Flattus Maximus is the name of a character and former guitarist in the Americanheavy metal band Gwar. He is known for his red face, white dreadlocks, dinosaur-head shoulder pads and reptile feet. The name "Flattus" is indicative of the character's signature flatulence. His speaking mannerisms suggest a childlike intelligence and naivety.
The role of Flattus Maximus was played by six different people before it was retired. Dewey Rowell was the first to take the role. A sculptor, Jeffrey Rumaner, nicknamed "Stretch" played Flattus in the scenes to the video "Gor-Gor". Pete Lee portrayed the character beginning with the 1992 tour in support of the America Must Be Destroyed album and continuing to perform with the band through their next four albums.
Tim Harriss portrayed him during the 1998 Halloween Tour and for the recording of We Kill Everything. Zach Blair took over the role in 1999 for the recording of Violence Has Arrived. Cory Smoot took over the role in 2002 and continued to portray the character until his death on November 3, 2011. After Smoot's death, the band made the decision to officially retire the character in his honor.
Gwar lore
Very little about Flattus Maximus is explained in Gwar lore. Even his home planet is an uncertainty. In an interview conducted during a 1997 tour, Flattus, at the time portrayed by Pete Lee, explained his hazy memory was due to his notorious pot smoking. He recalled a planet named Pot (made entirely of cannabis) he once called home. He ended up destroying it by smoking the entire planet out of existence.
Although his explanation was never officially set in stone, it's one of many theories as to where Flattus really originates from. What is apparent, though, is that he is illiterate, has a slight Southern accent, and that he attributes his "explosive guitar style" to a strict diet of vegetarians, which also causes his infamous atomic flatulence.
Following Smoot's death in 2011, the band explained the character's absence by claiming that Flattus stole Gwar's spaceship in order to return to his home planet, Planet Home.
Flattus' history
Dewey Rowell was the first man to portray the "armored clown", taken from the pre-2005 web bio, who played on Hell-O and Scumdogs of the Universe. He left the band shortly after the "Tour De Scum" tape, and before America Must Be Destroyed, Gwar's third album, was recorded. Until mid-1992, after Gwar's Phallus In Wonderland was released, the Flattus Maximus character was absent. America Must Be Destroyed had all of its guitar parts (save two solos) played by Balsac the Jaws of Death. When playing those songs live, in particular "The Road Behind", it was typically Balsac, not Flattus, who played the lead.
For the filming of Phallus in Wonderland Jeffrey Rumaner, a sculptor friend of the band, who goes by the name of "Stretch," played Flattus in the few scenes in which he was featured (the video for "Gor-Gor" features Stretch falling off of a building, and he plays piano in "Have You Seen Me?").
Flattus Maximus live on stage
After a mini-tour in early 1992, Peter Lee was hired, at the recommendation of Ministry guitarist Mike Scaccia, as the new guitarist (Scaccia had turned them down to continue working with Ministry - Scaccia and Lee were both in a band together, along with future Gwar bassist Casey Orr; it was Lee who enlisted Orr in 1994). He first played on This Toilet Earth. In 1993, Lee was shot in an attempted carjacking, and was unable to film much of "Skulhedface" due to injuries to his stomach.
He managed to film a commercial segment with Dave Brockie, where Lee first suggested the idea of police officers (both were dressed as policemen) playing rock music. This turned into Gwar's first true spin-off band, X-Cops. One music video from that period, "Jack The World," features Lee as Flattus, and he is seen wearing a colostomy bag, which he also wore during a brief tour in October 1993. Lee played on the next two albums, RagNaRok and Carnival of Chaos, and was in the films from that time frame (1995-late 1997), "Rendezvous With RagNaRok" and "Dawn of the Day of the Night of the Penguins."
In the interview segments of "Rendezvous...," Flattus is seen more than any other character (the others were a paranormal investigator played by Bob Gorman, Beefcake the Mighty, Balsac the Jaws of Death and Techno Destructo), and it is here where the childlike mannerisms truly surface. Lee left in December 1997, due to his recurring stomach problems stemming from the carjacking. His leaving of Gwar also forced the dissolution of the X-Cops.
In 1998, there again was no Flattus for some time. When Gwar's 1998 Halloween tour came around, Michael Bishop, who was filling in for Casey Orr as Beefcake, suggested Tim Harriss (who had previously played one Gwar show twelve years prior) of his band Kepone. Harriss would remain the Flattus character through the recording of We Kill Everything.
In 1999, after Orr returned, and before We Kill Everything was released, Gwar auditioned several guitarists for the role of Flattus Maximus. Zach Blair won the part, and became the reptilian cro-mag guitarist. He is seen in the film "It's Sleazy," and the music video for "Fuckin' An Animal," the last song on We Kill Everything. In 2001, Gwar, with Blair on guitar, recorded Violence Has Arrived, from which one music video, the concert favorite "Immortal Corrupter," was recorded. However, Blair was not featured in the "Immortal Corrupter" video, and was replaced by Tim Harriss for the video shoot. Blair, along with Casey Orr, left after the Blood Drive 2nd Campaign Tour (the second tour for Violence Has Arrived).
In September 2002, a new Flattus was needed, and Cory Smoot (Mensrea/Locus Factor), who had previously auditioned in 1999, was recruited. Smoot, being a talented producer, lent his technical skills to the recording of War Party, and co-produced, as well as co-mixed with Devin Townsend (Steve Vai/Strapping Young Lad) Gwar's 2006 release, titled Beyond Hell. The two albums were recorded at Karma Studios, owned and operated by Smoot. Smoot has been the longest running Flattus thus and is in the videos for "War Party", "Bring Back The Bomb", "Womb With A View", "School's Out" and "Eighth Lock".
Smoot is considered by Gwar fans to be the "True Flattus", as he is the longest serving person to portray the character in Gwar history. Smoot also produced the follow-up to Beyond Hell, Lust in Space, along with other members of Gwar, and even sang lead vocals on the track "Release the Flies". Smoot's final Gwar album, Bloody Pit of Horror, features a 12-minute epic of four songs strung together, which was largely the brainchild of Smoot. Originally he wrote the music for a solo project of his, but by the suggestion of Dave Brockie, it was reworked to become new Gwar material.
Death of Cory Smoot and retirement of Flattus
On November 3, 2011, hours after a performance at First Avenue in Minneapolis, Minnesota, Smoot was found dead[1] by his fellow band members in the band's tour bus as they prepared to cross the border into Manitoba, Canada from North Dakota.[2] A medical examiner concluded that Smoot died from "coronary artery thrombosis brought about by his pre-existing coronary artery disease". On November 4, Dave Brockie officially announced that the character of Flattus Maximus would be retired out of respect to Smoot.[3]
Costume evolution
Cory Smoot as Flattus Maximus in 2004
Flattus began life with a helmet with large horns, dinosaur-skull shoulder pads, a painted red face and long dreadlocks. During the 1990 Tour De Scum, Flattus' helmet changed into something resembling the horns of a ram, but this was a short-lived change. Two of Flattus' three appearances in "Phallus In Wonderland" used his "Scumdogs" helmet, the second of the three, the video for "Have You Seen Me?," has him wearing a tuxedo, and no armor whatsoever.
The second incarnation did away with the helmet, and the shoulder pads were enlarged. By "RagNaRok," the shoulder pads were brown dinosaur heads instead of skulls, and he had a tail and loincloth, scaly and brown. His face was still red, but was a mask, and his dreadlocks were shorter and stuck out like a palm tree.
His shoulder pads changed slightly for "Carnival of Chaos," and would be the last change until after "We Kill Everything" was recorded. "We Kill Everything" has a photo of Flattus, presumably Michael Derks in said costume, and he is more or less the same (it is the same costume), minus the tail and taller.
Blair's Flattus is the most drastic change: the shoulder pads became green, with some exposed bone and muscle, but mostly scale. The tail reappears (for the "WKE" photo shoot, Derks did not wear one), and, like the feet, shoulder pads and loincloth, is green and scaly. The face is less comical, red, and more like a bulldog. The dreadlocks are white, and at their shortest.
In the "Fuckin' An Animal" video, Blair's Flattus costume featured a tail, though in subsequent tours and videos it did not. Smoot's changes to the costume to coincide with War Party were mostly in the face and hair. The face is larger and more distorted, and the dreadlocks are white and black, and are pulled back. They are considerably longer than before. The tail is gone. The shoulderpads are a bit larger and longer, whereas Blair's were more compact.
Beyond Hell-era Flattus has grey shoulderpads, green feet and a slightly redesigned face. The face closer depicts a Cro-Magnon, or Gwar's take on one, which fits Flattus' current description of himself - "It is me Flattus Maximus your reptilian/cro-mag/alien of flatulance and fury." Taken from his Oct. 18, 2005 blog entry - as well as the pre-historic theme of the costume.
Related Research Articles
Gwar, often stylized as GWAR, is an American heavy metal band formed in Richmond, Virginia, in 1984, composed of and operated by a frequently rotating line-up of musicians, artists, and filmmakers collectively known as Slave Pit Inc. Since the death of frontman and lead singer Dave Brockie in 2014, the collective has continued recording and performing without any of its founding artists or musicians.
Hell-O! is the debut album by Gwar. The album was released in September 1988, on Shimmy Disc Records.
This Toilet Earth is the fourth album released by heavy metal band Gwar. Released on March 29, 1994, this album was to be one of their oddest and most bittersweet albums. It was the first Gwar album to be censored, due to their gain in popularity as a result of MTV exposure. The music and artwork is almost cartoonish when compared to the previous albums, and the instrumentation had expanded to include horns that reinforce the goofiness. An instrumental version of the song "Jack the World" was also featured in the Beavis and Butt-Head video game for the Sega Genesis and Super Nintendo Entertainment System.
Ragnarök is the fifth album by the rock/heavy metal/punk band Gwar. It was released on October 24, 1995, on Metal Blade Records and contains the most varied vocal stylings of any Gwar album, with the majority of band members singing at least one track.
Skulhedface is a 1994 movie that was directed by Melanie Mandl. It is yet another story in Gwar's grand storyline, and the third to be released on video.
Mike Derks is an American guitarist, best known as the rhythm guitarist in the American heavy metal band Gwar since 1988. On stage he appears as a humanoid creature with a face resembling a bear-trap, usually portrayed wielding an enormous battleaxe.
America Must Be Destroyed is American heavy metal band Gwar’s third album, released in 1992 as their second album on Metal Blade Records. The album’s lyrical content was inspired by controversy over obscenity charges against the band and an incident in Charlotte, North Carolina, in which frontman Dave Brockie’s prosthetic penile attachment, "The Cuttlefish of Cthulhu", was confiscated by police officers.
Carnival of Chaos is Gwar's sixth studio album, released on March 25, 1997, by Metal Blade Records.
We Kill Everything is the seventh album by Gwar, released on April 6, 1999, through Metal Blade Records.
Violence Has Arrived is the eighth studio album by the band Gwar. It was released on November 6, 2001, through Metal Blade Records.
War Party is the ninth studio album by the heavy metal band Gwar. It was released on October 26, 2004, being the band's first album in DRT Entertainment. The album was released to positive reviews.
Beyond Hell is the tenth studio album by Gwar. Released on August 29, 2006, by DRT Entertainment, the album was originally announced through the band's official website on February 23, 2006. Unlike the band's output since 2001, it is a concept album and a rock opera, centering on Gwar's journey to Hell as they escape from the attacking armies of humanity.
David Murray Brockie was a Canadian-American musician, who was the lead vocalist of the heavy metal band Gwar, in which he performed as Oderus Urungus. He performed as a bassist and lead singer in the bands Death Piggy, X-Cops, and the Dave Brockie Experience (DBX), and starred in the comedy horror TV sitcom Holliston as Oderus Urungus. Brockie died of a heroin overdose in 2014.
Rendezvous with RagNaRok is a performance film by the band Gwar coinciding with their 1995 studio album RagNaRok, though the video was released in early 1997. The bulk of the video is concert footage, with a mock interview interspersed between each song. Additionally, three music videos - "Saddam a Go-Go," "Meat Sandwich," and "Surf of Syn" - are among the scenes.
Lust in Space is the eleventh studio album by Gwar. It was released on August 18, 2009. It is their first album since returning to their old label Metal Blade Records. The album also saw the return of their former bassist Casey Orr, even though he would later part ways with the band yet again. Lust in Space debuted at #96 on the Billboard top 200 Charts and according to Blabbermouth it was Gwar's highest position reached for the debut of an album.
Bloody Pit of Horror is the twelfth studio album by Gwar. It was released on November 9, 2010, on Metal Blade Records.
Battle Maximus is the thirteenth studio album by American metal band Gwar. The album was released on September 17, 2013 through Metal Blade Records. The album was the first to feature new guitarist Brent Purgason, portraying the new character Pustulus Maximus, the first album to feature bassist Jamison Land, portraying longtime character, Beefcake the Mighty, and the last to feature vocalist Dave Brockie who portrayed Oderus Urungus, due to Brockie's death from a heroin overdose on March 23, 2014. The album was re-released September 1, 2023 as a special "10th Anniversary Edition". The re-release features completely new mixes of the album as well as the previously unreleased track "Tammy, the Swine Queen", which is the last song recorded by Dave Brockie before his death.
Lust in Space – Live at the National is a live DVD by the American heavy metal band Gwar, recorded at The National theater in Richmond, Virginia on October 23, 2009, during the band's Lust in Space tour. It was released on June 26, 2010, under Don Drakulich's Hypereal Productions label. Bonuses include a 10-minute "Behind The Murder" mockumentary.
Black Friday is a single by thrash metal band Gwar, that was issued on picture disc for Record Store Day Black Friday 2016. It is the first studio material released by the band since founding member and lead singer Dave Brockie died of a heroin overdose on March 23, 2014.
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