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

instrumental music An instrumental is a recording normally 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 to instr ...

, 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, with its roots in blues and ragtime. Since the 1920s Jazz Age, it has been recognized as a majo ...

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 ...

avant-garde The avant-garde (; In 'advance guard' or ' vanguard', literally 'fore-guard') is a person or work that is experimental, radical, or unorthodox with respect to art, culture, or society.John Picchione, The New Avant-garde in Italy: Theoretical ...

soundtrack A soundtrack is recorded music accompanying and synchronised to the images of a motion picture, drama, book, television program, radio program, or video game; a commercially released soundtrack album of music as featured in the soundtrack o ...

and

exotica Exotica is a musical genre, named after the 1957 Martin Denny album of the same name 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 ...

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

Foetus A fetus or foetus (; plural fetuses, feti, foetuses, or foeti) is the unborn offspring that develops from an animal embryo. Following embryonic development the fetal stage of development takes place. In human prenatal development, fetal develo ...

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 turntabl ...

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 Hu ...

, Away, and

Raymond Watts Raymond Watts (also known by his former stage names Nainz, Nainz Watts and Ray Scaballero) is an English musician, the founding and sole member of the industrial music project PIG, sometimes written as <PIG>. Watts was an early member and ...

. 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, record producer, and inventor of electronic instruments. Though Scott never scored cartoon soundtracks, his music is ...

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

Looney Tunes ''Looney Tunes'' is an American animated comedy short film series produced by Warner Bros. starting from 1930 to 1969, concurrently with its partner series '' Merrie Melodies'', during the golden age of American animation. ...

'' 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 ipecac ...

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 university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California. UCLA's academic roots were established in 1881 as a Normal school, teachers colle ...

. 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 the 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 w ...

, 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 The Donaufestival is an annual festival of music and performance that takes place each April in the Austrian state of Lower Austria. In the early years of the festival, two towns were used as locations - Krems and Korneuburg. Since 2007, how ...

. 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 TV series created by Chris McCulloch (also known as "Jackson Publick") for Cartoon Network's late night programming block Adult Swim. Following a pilot episode on February 16, 2 ...

Discography

*''

¡Quilombo! ''¡Quilombo!'' is the first studio album by the jazz band Steroid Maximus. It was released in 1991 by Big Cat Records. An edited version of "Fighteous" is the theme song of ''The Venture Bros.'' cartoon. Track listing Personnel *Lin Culber ...

'' (1991) *''

Gondwanaland Gondwana () was a large landmass, often referred to as a supercontinent, that formed during the late Neoproterozoic (about 550 million years ago) and began to break up during the Jurassic period (about 180 million years ago). The final stages ...

'' (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 No ...

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

History

Recent

Discography

See also

References

External links