drums and Keith Chatham (ex-Death Sentence) had come in on bass to allow Alby Brovedani to concentrate on rhythm guitar. By the time the band had come to record their second album Reflections, Chatham had left and Brovedani was back on bass. Reflections, which was released October 1986, charted the band's progress, with elements of melody seeping into the band's all out thrashcore approach. California-based label Boner released the album in the US. Vicious Circle undertook a three month US tour where they played shows with bands like Final Conflict, Agnostic Front, GBH, MDC, Life Sentence, Attitude Adjustment, Crucifucks and more. At the end of 1986, James Lynch (ex-Children of Sorrow) replaced Ross on drums. In September '87 the band released one more record on Reactor, the 12" EP Hope and Wait, before signing up with Sydney label Waterfont for the LP Into The Void. The band continued to play around Melbourne, but broke up in 1990. Lindsay and Ruminicik teamed up with Danny (ex-Depression) to form the skatecore band Rue Morgue, they put out a few records but by '94/'95 Linday and Ruminicik had revived Vicious Circle and in March 1996 released the Fixated EP. With a now stable lineup and sounding harder and rawer than ever the band released the 12-track Internal Headstrength album in 1997 on Spend and in 1999 they released the Perfect World Disaster album on Scott Toe to Toe's Resist Records.

DISCOGRAPHY Releases: CIRCLE OF THE DOOMED demo tape (1984) SEARCH FOR THE SOLUTION 7" EP (Reactor Records, 1985) PRICE OF PROGRESS LP (Reactor Records, 1985) HIDDEN SUPERVISION 7" (Reactor Records, 1986) REFLECTIONS LP (Reactor Records, 1986) HOPE AND WAIT 12" (Reactor Records, 1987) INTO THE VOID LP (Waterfront Records, 1988) RHYME WITH REASON LP (Manic Ears Records, 1989) REACTIVATE LP/CD (Def Records, 1995) FIXATED 7" EP/CD (Spent Records, 1996) INTERNAL HEADSTRENGTH LP/CD (Spent Records, 1997) PERFECT WORLD DISASTER LP/CD (Resist Records, 1999) Splits: VICIOUS CIRCLE/PERDITION split LP (Flipside Records, 1985) VICIOUS CIRCLE/YOUTH BRIGADE split LP (Reactor Records, 1986) Compilations: PEACE 2xLP (R Radical Records, 1984) EAT YOUR HEAD 2x12" (Greville Records, 1984) BRAIN OF STONE tape (BCT, 1984) DIE YOUNG STAY PRETTY tape (Requiem Productions, 1984) WHO'LL SURVIVE tape (Höllenqual Zine, 1985) OVERSEA CONNECTION LP (Double A Records, 1987) DIGGING IN WATER LP (Manic Ears Records/COR Records, 1987) TOUR DE FARCE #2 tape (Empty Records, 1987) THE NOT SO LUCKY COUNTRY 2xLP (Reactor Records, 1988) INFO Interviews: Vicious Circle Interview from Skull & Crossbones #07 A 1988 interview from the UK. Thanks to Federico for transcribing and sending it.