Foetus Inc. Interview <br>
Dangerous Rhythms October 02, 1990 <br> <br>

Dangerous Rhythms: Among the new projects, _Quilombo_,
what's that?  <br><br>
Jim Thirlwell/Foetus: Well, _Quilombo_, that was originally
it's initial name.  That's now being changed to _Steroid
Maximus_ and that's an all-instrumental thing.  It's an LP
and two twelve-inches and that's myself in collaboration
with a variety of different people. Raymond Watts (Nainz,
aka Pig), Away from Voi Void, Mark Cunningham (Mars, Don
King), Lucy Hamilton (Mars, Don King), Roli Mossiman (Swans,
Wiseblood), Don Flemming (Velvet Monkeys) and a bunch of
other people.  And that pretty much covers the gamut of
music involving rock.  It's everything but rock.  And that
should be out early in the year.  And that's the next kind
of major LP release that I'll be on.
<br><br>DR: Is that Toxico Plus you're calling that?
<br><br>Foetus: No, that was another name.  I mean, it used to be
called _Quilombo_, then it was called _Toxico Plus_, then it
was called _Grey Opera_, and now it's finally called
_Steroid Maximus_.
<br><br>DR: There's a bunch of new things you did. Didn't you do a
song for the Rutles (cover version) album coming out (on
Shimmydisc)?
<br><br>Foetus: That.  I don't know if that's going to happen or not
yet. I'm going to talk to Kramer about that because I didn't
have time to do it before I left and I think that's still in
progress.
<br><br>DR: So you never actually recorded anything.
<br><br>Foetus: No, I didn't do it yet.
<br><br>DR: It's hard to do something like that with a straight
face, isn't it?
<br><br>Foetus: Well, I haven't done it yet. So I can't tell.  I
also did a track for this Ralph Records compilation  of
music for children and that's definitely done.  It's all
mixed.  It's called "See Dick Run."  And then there's a new
Wiseblood 4-track EP in the works which should come out in
March. And the new Clint Ruin and Lydia Lunch twelve-inch
we'll be recording in about 2 weeks and that should be out
round and about march too which is "Don't Fear the Reaper."
<br><br>DR: Oh, so that isn't recorded yet?
<br><br>Foetus: It's been demoed, and what I've got is 3 tracks.
And so far I've demoed the a-side and I've done one other
backing tracks  on the b-side. We have to put the vocals on
it, and we're going to be re-recording the a-side in a
different studio, so that should be coming out early in the
year.
<br><br>DR: And there was the Garage Monsters.
<br><br>Foetus: Well, that's already out. Well, that came out, and I
think it may have already disappeared.  That was out on
Sympathy For the Record Industry as a one-sided seven-inch
with an etching on the b-side and was myself with the Pizz
and Buttstain.{1}  And that was a cover version of a song by
the Raymond Scott Orchestra which was a big band from the
'30's  who was used in a lot of old Warner Brothers
cartoons.  Came out and might be re-released in England on
purple vinyl limited edition ten inch.  I'm working on a new
double live album as well which I'll be recording tomorrow
night.
<br><br>DR: Foetus live--Double Live?
<br><br>Foetus: Yeah.
<br><br>DR: Okay, so the _Rife_ album (from the Foetus Corruptus
tour) you had nothing to do with?
<br><br>Foetus: That's officially unofficial. As opposed to
officially official.
<br><br>DR: Is there any kind of litigation as far as like a
lawsuit?  Were you happy with it or is that against...?
<br><br>Foetus: I think it's a document.  I'm happy with the fact
that it's a document.  Tomorrow night will be the official
document.
<br><br>DR: Oh you're actually going to tape tomorrow night.
<br><br>Foetus: Yeah, tomorrow night I'll be recording onto sixteen
track.
<br><br>DR: Okay, the difference between Corruptus and what you're
doing now is you basically added Hahn Rowe.{2} Are you like
really happy with this line up?
<br><br>Foetus: It's a different line-up. It's much better. I think
it's a lot more textural. It's a lot more like a shade. It's
a lot more faithful to the spirit of the original stuff.
And I think it has a subtlety but it has a bludgeon as well
which is what I was looking for in the past.  At this point
in time, this is my dream band.
<br><br>DR: Is it, as far as the kind of show, like the one you did
at the Marquee?
<br><br>Foetus: It'll be kind of a similar set but it'll be
different.  It'll be more songs and changed around a bit.
<br><br>DR: I didn't really get to see the whole band. Was Nainz
playing keyboards?
