James Thirwell called himself Jim Foetus or Clint Ruin or invented band-names like for example Stinkfist, Flesh Volcano, Wiseblood, Frank Want. In general was Thirwell a kind of chameleon, depending to his band-names. He used more names for his band, than there exists names for god. He only worked exclusively under the name “Foetus” since the year 1995. Jim Thirwell, who actually came from Mellbourne, Australia, visited the art university, but because of being disgusted of the traditional culture-business he gave up to study pretty soon after he started. In 1978 he moved to London. There he worked in a Record-company and so he could arrange his own Label “Self Immolation Records” in the year 1980.
In order to gain more experiences in the music-business, first of all Thirwell prevailed as a Remixer and processed among other things recordings of EMF, Cult, Nine Inch Nails, Pantera, Megadeath and the Red Hot Chilli Peppers.
In January 1981 he published the Single “OKFM” under the name “Foetus under class”. Three months later “Wash it all off” got released under the name “You’ve got Foetus on your breath” and in September the LP “Deaf” got published with its sharp industrial-underground. In the beginning of 1982 he recorded the Single “Tell me, what is the bane of your life?” under the name “Philipp & his Foetus” and “Custom built for Capitalism” under the name “Foetus over Frisco”. For the album “Ache” he returned to the name “You’ve got Foetus on your breath”.
After the bankruptcy of Self Immolation Records, Thirwell arranged himself with the Label “Some bizarre Records” in 1983. As “Jim Foetus and the transvestites from hell” he supported “Marc & the Mambas” on the LP “Torment and toreros”. In November 1984 he did one of his rare tours and he appeared on stage together with Marc Almond, Nick Cave and Lydia Lunch. In September 1984 the LP “Hole” got released, but this time under the name “Scraping Foetus off the wheel”. With this extraordinary disk, Thirwell became a cult-figure of the undergrounds.
In October 1984 “Foetus art terrorism” published the Single “Calamity Crush”. Subsequently he collaborated with John Balance and Peter Christopherson in the beginning-phase of Coil; he programmed and produced its Single “Tainted Love” in 1985. He also wrote a few arrangements of their album “Horse Rotorvator”. Together with Nick Cave, Marc Almond and Lydia Lunch he formed the band “Immaculate Consumptive”. 1985, then called “Foetus over Frisco” released the Single “Finely Honed Machine” and “Nail” under the bandname “Scraping Foetus off the wheel”.
Already in the beginning of 1984 Thirwell and the former drummer of “Swans” Roli Mosiman worked together with the band-name “Wiseblood” as a drummer-vocals-duo. Their preferences were electronic music and that they showed on the Singles “Motorslug” and “Stumbo”. In the autumn 1986 the LP “Dirtdish” got released that served with desolate sexism, comic-magazine monsters and other monstrosities, heart-breaking ballads and cynical-pathetic rock.
After a longer break Thirwell appeared again as “Foetus all nude revue” and released the mini-LP “Bedrock” in June 1987. In October 1987 he reactivated “Scraping Foetus off the wheel” with the EP “Ramrod”. After that he and Marc Almond recorded the excellent EP “Slut” under the band-name “Flesh Volcano”, and after that together with Lydia Lunch the mini-LP “Stinkfist”. In September 1988 Thirwell recorded the LP “Thaw” under the band-name “Foetus Interruptus”. In autumn 1988 Foetus also came to Germany. At this time Thirwell already lived in New York, because he thought that this city would be the perfect place for starting up with his new projects. He also produced a Live-album.
In April 1990 the “Foetus Corruptus”-Sampler got released. 4 weeks later the EP “Butterfly Potion” followed. 1995 Thirwell minimized his band-names to “Foetus”. 1996 the Live-album “Boil!”, which included recordings from Glasgows’, Brussels’ and Dublins’ Rednecropolis ´96 Tour, got released. With recognizable recording-quality Thirwell reviewed the biggest part of his career.
|
|
Add to Profile
