| Max Brody | |
| Background: | non_vocal_instrumentalist |
| Birth Name: | Matthew Woods Brody |
| Alias: | Max Brody |
| Birth Place: | Elgin, Illinois, U.S. |
| Origin: | Austin, Texas, U.S. |
| Genre: | Experimental rock, industrial rock, electronica, ambient music, new age music, math rock, noise music, musique concrete, jazz, post-punk, psychedelic rock |
| Instrument: | Drums, saxophone |
| Years Active: | 1984 - present |
| Label: | Sanctuary Warner |
| Associated Acts: | Ministry Pink Anvil Areola 51 Insect Sex Act Naugahyde Dream Sequence Sangre de Toro Goobersmoochers Euripides Pants Test Apes |
| Website: | maxbrodyworld.com |
Max Brody (born Matthew Woods Brody, 1969) is an American musician based near Seattle, Washington, best known as the drummer/saxophonist for the industrial metal band Ministry from 1999 to 2004
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. He 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 name "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 in Phoenix, Arizona. They 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. Moving back and forth from Los Angeles to Seattle, he eventually settled on Austin, from where his favorite bands came.
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 named Isabella. Divorced in 2010, he now has full custody of his daughter and lives in Washington state.[1] [2]
After graduating from college, Brody moved to Seattle and played in local rock bands. Finding the Seattle scene saturated, he moved to Austin, Texas, in 1994. There, he met and became a musical partner of Rey Washam, the drummer for such seminal punk/hardcore acts as Rapeman, Scratch Acid and the Big Boys. They went on to form the short-lived Euripides Pants, which had a number of infamous Austin musicians. Washam later went on to drum for Ministry.
In late spring 1999, Brody received a call from a Ministry co-performer, Paul Barker, who offered him the opportunity to perform saxophone parts during their ill-fated Dark Side of the Spoon tour. He later went on to perform half of the drumming for their 2003 Animositisomina tour and album, as well as the 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 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), and with Seattle musicians Chris Ballew (Presidents of the United States of America) and Tad Doyle (TAD) as well as the New York musicians Victor Poison-tete (Rat At Rat R), Stu Spasm (Lubricated Goat), the Italian conceptual artist Daniele Santaguiliana (Testing Vault),the Swedish guitar player Tobias Eriksson (Light Screamer/Daisy Pusher), the Los Angeles music supervisor Jeff Kinart and others in many different music projects.
Having learned a great deal about production during his years in Ministry while 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 the Austin visual artist D Kithcart. In 2012, he moved to Shoreline, Washington, with his daughter. From 2013 to 2018, he had a band with Danny Barnes (formerly of the Bad Livers) called the Test Apes. He continues to release solo projects through Bandcamp.