Max Libideaux

Having played trombone throughout his primary education, the move to bass guitar seemed a natural step for Max Libido when his friends from Eastern Michigan University decided to form a band. Though The Hollow Men never amounted to anything, Max-L discovered a knack as a lyricist when someone said the band should write a song entitled Elvis Can't Shit, a task that Max accepted with an uncanny expertise. The 90-second long song with a raw sound reminiscent of Black Flag was the only completed work of note in the few months of this group's existence.
Max-L always beat on the piano keys as a youth, and now at 20 yrs old he began using his 'play by ear' method to write a few songs on the piano and bass. At the age of around 22, he hooked up with guitarist Bob Hammons. The duo played a few songs penned by Libido that would unfortunately be lost in antiquity. These included Rosaria (a club-based song reminiscent of Cabaret Voltaire's later works), Twice Today (a melodic but sappy slower song written by Hammons/Libido), No One Gets Out Of Here Alive (The Undertaker's Song) (an early Alien Sex Fiend style rip-off), and Reconciled (a meager attempt at Tribal chants, and Max's first experimentation with a bass/delay pedal combo), the latter of which is the only song ever to be recorded (without having the tape subsequently STOLEN by an ex-girlfriend). The guys only played a couple house parties, and eventually drifted apart.
It would be another few years (1988) before Max Libido would meet the members of Aural Sect, the band that allowed him to blossom as both a musician and a songwriter. For the next three years Aural Sect would become one of the Detroit-area foundations of the industrial music scene. Despite the group playing songs written exclusively by the two founding members when the 1988 Aural Sect lineup was put together, 40% of the band's overall material from that date forward would be created by Max-L. These included In Another Day, Dance for the Dead, Frangelica, Machines, and another piano instrumental that had a forgotten title (but that the Lord's Prayer was recited over; it was supposed to be the opening theme for the band's 'movie', a project that never materialized).
"My goal in life was to have one of my songs played at St. Andrew's Hall in Detroit, where so many great bands have played. We ended up playing that venue twice, and it was both exciting and an honor. Perhaps I should have had lofiter goals," Libido laughs.
Once Aural Sect came to an end, Max quit playing in bands, with an unnotable exception here or there, and never played another live performance for 15 years! In 2006, Aural Sect drummer Karl Marx would contact Max-L to get him to join the group Eat the Evidence, playing in their old stomping grounds of Ypsilanti, MI. They played one single house party, and internal differences led to Marx and Libido leaving the band a mere 3 months later. "But Karl's getting me involved got me back into the groove," said Max. That same month, a discussion about local politics between Max and Detroit legend Ben Waugh led to both Libido and Marx becoming part of the new lineup for The Sillies, Detroit's oldest punk band. The new lineup played thier first show at Alvin's during two rounds of the 2007 Emergenza festival. Many more performances ensued over the next 11 months, including the Bookie's 30th Anniversary show and the Motorcityrocks.com benefit with the Waugh-Libido-Marx trio performing Fresh Flesh, the first and only time the song would ever be played live. In March of 2008, Max-L was in the lineup for The Sillies 30th Anniversary weekend (a 3-shows-in-3-nights affair). "What an honor. And we (along with local celebs Sarana VerLin and Beaux) even backed up Nikki Corvette on a few songs! Who would have ever guessed back in 1991 I'd be a part of such history," Max-L smiled.
Though still an official member of The Sillies, Max has subsequently begun exploring his roots--well, someone's roots--by working on bluegrass/Appalachian music. [updated July 2008].
And that about updates you as to Max's music background, both past and current. "I don't know what the music world has in store for me, or for me and any of the new relationships I have with the great musicians I've played with recently. I can't relive the 15-yr drought that saw me quit performing, but you can rest assured, Max Libido is back for good!"