Total Chaos is an American

hardcore punk Hardcore punk (also known as simply hardcore) is a punk rock music genre and subculture that originated in the late 1970s. It is generally faster, harder, and more aggressive than other forms of punk rock. Its roots can be traced to earlier punk ...

band from

Pomona, California Pomona is a city in Los Angeles County, California. Pomona is located in the Pomona Valley, between the Inland Empire and the San Gabriel Valley. At the 2020 census, the city's population was 151,713. The main campus of California State Polyte ...

, formed in 1989. Lead vocalist Rob Chaos is also co-owner of

SOS Records SOS Records is a California-based punk-rock record label. The label was founded by Rob Chaos of Total Chaos and Ezzat Soliman. Bands * 4 Past Midnight *Abrasive Wheels *The Adicts *Adolescents * The Agitators *Antidote *Bad Manners * Bang Suga ...

with Ezzat Soliman, owner of the Showcase Theater, having released albums by classic

punk Punk or punks may refer to: Genres, subculture, and related aspects * Punk rock, a music genre originating in the 1970s associated with various subgenres * Punk subculture, a subculture associated with punk rock, or aspects of the subculture s ...

and

Oi! Oi! is a subgenre of punk rock that originated in the United Kingdom in the late 1970s. The music and its associated subculture had the goal of bringing together punks, skinheads, and other disaffected working-class youth. The movement was ...

bands like

The Exploited The Exploited are a Scottish punk rock band from Edinburgh, formed in 1979 by Stevie Ross and Terry Buchan, with Buchan soon replaced by his brother Wattie Buchan. They signed to Secret Records in March 1981,Vice Squad A vice is a practice, behaviour, or habit generally considered immoral, sinful, criminal, rude, taboo, depraved, degrading, deviant or perverted in the associated society. In more minor usage, vice can refer to a fault, a negative character tr ...

Sham 69 Sham 69 are an English punk rock band that formed in Hersham in Surrey in 1975. They were one of the most successful punk bands in the United Kingdom, achieving five top 20 singles, including "If the Kids Are United" and "Hurry Up Harry". The ...

Conflict Conflict may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Films * ''Conflict'' (1921 film), an American silent film directed by Stuart Paton * ''Conflict'' (1936 film), an American boxing film starring John Wayne * ''Conflict'' (1937 film) ...

The Adicts The Adicts are a British punk rock band from Ipswich, Suffolk, England. One of the most popular punk rock bands in the 1980s, they were often in the indie charts during that decade. The Adicts originated as The Afterbirth in late 1975 but ne ...

and

Abrasive Wheels Abrasive Wheels are a punk rock band of the late 1970s – early 1980s. They hailed from Leeds, England and were seldom out of the Independent charts between 1980 and 1984 when the band split. The band were Shonna Rzonca – vocals, Dave Ryan � ...

among others. With help of Jay Lee from the band Resist and Exist, the band started organizations such as United Valley Punks, Orange County Peace Punks and Alternative Gathering Collective. Together, they held such social events as

Food Not Bombs Food Not Bombs (FNB) is a loose-knit group of independent collectives, sharing free vegan and vegetarian food with others. The group believes that corporate and government priorities are skewed to allow hunger to persist in the midst of abundance ...

, helped open the Los Angeles Anarchist Center and supported the Big Mountain Indian Reservation.

History

Formed in 1989, the first Total Chaos line up consisted of vocalist Rob Chaos, guitarist Gary Doom, bassist Joe E. Bastard and drummer Gearbox. In 1991, the band recorded their first demo titled ''Punk Invasion'', followed by the

7-inch EP In music, a single is a type of Art release#Music, release, typically a song Sound recording, recording of fewer tracks than an LP record or an album. One can be released for record sales, sale to the public in a variety of formats. In most ca ...

''Nightmares'' in 1992. In 1993, the band recorded their debut album ''We Are the Punx, We Are the Future''. Shortly after Gary Doom left the band, being replaced by Ronald McMurder, a tour in Mexico with the Mexican band Yaps was booked, having most of the venues sold out. Epitaph Records decided to sign the band to release the 1994 album ''Pledge of Defiance''. To support the release, a tour was booked with

The Mighty Mighty Bosstones The Mighty Mighty Bosstones (informally referred to as The Bosstones and often stylized as The Mighty Mighty BossToneS) were an American ska punk band from Boston, Massachusetts, formed in 1983. From the band's inception, lead vocalist Dicky ...

