For the early years, Tofu didn't write songs so much as record textures, and pastiche them together on an analog 4-track recorder. This would be a technique that would become a hallmark of CiRCLE no.5 (or CNO:0005 as it sometimes is written lately.) particularly in the middle years, and fine tuned into the present. In the year 2000 when Tofu first enrolled in community college, he took an "Introduction to Electronic Music" class that would become the true starting point for CiRCLE no.5. This class was where "Better Living Thru Discotech" and a couple dozen unreleased songs were created, as well as the CiRCLE no.5 name came about. Being the first time of having a real studio to work in, many of the earlier tracks were built around the notion of seeing how far a lot of this new equipment can be pushed. Tofu has stated about the experience, "Most of the work that I did in that period was me opening up Acid 2.0 and fruity loops, dropping about 20 loops all on top of each other, randomly cutting them in and out for about 4 minutes, then running them through the effects processors and seeing what I could come up with. It was a real testament to how fucked up on meth I was at the time since at some point everything ended up at 200 BPM and higher."
In 2001 Tofu dropped out of college and went through a lot of personal hardship, this period is what bore the fruits of "Stabwounded Bankjunkies". According to Tofu, the title came from "My best friend had accounts at two separate banks at the time, so a mutual friend of ours called him a 'bank junkie'. When I first heard him say that I couldn't stop laughing for an hour, and eventually paid homage to that moment with the album title." The album was pared down from about 25-30 songs to a scant 10 since, as Tofu puts it, "most of those were absolutely terrible". The recording period lasted into the middle of 2002 where most of the cassette tapes that the 4-track demos were recorded on got lost due to being un-labled, or had lables that were covered up or unreadable. Some songs got recorded over for other projects, as well as tapes having serious damage put upon them. Tofu found them all again in 2005, salvaged what he could, and digitally mixed/re-recorded parts of the album again. Tofu still considers "Bankjunkies" to have come out in 2002 since "...that's when it would have been released, as well as the music really typifies who I was and what I was feeling in 2002. I couldn't, and didn't write SWBJ in 2005, so it remains a 2002 release in my eyes."
In 2003, the most important contribution to Tofu Bot's sonic arsenal came into the fold. An inexpensive drum machine that he went on to dub killbot_6900. Killbot would be used in practically every project Tofu has been linked to from then after, and marked a defining change in the sound of CiRCLE no.5. So much so that it took till 2005 before any new material would be done or released using this new tool. Tofu always considered Killbot to be an actual member of the band, and has even posted pictures of himself with Killbot on promotional material for CNO:0005, stating "I make the noises, he makes the beats. That's how it works."
In 2005, CiRCLE no.5 released it's first piece of work since "Better Living Thru Discotech EP" in 2000. A purely digital instrumental concept album titles "Beta Testing for the Masses", beta testing was to tell the story of what exactly happened to Tofu Bot in the last few years. "I wanted it to have sparse vocals, but honestly, I just didn't have the equipment to do it at the time. I started writing when I just got a new Mac and was fooling around in Garageband back in Vegas. The first thing that popped up when i wanted to make a song was what i wanted to title it, the first thing that came to mind was what I was feeling like at the moment. And thus, the song 'Trainwreckage' was born... When I moved back home to the valley, I was feeling dehumanized, sort of like I was losing touch with reality and becoming more of a mechanized version of myself. The more that I recorded and wrote 'Beta Testing' the more cathartic it was, and I became reconnected with the warmth I once had. It wasn't a conscious effort, it just ended up that way, so when it came time to put all the songs in sequence, it's very chronological to how I wrote the album, so it sort of became more of an interpretative sonic sculpture of where I was and where I ended up."
During the Beta Testing writing, Tofu took up his old job of working back at a bookstore where he met future A Screaming comes across the sky/Not Will Porter band mate and collaborator Grady Turnbull (Gradie Ossirian in ASCATS), as well as good friend and driving force behind Operation: Liquid Octopuss, James Kannedy. Both of which became sounding boards as well as collaborators for not only "Beta Testing" but the next work that Tofu had been working on immediately after, "Literally Speaking". Literally Speaking was a direct result of working in a book store, since all the titles were to come from book titles of authors Tofu liked. "I wanted to sort of tell the story of the book through song at first. Thankfully I abandoned that idea when the project started, when it became more of an expression of how the title of the book, or the book itself left me feeling." This led to the album being very multi-faceted and schizophrenic at points, as well as far more experimental than previous works. Literally Speaking received very little attention after it's 2007 release, though Tofu cites it as "some of my favorite work I've done, as well as some of the most fun."
Post Literally Speaking has seen Tofu Bot and Killbot working on the next album, a concept album proper, titled <3 (pronounced heart less than three, or heartlessthan3). The album is intentionally an industrial rock album, with more straight forward song writing, and a verse/chorus/verse song structure. "I wanted to write that Nine Inch Nails album I was trying to write when I first started all this mess." The story of the album revolves around a post-apocalyptic world where machines have taken over and enslaved mankind, and one human worker is picked at random by a bugged program to be taught all the secrets of how human kind used to be prior to the end of the war. Tofu Bot has described the story of "all my favorite Man versus Machine sci-fi stories in film and literature sort of pureed in a blender with some old Wax Trax albums. If I was hired to score the Terminator, this is what I would have wrote."
In 2008, unfortunately Killbot_69000 stopped functioning after years of hard use. Tofu Bot broke the news to his fan base as if an actual member of the band had died, and has treated it very much like if he had lost a true friend. Currently, there has been no news on the acquisition of a new drum machine, or if it'll be treated in the same manner as Killbot.
