Taste of Chaos (or "TOC") was a live music tour that was started in the winter of 2005 by Kevin Lyman, the creator of the successful

Warped Tour The Warped Tour is a Concert tour, touring Rock music, rock music festival that toured the United States and Canada each summer from 1995 until 2019, and returned in 2025 for its 30th anniversary. By 2015, Warped was the largest traveling music ...

along with his friend and business partner, John Reese. The Taste of Chaos tour catered to fans of the

post-hardcore Post-hardcore is a punk rock music genre that maintains the aggression and intensity of hardcore punk but emphasizes a greater degree of creative expression. Like the term " post-punk", the term "post-hardcore" has been applied to a broad conste ...

emo Emo () is a genre of rock music characterized by emotional, often confessional lyrics. It emerged as a style of hardcore punk and from the Washington, D.C., hardcore scene, where it was known as emotional hardcore or emocore. The bands ...

pop punk Pop-punk (also punk-pop, alternatively spelled without the hyphen) is a rock music fusion genre that combines elements of punk rock with power pop or pop music, pop. It is defined by its fast-paced, energetic tempos, and emphasis on classic pop s ...

and

metalcore Metalcore is a broadly defined fusion genre combining elements of extreme metal and hardcore punk, originating in the 1990s United States and becoming popular in the 2000s. Metalcore typically has aggressive verses and melodic choruses, combined ...

genres, while offering the same low ticket price and festival-style format as the Warped Tour. Taste of Chaos has been called the "Winter Warped Tour" since dates ran from October (internationally) through April (in North America) of the next year. The tour was highly successful in 2005 for many of the same reasons as its summer counterpart, including cheap tickets and major bands of the genres.

History

In the fall of 2005, the tour went international with

The Used The Used is an American rock band from Orem, Utah, formed in 2000. The group consists of vocalist Bert McCracken, bassist Jeph Howard, drummer Dan Whitesides, and guitarist Joey Bradford. Former members include Quinn Allman, Branden Steinec ...

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, and

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playing in Australia, Europe, and Asia. In 2007, each of the seven bands playing the entire tour was a Warped Tour veteran: five had played the 2006 Warped Tour and two (

and

Saosin Saosin ( or ) is an American rock band formed in 2003 in Orange County, California. The group originally consisted of Beau Burchell, Justin Shekoski, Zach Kennedy and Anthony Green. They released their debut EP, '' Translating the Name'', i ...

) had played TOC previously. The 2008 lineup was the first to feature

Japan Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asia, Asian mainland, it is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan and extends from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea ...

ese bands, them being

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, D'espairsRay and The Underneath. In 2010, Taste of Chaos founder John Reese stated that although the tour was successful internationally, it had "run its course in America" and would be replaced by the Uproar Festival. Reese stated that the replacement was due to, "running out of bands that fit within the profile of what Taste of Chaos was." Uproar will feature

hard rock Hard rock or heavy rock is a heavier subgenre of rock music typified by aggressive vocals and Distortion (music), distorted electric guitars. Hard rock began in the mid-1960s with the Garage rock, garage, Psychedelic rock, psychedelic and blues ...

bands and will begin shortly after the heavy metal tour Mayhem Festival in August 2010. Kevin Lyman expects the tour to continue in Europe, and is unsure if it will return to the US. For the first time since the tour began, Taste of Chaos had no dates in 2011. On June 18, 2015, it was announced that Taste of Chaos would return with its first festival in five years. The festival took place on October 3 at the San Manuel Amphitheater in California. It was at a Taste of Chaos show in

Orlando, Florida Orlando ( ) is a city in and the county seat of Orange County, Florida, United States. The city proper had a population of 307,573 at the 2020 census, making it the fourth-most populous city in Florida behind Jacksonville, Florida, Jacksonville ...

, that Fueled By Ramen representative John Janick first saw

Paramore Paramore is an American rock band formed in Franklin, Tennessee, in 2004. Since 2017, the band's lineup includes lead vocalist Hayley Williams, lead guitarist Taylor York, and drummer Zac Farro. Williams and Farro are founding members of ...

, which led to them signing their first major recording contract.

Ernie Ball International Battle Of The Bands

Ernie Ball International Battle Of The Bands started in 2006, to get popular upcoming small and unsigned bands to play the Taste of Chaos shows in their local towns across many of the tour dates. Fans determined which band is able to win by voting for all bands though the Ernie Ball International Battle Of The Bands website. The top 20 bands in each city, by way of votes were reviewed by a panel of judges who selected one band out of the top 20 to play live in their hometown on the Taste of Chaos tour. The bands were selected based on their musicianship and live performance ability. They were judged by the founders of TOC and by a group of representatives from corporate sponsors such as Ernie Ball Inc.,

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, Guitar Center, and Rockstar.

Compilations

As does the Warped Tour with their compilations, the Taste of Chaos tour releases compilations of the bands that are on the tour. * ''Taste of Chaos'' (2005) * ''Taste of Christmas'' (2005) * ''The Best of Taste of Chaos'' (2006) * ''The Best of Taste of Chaos Two.'' (2007)

Certifications

Reviews

Live Review of April 2006 Calgary, AB, Canada Concert
by Chris Andrade fo
''kMNR''...Music News Weekly

Review of April 2008 Los Angeles, CA Concert
by Winnie Jaing fo
''LA.Cityzine''

References

External links

*
Myspace

AU & NZ TOC Myspace

UK MyspaceExclusive Interview with Kevin Lyman, founder of Taste of Chaos
at TrulyHollywood.com.
Ernie ball battle of the bands
{{Rock festivals Music festivals staged internationally Rock festivals in the United States Rock festivals in Canada Heavy metal festivals Music festivals established in 2005 Punk rock festivals