. After the end of the tour, a second album for Epitaph Records was recorded in 1995, ''Patriotic Shock'', adding Germ as second guitarist. Once again, the band toured for the release, this time with

Battalion of Saints Battalion of Saints was an American hardcore punk band from San Diego, California, that was founded in 1980. The band went through numerous lineup changes before touring the United States and Canada from 1984–1985 with George Anthony, Chris ...

. Due to the strong message against racism and socio-political subjects, the band faced racist and nationalist organizations at the shows and the ban of the album in Japan. In the summer of the same year, Total Chaos visited Europe for the first time, with a new lead guitarist, Shawn Smash, playing in Germany for the Chaos Days festival, well known for the often violent environment. In 1996, Rob Chaos, Joe E. Bastard and Shawn Smash recruited Suzy Homewrecker on drums to record a new album titled ''Anthems From the Alleyway''. This album differs from the others because of the 70s punk rock influenced sound. By 1997, the band lost contact with

Epitaph Records Epitaph Records is an American independent record label owned by Bad Religion guitarist Brett Gurewitz. Throughout the 1980s and 1990s, most acts signed to the label were punk and pop punk acts, while there are many post-hardcore and emo bands ...

while recording demos for the upcoming album, mainly because of the drug rehab of label founder

Brett Gurewitz Brett W. Gurewitz (born May 12, 1962), nicknamed Mr. Brett, is an American musician best known as the lead guitarist of Bad Religion. He is also the owner of the music label Epitaph Records and a number of sister labels. He has produced albums f ...

and poor communication with the label president Andy Kalukin. For these reasons, the band decided to leave Epitaph Records. By early 1998, Total Chaos disbanded, although by September the group reformed without Homewrecker, who was (according to the official Total Chaos website) stealing the band's T-shirts, selling them at a discounted price and keeping the profits herself. Total Chaos asked Traci Michaels to fill in for one show, which was the reunion show at the Showcase Theatre. They continued to search for drummers and found Danny Boy Virus. The band then signed with

Cleopatra Records Cleopatra Records is an American independent record label based in Los Angeles, California. It was founded in 1992 by Brian Perera. The record label has since grown into a family of labels, including Hypnotic Records, Purple Pyramid Records, Dea ...

to release the ''In God We Kill'' in 1999 and the compilation ''Early Years 89-93'' with the early

demos Demos may refer to: Computing * DEMOS, a Soviet Unix-like operating system * DEMOS (ISP), the first internet service provider in the USSR * Demos Commander, an Orthodox File Manager for Unix-like systems * plural for Demo (computer programming) ...

and LPs. The band got back to touring with Blanks77 and in 2000 completed its first Japanese tour. Shortly after, the band recorded ''Punk Invasion'', released on Reject Records in 2001, with Todd Trash playing bass and Danny Boy Virus on drums. In 2002, the band was invited to the

Warped Tour The Warped Tour was a traveling rock tour that toured the United States plus three or four stops in Canada annually each summer from 1995 until 2019. It was the largest traveling music festival in the United States and the longest-running touring ...

, with bands like

The Casualties The Casualties are an American hardcore punk band from New York City, founded by vocalist Jorge Herrera, Hank (guitar), Colin Wolf (vocals), Mark Yoshitomi (bass) and Yureesh Hooker (drums) in 1990. In July 2017, it was announced on the band's F ...

Pistol Grip On a firearm or other tools, a pistol grip is a distinctly protruded handle underneath the main mechanism, to be held by the user's hand at a more vertical (and thus more ergonomic) angle, similar to the how one would hold a conventional pist ...

Mighty Mighty Bosstones The Mighty Mighty Bosstones (informally referred to as The Bosstones and often stylized as The Mighty Mighty BossToneS) were an American ska punk band from Boston, Massachusetts, formed in 1983. From the band's inception, lead vocalist Dicky ...

Anti-Flag Anti-Flag is an American punk rock band from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The band is known for its left-wing political activism. Their current members include Justin Sane (vocals, guitar), Chris Head (guitar), Pat Thetic (drums), and Chris Ba ...

and

Bad Religion Bad Religion is an American punk rock band that formed in Los Angeles, California, in 1980. The band's lyrics cover topics related to religion, politics, society, the media and science. Musically, they are noted for their melodic sensibilitie ...

among others. After the tour, original drummer Gearbox returned with the band, and with the new bassist Charlie, ex-member Life's Halt, the band released ''Freedom Kills'' with

, and toured with

The Exploited The Exploited are a Scottish punk rock band from Edinburgh, formed in 1979 by Stevie Ross and Terry Buchan, with Buchan soon replaced by his brother Wattie Buchan. They signed to Secret Records in March 1981,Conflict Conflict may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Films * ''Conflict'' (1921 film), an American silent film directed by Stuart Paton * ''Conflict'' (1936 film), an American boxing film starring John Wayne * ''Conflict'' (1937 film) ...

