In 1973, as the 60s crashed and burned, a ragtag band of musicians from Pasadena clued in to the future and began to quietly produce the strangest music anyone had ever heard. Smegma remained a locally-held secret untill their move to Portland, OR in 1976. Taking what was at the time a sleepy riverside slum as their headquarters, they founded their now-legendary recording studio, and gave their debut performance on the local Jerry Lewis Telethon (with host Ramblin' Rod). As the West Coast punk scene geared up, Smegma joined acts like The Wipers and Daniel Menche in the vanguard of Portland's underground club scene.

Their first releases came out in '79; filled with bizarre confluences of post-jazz improvisation, unconventional group vocals, absurdist lyrics and arrangements, and a barely-audible basis in garage-jam rock. It's the kind of music that almost nobody was aware of until around five years later - experimental, adventurous and visceral without falling into the grave melodrama that plagues the fringes of art.

In the years since, the band has gone through many changes of personnel and style under the watchful eye of their fearless leader, Dr. Id. In that time they have released recordings with Merzbow, The Residents, Non, The Hellcows, Half Japanese, Larry "Wild Man" Fisher, and most recently Michael Pollard (on the critical head-scratcher "The Completed Soundtrack for the Tropic of Nipples"). They played extensively with The Butthole Surfers, whose lead singer, Gibby Haines, once described Smegma as the greatest band in the world. Current and former members have gone on to start such noteworthy projects as Dream Syndicate, Jungle Nausea, Human Hands, The Gone Orchestra, Lafms, and the public access psychedelicon "Brain Follies".

In the era of their activity with the Radon Collective, Smegma was fronted by Richard Meltzer (aka Borneo Jimmy), a true pioneer of rock journalism whose greatest claim to fame was writing the lyrics to Blue Oyster Cult's "Burnin' For You". Fans of the Cult may be surprised, however, to find Meltzer has evolved into a spitter of jarring epithets ripped from the pages of everyday mundane existence ("So now you won't fuck me cause the dishwasher's broken?"). The soundtrack to Meltzer's bemused vitriol was provided by founding Smegmateers Dr. Id, Ju Suk Reet Meat, and Amazon Bambi; as well as later additions Burned Mind, Oblivia, Stan Wood, and John Henault (the last two of whom have yet to pick Smegma names for themselves).

The release of the Smegma track "Ashes" on Radon Uropa volume 2 coincided with their milestone 30th Anniversary and was supported by appearances on the West coast with Steve Mackay. The now legendary set was captured in the famed Smegma studio and released on Radon in 2005. The inertia of Smegma's unceasing work over the past decades, has culminated in a surgeof interest to the Portland based-experimentalists.

Radon Discography:

"Ashes"
Radon Uropa 7" series
2003

re-released 2006 on Sonitus cd-sampler

"30 Years of Service"
cd Radon 2005

related links:
http://www.geocities.com/bradleybee/smegdex.html