Did you know that 95% of the time, circle pits move counter-clockwise? It’s true! It’s science! And as seen in the video below, they even run counter-clockwise in the southern hemisphere! What the fuck does that have to do with anything, you ask? That’s a fair question, and I’ll answer it in time.

Until then, welcome to Clockwise Circle Pit! I’m your host, Rev. Joel. You might recognize me from my other blog, Stay Heavy (“All heavy, all the time.”), but you also might not. Either way, I was finding my self-created boundaries for that blog to be a bit stifling, re: my writing. For whatever reason, I haven’t been moved to write about heavy music lately, and since my blog is about heavy music, I just haven’t written as much. That seems silly, even to me – like, it’s my blog, why not just do whatever I want with it, right? If you don’t like it, you don’t have to read it.

But rules exist for a reason, people!

The fact is, sometimes what’s on my mind isn’t necessarily heavy, musically or emotionally, and sometimes what I’m listening to isn’t musically heavy at all. I thought about it for a while, then I didn’t think about it for a while, lather, rinse, repeat, and ultimately it seemed sensible to give myself a different outlet for those ideas and thoughts.

If you’ve read anything on Stay Heavy, it should be crystal clear that I will never not love heavy music, and I don’t plan to abandon that blog anytime soon, because it’s somehow still getting between 10 and 30 views per day, even though I haven’t updated it in over two months. I may still post there when the subject calls for it, but as of this moment, I plan to give most of my new posts a home here instead.

To answer your question from earlier, here’s what the fuck this has to do with clockwise circle pits: it’s been clear to me for the bulk of my life that I see things differently than most people. I’ve been misunderstood by “regular” people since I was a little kid, and I’ve always been drawn to outcasts, weirdos, and misfits. They often seem to be drawn to me, as well. Clockwise circle pits are uncommon in the world, and I am, too.

To all you weirdos, freaks, goobers, ding-dongs, oddballs, and awkward motherfuckers out there, I hope you’ll jump into this Clockwise Circle Pit with me. I’ll be figuring it out as I go, and it’ll be confusing at times, but we’ll make it work, and hopefully we’ll have some fun.

Now that I’m thinking about it, the rules for life are kinda like the rules for a circle pit, Clockwise or otherwise:

• If someone falls, help them up.
• Have fun.
• Don’t be an asshole.
• Don’t pull someone in if they don’t wanna be there.
• Stay hydrated.
• Nazi punks fuck off.

Let’s open this fucking pit up!