. On October 14, 2003, the band was scheduled to play in

Montreal Montreal ( ; officially Montréal, ) is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, second-most populous city in Canada and List of towns in Quebec, most populous city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian ...

with The Exploited, but due to legal issues, both bands were retained at the U.S. border. One of the reasons was because The Exploited lied to the Canadian

Customs Customs is an authority or agency in a country responsible for collecting tariffs and for controlling the flow of goods, including animals, transports, personal effects, and hazardous items, into and out of a country. Traditionally, customs ...

, saying it was a road trip, and they were not a band, being caught when an employee showed a photo of Wattie on stage performing with the band. Total Chaos' entrance was denied due to the criminal records of some members, although Rob chaos stated: "It should be against the law to pry into someone's past and dig up something they'd done 15 years ago". After the cancellation of the show, some fans decided to cause riots and disorder, some cars and shops were damaged, as well as a few police officers injured and an undisclosed number of people were arrested. The events were widely covered by the media. .

Discography

Studio albums

*''World of Insanity'' – 2015 (US)/2016 (EU), SOS-Chaos Entertainment *''Battered And Smashed'' – 2011, Concrete Jungle Records/Stomp Records *''Avoid All Sides'' – 2008,

Punk Core Records Punk Core Records is an inactive record label founded in 1989 by Dave Punk Core. The label is based on Long Island, New York. Punk Core originally started out a punk zine/distro in the late 1980s, but became a record label in the mid 1990s. Pu ...

/People Like You *''Freedom Kills'' – 2003,

/People Like You *''Punk Invasion'' – 2001,

/People Like You *''In God We Kill'' – 1999,

*''Anthems From the Alleyway'' – 1996,

*''Patriotic Shock'' – 1995,

*''Pledge of Defiance'' – 1994,

*''We Are the Punx, We Are the Future'' – 1993, Chaos Records

EPs

*''Street Punx'' – 2017, SOS-Chaos Entertainment *''D. U. I: Drunk Unemployed Incarcerated'' – 2002, Reject Records *''Nightmares'' – 1992, self-released *''Punk Invasion'' (

Demo Demo, usually short for demonstration, may refer to: Music and film *Demo (music), a song typically recorded for reference rather than release * ''Demo'' (Behind Crimson Eyes), a 2004 recording by the band Behind Crimson Eyes * ''Demo'' (Deafhea ...

) – 1991, self-released

Splits

*''Revolution Has No Borders'' (w/ Acidez) – 2018, SOS-Chaos Entertainment/BamBam Records

Compilations

*''30 Years of Chaos: Best Of'' – 2019, SOS-Chaos Entertainment *''17 Years of Chaos'' – 2007,

. *''The Feedback Continues 1990–1992'' – 2007
Gutter Shock
*''Years of Chaos'' – 2006, I Used to Fuck People Like You in Prison *''Early Years 89-93'' – 2000,

Various artists compilation appearances

*''Hooligans United: A Tribute to Rancid'' – 2015,

Hellcat Records Hellcat Records is an independent record label based in Los Angeles, California. The label, an offshoot of Epitaph Records, was started as a partnership between Brett Gurewitz of Bad Religion, the owner of Epitaph, and Tim Armstrong of Rancid ...

, Smelvis Records *''I Killed Punk Rock'' – 2006, Bouncing Betty *''Dirty Punk Records Sampler'' – 2006, Dirty Punk Records *''Punk and Disorderly'' – 2003,

*''A Punk Tribute to Metallica'' – 2001,

*'' Smells Like Bleach: A Punk Tribute to Nirvana'' – 2000,

*''Never Mind the Sex Pistols, Here's the Tribute'' – 2000, Radical Records *''

Punk-O-Rama Vol. 1 ''Punk-O-Rama'' was the title given to a series of ten compilation albums published by Epitaph Records. The first volume was released in 1994, the second in 1996, and the rest annually from 1998 to 2005. The albums included artists from Epitaph's ...

'' – 1994,

References

External links

* {{Authority control Musical groups from Los Angeles Musical groups established in 1989 Street punk groups Anarcho-punk groups