Steroid Maximus

Steroid Maximus is an instrumental side project of J.G. Thirlwell. Thirlwell is best known for his main band, Foetus. Steroid Maximus contains elements of jazz, big band, avant-garde, soundtrack and exotica styles.

History

Following the recording of Foetus Interruptus' Thaw, 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 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, Away, and Raymond Watts.

Steroid Maximus' second album, Gondwanaland, was released in 1992. In addition to further collaboration with Raymond Watts on 6 of the 14 tracks, Thirlwell wrote, recorded and produced the second effort with astonishing results. Gondwanaland also contained the "Volgarity" single and a cover of Raymond Scott's "Powerhouse"—a favorite soundtrack of many classic Looney Tunes 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 label in 2002. Steroid Maximus made its live debut in Los Angeles in 2003, facilitated by a commission from UCLA. 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 contained such luminaries as Nels Cline, DJ Bonebrake and Bruce Fowler. 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.

Discography

• ¡Quilombo! (1991)
• Gondwanaland (1992)
• Ectopia (2002)

Gondwanaland

Gondwanaland was released in 1992 by Big Cat Records. The album is Ectopic Entertainment #ECT ENTS 003. It is the second Steroid Maximus album of instrumental soundtrack music to an imaginary film.^[1] Ira Robbins of Trouser Press called the music "stunning in its mischievous diversion of traditional concepts", describing the music as "Wagnerian orchestration, exotic ethnic elements, blaring big-band swing, continental drift and found-sound constructions".^[2]

Reviews:

• John Chedsey (30 January 2000). "Satan Stole My Teddy Bear". Archived from the original. Error: If you specify |archiveurl=, you must also specify |archivedate=. http://foetus.org/text/satanr1.html. 
• College Music Journal text at foetus.org
• Sputnik Music review

Track listing

1. "¡Quilombo!" (J. G. Thirlwell / Raymond Watts) – 4:22
2. "Radio Raheem" (Thirlwell / Watts) – 3:25
3. "First Movement: The Trojan Hearse" (Thirlwell / Watts) – 2:38
4. "Second Movement: The Auctioneer of Souls" (Thirlwell / Watts) – 4:36
5. "Third Movement: Crawling Goliath" (Thirlwell / Watts) – 3:42
6. "Fourth Movement: Erupture" (Thirlwell / Watts) – 3:13
7. "Life in the Greenhouse Effect" (Thirlwell / Lucy Hamilton) – 5:52
8. "I Will Love You Always (Wild Irish Rose)" (Thirlwell / Don Flemming) – 6:14
9. "Cross Double Cross" (Thirlwell / Mark Cunningham) – 4:08
10. "Destino Matar" (Thirlwell / Away) – 3:32
11. "Volgarity" (Thirlwell) – 2:36
12. "Öl (Kwik-Lube)" (Thirlwell / Roli Mosimann) – 1:56
13. "Powerhouse!" (Raymond Scott) – 4:06
14. "Homeo" (Thirlwell / Away) – 2:34

• Tracks 3–6 are collectively titled "The Bowel of Beelzebub: A Symphony in Four Movements."
• "¡Quilombo!" and "Life in the Greenhouse Effect" are taken from ¡Quilombo!.
• "Powerhouse!" originally released in 1990 by Thirlwell's Garage Monsters project.

Personnel and production

• J. G. Thirlwell – Performance, production, arrangements, engineering, mixing
• Raymond Watts – Featured (1–6)
• Lucy Hamilton – Featured (7)
• Don Flemming – Featured (8)
• Mark Cunningham – Featured (9)
• Away – Featured (10, 14)
• Roli Mosimann – Featured (12)
• The Pizz and Buttstain – Featured (13)
• Lin Culbertson – Flute (1)
• Hahn Rowe – Violin (9)

Ectopia

Ectopia was released in 2002 by Ipecac Recordings. The album is Ectopic Entertainment #ECT ENTS 023.

Track listing

All songs by J. G. Thirlwell unless noted.

1. "The Trembler" – 5:23
2. "Seventy Cops" – 4:50
3. "L'espion Qui A Pleure" – 4:16
4. "Naught" (Thirlwell / Jim Coleman) – 4:52
5. "Chain Reaction" – 4:11
6. "Bad Day in Greenpoint" (Thirlwell / Brian Emrich) – 4:17
7. "Aclectasis" – 4:18
8. "Tarmac a Gris Gris" – 3:56
9. "'Pusher' Jones" – 3:49
10. "Wm" – 3:02
11. "Chaiste" – 6:49
12. "Enzymes" – 2:33

• The flute throughout "The Trembler" is actually a sample from the Jethro Tull song "My God".
• The bizarre sounding chants occurring a little after the halfway mark of "Aclectasis" is a sample of the soundtrack for "One Step Beyond", which was covered by the band Fantômas on their album The Director's Cut. Fantômas's vocalist, Mike Patton, is one of the two founders of Ipecac Recordings. Both The Director's Cut and Ectopia were released on this label.

Personnel and Production

• J. G. Thirlwell – Performance, production, engineering, sleeve design
• Brian Emrich – Additional sounds (6)
• Jim Coleman – Additional sounds (4)
• Christian Gibbs – Guitar (3)
• Steve Bernstein – Trumpet (2, 8, 9)
• John Golden – Mastering

See also

• J. G. Thirlwell
• Raymond Watts
• Manorexia

References

• Gondwanaland at foetus.org

External links

• Official Foetus/J. G. Thirlwell Page
• Steroid Maximus webpage at Ipecac Recordings website.
• Discogs