Tofu Bot has hinted that in the future after <3 is released, there's the plan for at least three albums waiting to be made, but is "...just taking it day by day at this point". Other plans are the release of the often referenced, yet never materialized B-Sides collection "Scrap Metal", which will be released as a Box set in 2010 to commemorate the 10 year anniversary of Better Living Thru Discotech. It'll contain any and all b-sides still in existence that are available. It will also be the first physical album release since 2005's Beta Testing for the Masses.
Anthem
CiRCLE no.5 Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
To sing their anthem proudly
Voices raised to sing their praise
Of their hollow country
All this talk of freedom
And some talk of liberty
From your plastic podium
You try and convince me
I can't fall anymore
For some silver-tongued song
Your freedom isn't free
So let me say what freedom means to
I can't see red, white, and blue waving in the air
I don't hear the bombs bursting and I don't even care
I'm sorry for my lack of faith
I'm not the greatest patriot
If this is all their is to freedom I don't want it
I can't fall anymore
For some silver-tongued song
Your freedom isn't free
So let me say what freedom means to
Pushing us a drug that you call freedom and democracy
Promise us that selfishness is the means for happiness
I burned that bridge so long ago that I can hardly see
Anything but solace in what freedom means to me
I can't fall anymore
For some silver-tongued song
Freedom isn't free
So let me say what freedom means to
It cannot mean to serve ourselves
That doesn't mean a thing
It doesn't mean to give the license
To seek ourselves in anything
That would be slavery to ourselves it isn't free
Jesus Christ, the only thing that freedom means to me.
The lyrics of "Anthem" by CiRCLE no.5 depict a disillusioned individual who has lost faith in the traditional concepts of patriotism and national identity. The song employs biting satire to criticize the shallow superficiality and hypocrisy inherent in jingoistic notions of freedom and liberty that are often invoked by politicians and ideologues to manipulate public opinion.
The first stanza sets the tone for the song by portraying a nation united in singing its anthem supposedly with heart in hand. The lyrics, however, juxtapose the celebratory nature of the act with a mordant indictment of the socio-political system that the anthem represents. More specifically, the reference to the "hollow country" hints at the emptiness and shallowness of the dominant discourse of freedom and liberty that is propagated through such patriotic rituals. In the second stanza, the singer rejects the popular symbolisms associated with patriotism, such as the colors of the national flag or the explosions of fireworks. Instead, he strikes a more reflective note by confessing his doubts and regrets about his lack of faith in patriotism. He concludes that freedom means something more than just abstract slogans and refrains, that it implies ethical sacrifice and service to one's fellow humans.
The third and final stanza bristles with anger and rebellion against the political establishment that seeks to reduce freedom to a mere commodity that can be traded and sold. The singer accuses the powers that be of pushing a dangerous drug that masquerades as freedom and democracy but is, in fact, a form of consumerism and narcissism. He repudiates this version of freedom by invoking the name of Jesus Christ and implying that true freedom is rooted in selflessness and compassion. Overall, the song exhibits a deep skepticism about traditional notions of patriotism and calls for a radical rethinking of the meaning and purpose of individual and collective freedom.
Line by Line Meaning
A nation stands with heart in hand
The people of the nation are gathered together to honor their country
To sing their anthem proudly
They sing their national anthem with great pride
Voices raised to sing their praise
Their voices are raised to express admiration for their country
Of their hollow country
However, their country seems lacking and empty to the artist
All this talk of freedom
There is a lot of talk about freedom in the country
And some talk of liberty
There is also some talk of liberty, but not enough
From your plastic podium
The singer is addressing someone who is delivering a speech from a fake, insincere place
You try and convince me
The artist is not swayed by the person's arguments
I can't fall anymore
The artist has been fooled before and doesn't want to be fooled again
For some silver-tongued song
The artist is referring to persuasive words and promises that sound too good to be true
Your freedom isn't free
Freedom comes with a cost that people should be aware of
So let me say what freedom means to
The artist wants to express their own definition of freedom
I can't see red, white, and blue waving in the air
The singer is not affected by the patriotic symbols of their country
I don't hear the bombs bursting and I don't even care
They are not moved by the sounds of war either
I'm sorry for my lack of faith
The singer apologizes for not being a true patriot
I'm not the greatest patriot
The artist admits that they do not have strong patriotic feelings
If this is all their is to freedom I don't want it
The artist does not want to have anything to do with the version of freedom presented by their country
Pushing us a drug that you call freedom and democracy
The singer describes the government's promotion of freedom and democracy as a way to manipulate the people
Promise us that selfishness is the means for happiness
The government is suggesting that pursuing one's own interests will lead to happiness
I burned that bridge so long ago that I can hardly see
The artist has distanced themselves from the government's version of freedom
Anything but solace in what freedom means to me
The artist has found peace in their own definition of freedom
It cannot mean to serve ourselves
The definition of freedom should not be centered on individual interests
That doesn't mean a thing
This perspective is meaningless without more context and nuance
It doesn't mean to give the license
Freedom is not permission to do whatever one pleases
To seek ourselves in anything
Seeking only personal interests is not a valid expression of freedom
That would be slavery to ourselves it isn't free
A self-centered approach to freedom would actually be a form of enslavement
Jesus Christ, the only thing that freedom means to me.
The singer's definition of freedom is grounded in their religious beliefs
Lyrics © Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC, Mute Song Limited
Written by: ANDREW JOHN CONNELL, DONALD GEORGE JOHNSON, JEREMY EDWARD SIMON KERR, MARTIN RICHARD MOSCROP, ANTHONY QUIGLEY
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind