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Flattus Maximus

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Flattus Maximus is the name of a character and former guitarist in the American heavy 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.

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51-523: 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

102-651: 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

153-523: A dinosaur egg with crack . The result is the mighty Gor Gor, a Tyrannosaurus Rex that wreaks havoc on America. Meanwhile, the Morality Squad has enlisted the help of Father Bohab (a Catholic priest) to crucify Gwar in the media. Other songs of interest include "Have You Seen Me?", "Poor Ole Tom", and "The Road Behind", the latter of which is a parody of power ballads . A video, Phallus in Wonderland ,

204-471: 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

255-500: A hold of the tablet, and breaks it into pieces, which are promptly stolen (the album does not go into any more detail beyond this) and must be returned, else the Master would come to destroy Gwar. Moon, dismissed as a crackpot, summons his inter-dimensional "portal potty" to assist them in their search - to which Gwar agree, on the condition that he smoke crack and drink with them. After his initiation, and combat with various creatures holding

306-418: 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

357-597: Is also the last album in the "Scumdogs" storyline (though "The Song of Words" on Violence Has Arrived and "Gwarnography" on Lust in Space make reference to it). Some of the songs are themselves as old as Scumdogs of the Universe , and at least three are remakes of older songs ("A Short History of the End of the World" being a remake of the "Cardinal Syn Theme" from 1989, and "Escape from

408-451: 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

459-440: 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. America Must Be Destroyed 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

510-472: Is missing (a reel which, presumably, contains the second verse). The second video, "Fuckin' An Animal," was recorded well before "It's Sleazy," and was not in the movie. It is available, albeit censored, in the "Ultimate Video Gwarchive." It marks the first appearance of Zach Blair as Flattus Maximus, as well as the final appearance of Flattus' tail. The members of Gwar seldom discuss We Kill Everything in interviews. A news post on their website reads "...and

561-406: 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. Very little about Flattus Maximus

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612-457: The CD and a bonus DVD containing Phallus in Wonderland and Tour De Scum. Gwar fans are referred to as "bohabs", named for Father Bohab ("bohab" literally means "habitually boring", which is the opposite of what Gwar and their fans are—it fits Father Bohab perfectly; Gwar speaks ill of their fans—to their delight—and they have since taken the term as a point of pride). Father Bohab was never actually on

663-519: The Dave Brockie eXperience, along with other Gwar songs (including "Fishfuck;" another We Kill Everything song that the band no longer plays live). Also, on Gwar's 2006 DVD, titled "Blood Bath and Beyond," Oderus Urungus and Sleazy P. Martini describe Scroda Moon as "the stupidest Gwar character." When it was active, Gwar's message board made it explicitly clear NOT to make mention of We Kill Everything, stating that those who did would be banned from

714-438: The End of the World (Part VII(The Final Chapter(abbr.)))" is the first true Gwar instrumental (the title track from America Must Be Destroyed is a collection of samples over an instrumental track, and "Surf of Syn" on RagNaRok has Cardinal Syn 's voice in the background), and showcases the musical capabilities of the band collective. The lyrical content of We Kill Everything is in response to angry fans' complaints about

765-460: The Gwar song with the most vocalists actually singing—five (Scroda Moon, Portal Potty, Oderus, Beefcake and Slymenstra). It is tied with RagNaRok for having the most vocalists (six—Jackson, Brockie, Stampe, Derks, Bishop and Bob Gorman). There are eight distinct characters on the album: the six aforementioned, a narrator on "Escape from the Mooselodge," voiced by Dave Brockie (the song features him as

816-565: 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?"). After

867-514: The Lights Out box set) but uses different chords. The song ends with the band arguing. The Canadian release of this album does not feature "Crack in the Egg", "Have You Seen Me?" and "Rock N' Roll Never Felt So Good", and instead has earlier versions of "Krak Down" and "Bad Bad Men" (both from This Toilet Earth ) and a version of "O Canada" performed with synthesized infant cries (according to Gwar, this

918-548: 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

969-495: The Mooselodge", a remake of "The Needle," which featured BalSac the Jaws of Death on vocals for the first time with Gwar; the former can be heard in the video "It's Sleazy," and the latter on Slaves Going Single ; "Tune from Da Moon" is a remake of the Death Piggy song "Minute 2 Live", with new lyrics). The title track was tied as one of the two longest songs written by the band ( Carnival of Chaos 's "Sammy," at 6:57 being

1020-513: The album's closer, was co-written by Slymenstra Hymen , and was slated to be a duet with Beefcake the Mighty . Though not quite a duet, Slymenstra's voice can still be heard in the song. The song's opening bass riff is similar to the guitar riff to the Nirvana song " Rape Me " from the 1993 album In Utero ("Rape Me" was originally written in early 1991 pre-dating "Pussy Planet", with the demo version being released many years later on Nirvana's With

1071-507: The album, or the fact that because most of the songs deal with a specific concept or have a former member, they are unable to be played (though in soundcheck before their concerts, they do play "Short History of the End of the World"). Brockie ( Oderus Urungus ) particularly disliked the song "Nitro-Burnin' Funny Bong," which he described as "extremely annoying," along with the entire "It's Sleazy" video. However, Brockie, Derks and Brad Roberts ( Jizmak Da Gusha ) played "Nitro-Burnin' Funny Bong" as

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1122-419: The album: "Nitro Burnin' Funny Bong." In the 2002 "Ultimate Video Gwarchive" music video collection, Brockie states in the commentary for this video his disdain for this song, and most of the output from the time period of 1997–2000. Several parts of the song (including the entire second verse) are omitted from the video; in the "Ultimate Video Gwarchive" commentary, Mike Derks states that an entire reel of footage

1173-573: The album—he originally appeared in 1989, along with an early Cardinal Syn. On the Tour de Scum (the corresponding tour to Scumdogs of the Universe ), the Morality Squad story is introduced. Bohab is played by one of the slaves on tour (according to Chuck Varga’s Bohab Central forum posts, it was Bob Gorman; he also went on to say that the voice was his), but is portrayed by Brad Roberts ( Jizmak Da Gusha ) in Phallus in Wonderland and It's Sleazy . "Pussy Planet",

1224-419: The back cover. There also exists a Canadian release that too is censored on the back of the album, but is completely uncensored in the lyrics. There is another version that says "Censored Version" on the disc, yet actually has the back cover and the CD both fully uncensored. Like many of Gwar's albums, We Kill Everything spawned a movie: 2001's It's Sleazy. Featured in this film is one of two music videos for

1275-445: The band Michael Bishop left Gwar for) played lead on the album's title track; Lee Harris (from Jizmak Da Gusha ’s old band Rosebud) played lead on "Crack in the Egg". Because of the absence of Flattus, the tour cycle surrounding this album was quite short. We Kill Everything We Kill Everything is the seventh album by Gwar , released on April 6, 1999, through Metal Blade Records . The album's story differs slightly from

1326-629: 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. The lyrical content in America Must Be Destroyed was greatly inspired by Dave Brockie's fight with police officers while touring in Charlotte, North Carolina , in 1990. The controversy revolved around Brockie's rubbery penis adornment and ended with his arrest on charges of disseminating obscenity. Brockie

1377-471: The disgusting lyrics on Carnival of Chaos (or lack thereof). It is also the final Gwar album featuring Michael Bishop, who returned for a few months to replace Casey Orr as Beefcake the Mighty , Hunter Jackson (who would stay with the group until the end of 2000), Danielle Stampe (who toured until 2002), and Dave Musel on keyboards and samples. Bishop also brought along Tim Harriss, both of Kepone, to play lead guitar as Flattus Maximus . We Kill Everything

1428-409: 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

1479-430: 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

1530-455: The first three). Scroda Moon is not mentioned again. The band once again offers the funny ("Fishfuck") the gross ("Babyraper"), and the weird ("Penile Drip"). Mike Derks lends his vocals to the almost sensitive punk ballad, "Mary Anne". This album is mostly a collection of gruesomely corny jokes ("Fuckin' An Animal" and "Nitro Burning Funny Bong"), and contains significantly less brutality and heart than their previous works. "A Short History of

