Bristol, England's Maximum Joy formed in 1979, blending funk, soul, punk, reggae and jazz into their own unique post-punk sound. They signed to the Rough Trade distributed Y records and their first single, 'Stretch' (see Silence Is A Rhythm Too) came out in 1981. In the U.S. the record was distrubuted by the legendary 99 Records. Their LP, 'Station MXJY' was released in 1982 and was produced by Adrian Sherwood. Maximum Joy’s last single was a haunting version of "Why Can’t We Live Together", a song as relevant today as it was when it was first recorded by Timmy Thomas on 1972.

Maximum Joy was:

Janine Rainforth (singer /violin/clarinet)

Tony Wrafter (saxophonist/trumpeter, previously with Glaxo Babies)

Charlie Llewellyn (drums, previously of Glaxo Babies)

John Waddington (guitar, previously of Pop Group)

Dan Catsis (bass, previously of Pop Group and Glaxo Babies)

and later:

Kev (Ebo) Evan (Bass)

Nelly Hooper (Sin Drum)

Jeremy Hirsh (Trumpet)

User-contributed text is available under the Creative Commons By-SA License and may also be available under the GNU FDL.