<br><br>Foetus: No, that was Dave Ouimet.
<br><br>DR: Oh, I'm not really familiar with him.
<br><br>Foetus: He used to be in Cop Shoot Cop.
<br><br>DR: Oh Okay.  You did something with White Zombie, right?
<br><br>Foetus: Yeah, I'll be producing their next album.
<br><br>DR: When I talked to the people at Wax Trax, they said you
were already in the studio with them.
<br><br>Foetus: Yeah, we already did a demo and it turned out really
good. So it looks like we'll be recording early this year.
<br><br>DR: Any other production things you're up to right now?
<br><br>Foetus: I'll be doing a couple of re-mixes for Tad.{3}
(There's no keeping up with this guy! Add mixes of EMF's "I
believe" and Swan's _White Light from the Mouth of Infinity_
too-- Ed.)  Also, I'm starting on a Foetus LP now and time
is very tight. So I've got a lot of projects to cram into a
very small amount of time. I could really use time to
breathe right now, but I really don't have the time to.
<br><br>DR: With everything going over to CD, are you going to ever
put _Deaf_ and _Ache_ on discs? {4}
<br><br>Foetus: They should probably come out late this year by year
end.
<br><br>DR: Do you think Wax Trax is going to do that?
<br><br>Foetus: No, I don't plan on doing anything else with Wax
Trax. They just licensed _Sink_ and _Butterfly Potion_. That
was it.  I don't think there'll be anything else.
<br><br>DR: As far as going back a long way, one of the things I
don't notice in your discography was _No Cowboys_. Do you
have any recollection of this?
<br><br>Foetus: Yeah, but I can't deny it's existence.{5}
<br><br>DR: There was a good story that Nick Cave told me one time
that you co-wrote a song. On "Wings Off Flies," it was done
with the Yorkshire Ripper? Was he pulling my leg or did you
actually work with this guy?
<br><br>Foetus: Peter Sutcliffe?
<br><br>DR: Yeah.
<br><br>Foetus: Well, that was the name of the Yorkshire Ripper and
that was also the name of this guy in Australia whose other
name is Pierre Voltaire and I guess he was using a bit of
artistic license on that.  That's how it was originally
conceived.  We worked in his words and we sat down and re-
wrote the music and that's how it came about. He kind of got
involved in the early stages in _From Her to Eternity_ and
then kind of fell out during the production.
<br><br>DR: You recorded _Swealter_ but that never really happened
right, just _Stinkfist_ was all that came out of that?
<br><br>Foetus: We never really recorded it. We only performed it
live. We only did it about 4 times.  We only did it in NY,
LA, San Fran, and Chicago.  That was it. We didn't record it
for posterity.  Then _Stinkfist_ was totally re-recorded at
some point after based on original tapes of that.
<br><br>DR: There was a bomb scare at one of your shows, what was
it, in Amsterdam in 1988. Did you ever catch the guy or
anything like that?
<br><br>Foetus: No, I mean, I've had 2 bomb scares. Both in Holland.
One in Rotterdam and one at a Wiseblood show, I can't
remember what city it was.
<br><br>DR: So it completely stopped the show mid-way or how'd it
happen?
<br><br>Foetus: Well, at the Wiseblood one, we only found out
afterwards. But at the Foetus one in Rotterdam, we had to
stop the show mid-way and clear out the entire audience.
Cops came in and searched the building didn't find anything.
The audience went back in the hall, the band back in.  We
started up again and it went great.  As a result we got to
share in this weird thing that kind of created a bond
between me and the band.
<br><br>DR: On the _Don't Fear the Reaper_ thing with you a Lydia,
what are going to be the song titles?
<br><br>Foetus: It's going to be "Don't Fear the Reaper" plus two
originals as of yet named, but conceived.
<br><br>DR: One other thing was "The Judas Jesus." Was your piece
written for that book by Rolf Vaseclari?
<br><br>Foetus: No it was written anyway.
<br><br>DR: Any other literary projects you're planning?
<br><br>Foetus: The next literary project I'm undertaking is going
to be the _Foetus of Excellence II_. It's going to be a
boxed book. A twelve-inch book with every lyric and piece of
writing that I've ever done.  All my graphics, everything,
the whole deal. That'll be out by the end of '91.
<br><br>DR: No US deal at this point though, as far as records go?
<br><br>Foetus: Well, the last couple came out on Wax Trax, but now
I'm negotiating a new deal. And that should be something
that should be taken care of by March.