1581-475: The forum. However, as seen on a recent post from their website detailing the latest "GWAR-BQ" and the 30th Anniversary of the band, lead guitarist Brent Purgason did hint at the album title openly on its home page; stating that "I have yet to grasp this concept of the internet and the spouting of self-important speeches by people in social media; the INTERNET MUST DIE, so GWAR will KILL IT!. Management tells me

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1632-405: 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"

1683-422: 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

1734-400: The narrator and as Oderus), and former Gwar guitarist Cornelius Carnage (played by Greg Ottinger, though he originally played Stephen Sphincter) on "Jagermonsta". We Kill Everything is the only other Gwar album to have been censored (the first was 1994's This Toilet Earth ). The profanities are changed to various noises, and the titles "Fishfuck" and "Fuckin' An Animal" were omitted from

1785-465: The other) until the band released "War On GWAR" (7:21) on 2017's The Blood of Gods . This is the first Gwar album not to feature Beefcake the Mighty on lead vocals since 1988, and Violence Has Arrived would continue that trend. "Jiggle the Handle" is the only song to feature Beefcake, as well as every other vocalist on the album, save one: " Balsac the Jaws of Death ." It also has the distinction of being

1836-404: The pieces, Scroda's limbs are separated from his body and he dies, only to be revived and improved by Slymenstra Hymen. The mock country tune "The Master Has a Butt" deals with the Master, and Gwar's final showdown. The title track concludes the story, with Gwar emerging victorious. The last five tracks have nothing to do with the story, and deal with specific instances of Gwar's decadence (as do

1887-414: 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

1938-478: The title track. This story chronicles Gwar's relationship with their Master, and the aftermath of their defiance. While Gwar was exiled to Earth, mystic Scumdog Scroda Moon went to search for them, only to be stranded on the Moon with a tablet (that he himself carved, according to the movie and concerts) that supposedly chronicles all of time's events from the beginning to the end. After landing on Earth, Gwar somehow gets

1989-528: 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. On November 3, 2011, hours after a performance at First Avenue in Minneapolis, Minnesota , Smoot

2040-424: The version told in "It's Sleazy" and on tour. The first three tracks on the album do not follow one particular story, and focus on Gwar's generally decadent ways. The fourth, "A Short History of the End of the World (Part VII (The Final Chapter (abbr.)))", begins (though an instrumental, it is explained that it refers to Gwar fighting the Master, the incident that led to their exile) the story, which continues through

2091-702: 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

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2142-495: The world breathed a collective sigh of relief that we hadn’t put out another “We Kill Everything”, no matter how much they might have enjoyed having sex with animals!", suggesting their dislike for the album. Since the Gwarmageddon 1999 tour, only "Babyraper" has remained a constant in their setlist, though their wrestling tours used "A Short History..." during the second match of the night. This could either be due to their dislike of

2193-467: 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

2244-441: Was found dead by his fellow band members in the band's tour bus as they prepared to cross the border into Manitoba , Canada from North Dakota . 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. Flattus began life with

2295-448: Was included as a way to ridicule Canada for not having the "guts" to include the omitted songs). Flattus Maximus does not perform on this album. Dewey Rowell left the band before recording began, and all of the lead guitars (save for two songs — "Crack in the Egg" and the title track) were recorded by Balsac the Jaws of Death . To this day, Balsac will usually play lead when performing songs from this album live. Tim Harriss (of Kepone ,

2346-516: 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. Dewey Rowell

2397-401: 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

2448-427: Was released as a supplement to the album's storyline. This album was followed by The Road Behind , an EP that contained that single as well as a live version of "Have You Seen Me?". The single "S.F.W." (a staple of their live shows) was supposedly released on this EP as a bonus track, but this has been discounted by the band. In November 2009, a special edition of the album was released through Metal Blade, containing

2499-578: Was revolted by this attack on his rights so he created a concept album revolving around an elite "Morality Squad" that attacked the members of Gwar and stole Oderus's penile attachment (a.k.a. Cuttlefish of Cthulu, a phallic hell beast that normally dangles from his crotch). The opening song, "Ham on the Bone" (which has a nod to grindcore ), explains this robbery. The story then shifts to Gwar headquarters in Antarctica , where Oderus’s slaves are ordered to shoot up

2550-531: 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

2601-401: 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

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