Maximum Joy

Bristol, 1981

Maximum Joy began when Janine Rainforth, then an 18-year-old photography student, met the saxophonist Tony Wrafter, who had just left Glaxo Babies. Per Bandcamp Daily, Wrafter took the name from "Maximal Sexual Joy", a Glaxo Babies track, and the band took shape around the 1980 St. Paul's riots in Bristol. The formation year is given variously as 1981 (Wikipedia), 1980 and 1979 (MusicBrainz and PopMatters). The first line-up was Rainforth on vocals, clarinet and violin, Wrafter on saxophone, trumpet and flute, Charlie Llewellin on drums, Dan Catsis on bass and John Waddington on guitar; Wikipedia has Catsis and Llewellin from Glaxo Babies, while Bandcamp Daily has Catsis and Waddington from the Pop Group. Kev Evans took over bass after the first single, Jeremy Hirsch replaced Wrafter on trumpet and keyboards in 1982, and Nellee Hooper joined on percussion.

Wrafter described the mix as jazz, reggae, funk and punk, soul and hip-hop, and said they were not constrained by any single style. Bandcamp Daily lists the sources as Bristol sound systems and blues parties, free jazz by Archie Shepp, Sun Ra and Pharaoh Sanders, funk and disco. Rainforth said they all loved Chic and Funkadelic, which shows in the bass and guitar.

Records

Y Records, run by Dick O'Dell and distributed by Rough Trade, released "Stretch" in 1981, and Ed Bahlman's 99 Records licensed it in New York, alongside ESG, Liquid Liquid and Bush Tetras. "White and Green Place" followed in February 1982 and "In the Air" that July. The album Station M.X.J.Y., produced by Adrian Sherwood, came out in late 1982, September per MusicBrainz and October per Wikipedia. The last single, in April 1983 on Garage Records, was a Dennis Bovell-produced cover of Timmy Thomas's "Why Can't We Live Together" backed with "Man of Tribes"; Rainforth had left and the vocalist Peta re-recorded her part. The band split soon after.

Pitchfork compared them to one of the Slits backed by the Gang of Four, and PopMatters, scoring the 2005 compilation Unlimited (1979-1983) 8 out of 10, compared them to the Pop Group, the Slits, Rip Rig and Panic and New Age Steppers. Silent Street issued the singles as I Can't Stand It Here on Quiet Nights on double 12-inch in 2017, the first official UK vinyl reissue, and 1972 Records put out a 40th-anniversary 12-inch of "Stretch" in 2021.

After

Hooper became a producer, working with Massive Attack, Bjork, Madonna and Soul II Soul, and won a BAFTA in 1998 for Romeo + Juliet. Wrafter played flute on Tricky's Maxinquaye (1995). Llewellin co-founded the Gourds in Texas and Catsis joined the reformed Pop Group. Rainforth reformed Maximum Joy in 2015 with Marek Bero on bass, James Byron on guitar and Miroslav Haldina on drums; the first show was at the Simple Things festival at Colston Hall, Bristol, on October 24, 2015, and the album p.e.a.c.e. followed on London Fields Recordings on February 22, 2019. Setlist.fm lists 21 setlists.