Max Brody

Max Brody (born Matthew Woods Brody, 1969) is an American musician based outside of Seattle, Washington, best known as the drummer/saxophonist for the industrial metal band Ministry from 1999-2004

Personal life[]

Brody was born in the town of Elgin, Illinois and was raised there until the age of five, when his family relocated to Scottsdale, Arizona. Brody started playing clarinet in the second grade, switching to saxophone as soon as he could reasonably hold one. By high school, he and his brother, Doug, were writing and recording jazzy, ambient, "new age" songs under the moniker "Mosaic" at their parents', house which resulted in a series of recordings that were released in the mid- to late 1980s on the Invincible label out of Phoenix, Arizona. The two also made appearances on albums by other artists on that label. Brody later taught himself to play drums.

After his graduation from high school in 1987, Brody moved to Claremont, California and graduated from Pomona College in 1991. Bouncing back and forth from Los Angeles to Seattle, he eventually settled on Austin, where his favorite bands came from.

He met his wife, Sherry, on the set of A.I.; she was an extra in the film. They married in 2004, in Arizona. They have one child together named Isabella. Divorced in 2010, he now has full custody of his daughter and lives in Washington state.

Career[]

After graduating college, Brody moved to Seattle, Washington and played in various local rock bands. Finding the Seattle scene saturated, he moved to Austin, Texas in 1993. There, he met and became musical partners with Rey Washam, drummer for such seminal punk/hardcore acts as Rapeman, Scratch Acid and the Big Boys. They went on to form the short-lived , which featured a number of infamous Austin musicians. Washam later went on to drum for Ministry.

In the late spring of 1999, Brody received a call from Ministry co-performer Paul Barker, who offered the opportunity to perform saxophone parts during their ill-fated Dark Side of the Spoon tour. He later went on to perform one-half of the drum duties for their 2003 Animositisomina tour and album, as well as their follow-up Houses of the Molé.

He also appeared as the drummer for the "Flesh Fair Band" (a.k.a. Ministry) in the Kubrick/Spielberg (2001) film A.I..

Brody continued to work with fellow Austin musicians like Brett Bradford (Scratch Acid), Jeff Pinkus (Butthole Surfers), Jason Craig (Pocket FishRmen), Jimbo Yongue (Daddy Longhead), Randy Turner (Big Boys), Paul Barker (Ministry), Mike Scaccia (Ministry) Danny Barnes (Bad Livers), and John Hawkins (Crust), Seattle musicians Chris Ballew (Presidents of the United States of America) and Tad Doyle (TAD) as well as New York musicians Victor Poison-tete (Rat At Rat R), Stu Spasm (Lubricated Goat), Italian conceptual artist Daniele Santaguiliana (Testing Vault), Swedish Guitar player Tobias Eriksson (Light Screamer/Daisy Pusher), L.A. music supervisor Jeff Kinart and others in many different music projects.

Having learned a great deal about production during his years in Ministry while perpetually expanding the number of instruments he plays, he began to produce records and events on his own, and started a multimedia company called "Darkstack" with Austin visual artist D Kithcart. As of 2012, he had moved to Shoreline, Washington with his daughter. From 2013 thru 2018 he had a band with Danny Barnes (formerly of the Bad Livers) called the Test Apes. He continues to release solo projects thru Bandcamp.

• Ministry
• Pink Anvil
• Areola 51

Personal discography[]

• Mosaic, "Landscapes" (1985, self-released)
• , "Form and Illusion" (Invincible, 1986)
• Mosaic, "New Blue" (Invincible, 1987)
• Mosaic, "Invisible Landscapes" (Invincible, 1988)
• Various Artists, "The Incredible Invincible Sampler, 1989)
• , "Crimson Series: Blessings" (Invincible, 1991)
• Various Artists, It Came Frumunda (1993, self-released)
• , Way Up Off In There (1996, Sweatbox)
• , Hold Yer Breath (1998, self-released)
• Various Artists, Bands That Begin With the Letter "S" (1999, Sweatbox)
• , El Pee (2000, self-released)
• Various Artists, Diggy Diggy Die (2000, Rubble)
• Various Artists, Diggy Diggy Dead (2005, Rubble)
• Ministry, Greatest Fits (2001, Warner)
• , In Like With Love (2001, Kranzke)
• , Goobersmoochers I (2002, self-released)
• Ministry, Animositisomina (2003, Sanctuary)
• , s/t (2003, self-released)
• , s/t (2003, self-released)
• Pink Anvil, Halloween Party (2003, Ipecac)
• Ministry, Houses of the Molé (2004, Sanctuary)
• , Self Tittled (2004, Stacked)
• , Act 1 (2006, Stacked)
• Max Brody, Passout EP (2007, Stacked)
• Max Brody, Brody-Spasm-Tete Encounter (2007, self-released)
• , The Ballad of St. Crespi (2010, self-released)
• Pink Anvil, New Years Eve Party (2008, self-released)
• , Suffer Robot (2007, self-released)
• , The Double-D Sides, (2009, Stacked)
• , Hans Pretzilrod (2011, self-released)
• , Still Life With Goobers (2014, self-released)
• , Mischief (2014, self-released)
• Pink Anvil, Cubed (2015, self-released)
• Max Brody, Guilty Pleasure, Vol.1 (2012, self-released)
• Max Brody, Smitty (2012, self-released)
• , Smedley's Racket (2014, self-released)
• , Test Apes (2014, Festive Duds Music)
• , Stranded On Earth (2015, Festive Duds Music)
• , Mystery Tool (2015, Festive Duds Music)
• , Remotes (2016, Festive Duds Music)
• Max Brody, Couchlock (2016, self-released)
• , ...We Walked Into God's Chest Howling (2016, self-released)
• , Left On Piedmont (2016, self-released)
• , Chicken Pie Vortex (2017, Festive Duds Music)
• Max Brody, High Strangeness In Stereophonic Sound (2017, self-released)
• , "Too Big To Flush" (2017, self-released)
• , "Never Letting A Good Crisis Go To Waste" (2017, self-released)
• , "Velveteen Straightjacket" (2017, self-released)
• , "They Came In Peace" (2018, self-released)
• , "Wooden Jello Boots" (2018, self-released)
• Max Brody, "Plagueground" (2018, self-released)
• Max Brody, "49 & 3/4" (2019, self-released)
• , "Crestless Trough" (2019, self-released)
• Max Brody, "Pineapple Foghorn" (2020, self-released)
• Max Brody, "Space Flotilla" (2021, self-released)
• Max Brody, "Self Untitled" (2021, self released)

External links[]

• Official site for Max Brody
• Max Brody's official page on Bandcamp
• Alternative Nation Interview

References[]