Steroid Maximus is a musical project led by Australian composer J.G. Thirlwell. Mostly

instrumental music An instrumental or instrumental song is music without any vocals, although it might include some inarticulate vocals, such as shouted backup vocals in a big band setting. Through semantic widening, a broader sense of the word song may refer t ...

, Steroid Maximus contains elements of

jazz Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana, in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Its roots are in blues, ragtime, European harmony, African rhythmic rituals, spirituals, h ...

big band A big band or jazz orchestra is a type of musical ensemble of jazz music that usually consists of ten or more musicians with four sections: saxophones, trumpets, trombones, and a rhythm section. Big bands originated during the early 1910s and ...

avant-garde In the arts and literature, the term ''avant-garde'' ( meaning or ) identifies an experimental genre or work of art, and the artist who created it, which usually is aesthetically innovative, whilst initially being ideologically unacceptable ...

soundtrack A soundtrack is a recorded audio signal accompanying and synchronised to the images of a book, drama, motion picture, radio program, television show, television program, or video game; colloquially, a commercially released soundtrack album of m ...

and

exotica Exotica is a musical genre that was popular during the 1950s to mid-1960s with Americans who came of age during World War II. The term was coined by Simon "Si" Waronker, Liberty Records co-founder and board chairman, named after the 1957 Mart ...

styles. Thirlwell is best known for his rock-oriented main band,

Foetus A fetus or foetus (; : fetuses, foetuses, rarely feti or foeti) is the unborn offspring of a viviparous animal that develops from an embryo. Following the embryonic stage, the fetal stage of development takes place. Prenatal development is a ...

History

Following the recording of Foetus Interruptus' '' Thaw'' (1988) J.G. Thirlwell felt that too many instrumental songs were making their way onto Foetus albums. Thirlwell's future work was split between two distinct entities: songs with lead vocals were released under the Foetus moniker, and instrumental works were released as Steroid Maximus. The official debut of Steroid Maximus came in 1990 with the release of the single "Volgarity" on a

flexi disc The flexi disc (also known as a phonosheet, Sonosheet or Soundsheet, a trademark) is a phonograph record made of a thin, flexible vinyl sheet with a molded-in spiral stylus groove, and is designed to be playable on a normal phonograph turntable. ...

compilation. The following year saw the release of the ''¡Quilombo!'' LP, Steroid Maximus' first album written by Thirlwell with guest performances by Lucy Hamilton,

Hahn Rowe Hahn Rowe is an American violinist, guitarist, composer, and engineer/producer, involved in a wide range of projects. He also performs using the stage name Somatic. Career Originally a violinist and guitarist with New York City dream-poppers H ...

Away Away may refer to: Film and television * ''Away'' (2016 film), a British film directed by David Blair * ''Away'' (2019 film), a Latvian animated silent film by Gints Zilbalodis * Away (2025 film), a drama film by Gerard Oms * ''Away'' (TV series ...

, and

Raymond Watts Raymond is a male given name of Germanic origin. It was borrowed into English from French (older French spellings were Reimund and Raimund, whereas the modern English and French spellings are identical). It originated as the Germanic ᚱᚨᚷ� ...

. Steroid Maximus' second album, ''Gondwanaland'', was released in 1992. In addition to further collaboration with

on 6 of the 14 tracks, Thirlwell wrote, recorded and produced the second effort. ''Gondwanaland'' also contained the "Volgarity" single and a cover of

Raymond Scott Raymond Scott (born Harry Warnow; September 10, 1908 – February 8, 1994) was an American composer, band leader, pianist and record producer. Known best in his time as a composer of production music, Scott is today regarded as an early ...

's " Powerhouse"—a favorite soundtrack of many classic ''

Looney Tunes ''Looney Tunes'' is an American media franchise produced and distributed by Warner Bros. The franchise began as a series of animated short films that originally ran from 1930 to 1969, alongside its spin-off series ''Merrie Melodies'', during t ...

'' shorts—which was originally released by Thirlwell under his Garage Monsters moniker.

Recent

After a decade-long hiatus, Thirlwell revived his Steroid Maximus project in 2001 (without Watts). ''Ectopia'' was recorded and released as the third album for Mike Patton's

Ipecac Syrup of ipecac (), or simply ipecac, is a drug that was once widely used as an expectorant (in low doses) and a rapid-acting emetic (in higher doses). It is obtained from the dried rhizome and roots of the ipecacuanha plant ('' Carapichea ipe ...

label in 2002. Steroid Maximus made its live debut in Los Angeles in 2003, facilitated by a commission from

UCLA The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California, United States. Its academic roots were established in 1881 as a normal school then known as the southern branch of the C ...

. Thirlwell rearranged the music for an 18-piece orchestra, with string and brass section. This included trumpeter Steven Bernstein, with whom he had worked with on the Foetus album '' Gash''. Conducted by Thirlwell, the ensemble included musicians

Nels Cline Nels Courtney Cline (born January 4, 1956) is an American guitarist and composer. He has been a guitarist for the band Wilco since 2004. In the 1980s he played jazz, often in collaboration with his twin brother Alex, a percussionist. He has wor ...

, DJ Bonebrake and

Bruce Fowler Bruce Lambourne Fowler (born July 10, 1947) is an American trombonist and composer. He played trombone on many Frank Zappa records, as well as with Captain Beefheart and in the Fowler Brothers Band. He composes and arranges music for movies, a ...

. He has since performed with French and Austrian versions of this ensemble, and in 2005 extended the repertoire to add a set of Foetus material for the Donaufestival. Thirlwell has continued and expanded his Steroid Maximus stylings in his scoring work for the cartoon

The Venture Bros. ''The Venture Bros.'' is an American adult animated action comedy television series created by Jackson Publick and Doc Hammer for Cartoon Network's late night programming block Adult Swim. Following a pilot episode on February 16, 2003, the s ...

Discography

*'' ¡Quilombo!'' (1991) *''

Gondwanaland Gondwana ( ; ) was a large landmass, sometimes referred to as a supercontinent. The remnants of Gondwana make up around two-thirds of today's continental area, including South America, Africa, Antarctica, Australia, Zealandia, Arabia, and the ...

'' (1992) *'' Ectopia'' (2002)

References

''Gondwanaland''
at foetus.org

External links

Official Foetus/J. G. Thirlwell Page

Steroid Maximus webpage
at

Ipecac Recordings Ipecac Recordings is an independent record label based in California. It was founded on April 1, 1999, by Greg Werckman (ex-label manager of Alternative Tentacles, ex-lead singer of DUH, ex-employee of Mercury Records) and Mike Patton (Faith N ...

website.
Discogs
{{Authority control American instrumental musical groups JG Thirlwell

History

Recent

Discography

See also

References

External links