Circus Mort was a short-lived post-punk band from New York that included future Swans Michael Gira (vocals) and Jonathan Kane (drums). The other members were bassist Don Braun, keyboardist Josh Braun, and guitarist Rick Olier. Gira formed the group after moving from California, where he had spent time as the vocalist in a band called IDS (the band started as Little Cripples and changed from that to Strict IDS, and then shortened it to IDS). Circus Mort released a self-titled EP of inexperienced, European-influenced post-punk on their own Labor imprint in 1981 before splitting up. Gira and Kane formed Swans, and the Braun brothers went on to the Del-Byzanteens (a band that included director Jim Jarmusch) and then Deep Six. ~ Andy Kellman