{{Short description|American singer (1965–2024)}} {{Use American English|date=October 2022}} {{Use mdy dates|date=October 2022}} {{Infobox musical artist | name = Casey Chaos | image = Casey Chaos.png | caption = Chaos performing in 2002 | birth_name = Karim George Chmielinski | alias = | birth_date = {{birth date|1965|10|9}} | birth_place = Trenton, New York, U.S. | death_date = {{death date and age|2024|12|20|1965|10|9}} | death_place = Laurel Canyon, California, U.S. | genre = {{flatlist| *Alternative metal *hardcore punk *punk rock *nu metal }} | occupation = {{flatlist| *Singer *songwriter }} | years_active = 1982–2024 | past_member_of = {{flatlist| * Amen * Scum * Disorderly Conduct * Scars on Broadway }} | website = }}
'''Karim George Chmielinski''' (October 9, 1965 — December 20, 2024), known professionally as '''Casey Chaos''', was an American musician, best known as the lead singer of Amen. His music encompassed a number of styles in the punk and metal genres.
== Early life == Karim Chmielinski was born in Trenton, New York, on October 9, 1965.<ref>{{Cite web |date=October 9, 2018 |title=Facebook |url=https://www.facebook.com/photo/?fbid=10214566611933690&set=ecnf.1073074382 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://archive.today/20230512182853/https://www.facebook.com/photo/?fbid=10214566611933690&set=a.10200294633263143 |archive-date=2023-05-12 |access-date=2023-05-12 |website=Facebook |type="Thank You All For The Amazing Birthday Wishes ! From The Ole' Bill."}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Stingley |first=Mick |date=June 2, 2004 |title=KNAC.COM - Features - Interview With Amen Vocalist C |url=https://www.knac.com/article.asp?ArticleID=3052 |access-date=2023-05-06 |website=www.knac.com}}</ref><ref name=":0">{{Cite web |last1=Chaos |first1=Casey |last2=Socks |first2=Matt |date=2015-03-28 |title=How Black Flag Changed My Life – by Casey Chaos |url=https://www.loudersound.com/features/how-black-flag-changed-my-life-by-casey-chaos |access-date=2023-05-31 |website=louder |language=en}}</ref> When he was seven, his parents separated and Casey moved with his mother to Melbourne, Florida. By age ten, Casey was touring professionally as a skater.
== Career ==
=== 1982–1990: Disorderly Conduct === In 1982, fellow skateboarder Duane Peters played Casey a tape by the band Black Flag. Casey became enough of a fan that he started corresponding with Henry Rollins and his friend Ian MacKaye.<ref name=":0" /><ref>{{cite web |title=Interview with Metalhammer |url=http://www.officialcaseychaos.com/press/2004/MH_05.2004/06.jpg |publisher=Wayback Machine, caseychaosofficial |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140601093959/http://www.officialcaseychaos.com/press/2004/MH_05.2004/06.jpg |access-date=February 17, 2022|url-status=usurped |archive-date=June 1, 2014 }}</ref> After seeing Black Flag for the first time live, Casey's life was forever changed, and he decided to start his own band.
He created Casey and the Skate Punx, and recruited bassist Scot Lade, drummer Bill Erwin, and his childhood friend from New York, guitarist Ken Decter (aka Duke Decter). They later changed the band name to Disorderly Conduct. They began writing songs and playing the Florida punk scene. Between his powerful voice and the band's high-energy presence, they became well-known and popular, with people traveling from as far as Atlanta to catch their shows.<ref name="books.google.com">{{cite book |last1=Suren |first1=Bob |title=Crate Digger: An Obsession with Punk Records, pg 49 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=xtd3CAAAQBAJ&dq=bassist+scot+lade&pg=PA48 |date=May 15, 2015 |publisher=Microcosm |isbn=978-1-62106-194-6 |access-date=February 17, 2022}}</ref> Between 1984 and 1986, their songs were included in three punk compilation albums. In 1986, they independently released the album ''Amen''. That was followed a year later by the six-track EP ''Atrocity''.
=== 1990–2024: Amen === In 1990, Chaos and Decter moved to Los Angeles, changed their band name to Amen. Chaos met Rikk Agnew, who invited him to sit in as bassist on a concert by his band Christian Death. He then asked Chaos to sing on his new solo album,<ref>{{cite web |title=Rikk Agnew Turtle |url=https://www.allmusic.com/album/turtle-mw0000623009/credits |website=allmusic.com |publisher=AllMusic |access-date=February 20, 2022}}</ref> and play bass on Christian Death's new album, ''Iconologia'', for which Chaos also wrote or co-wrote three songs.
Chaos then wrote and recorded the album ''Slave'', for which he played all of the instruments. He released it under the Amen name in 1994 and began to put together a new lineup: Paul Fig and Sonny Mayo on guitar, John Fahnestock (aka John Tumor) on bass, and Shannon Larkin on drums.
The band was eventually signed to Roadrunner Records, who in 1999 released a split EP with Misfits, the five-track EP ''Coma America,'' and the band's debut album, ''Amen''. To support the album, Amen went on a tour of North America with Slipknot, Machine Head, and Coal Chamber, among others.<ref>{{cite web |title=Amen's Concert History |url=https://www.concertarchives.org/bands/amen--3?page=2 |website=concertarchives.org |publisher=Concert Archives |access-date=February 18, 2022}}</ref> Amen parted ways with Roadrunner and they were quickly picked up by This Is An I Am Recording!, the Virgin Records sub-label of producer Ross Robinson, and went into the studio to record the album ''We Have Come for Your Parents''. In 2001, this album was released and received positive reviews. After the release of ''We Have Come for Your Parents'', Roadrunner re-released ''Amen'' due to the popularity of the band and press that they were getting.
In March 2002, Chaos announced that Amen had been dropped from Virgin after internal restructuring of their recording division.<ref>{{cite web |title=AMEN Officially Part With Virgin Records, March 2002 |url=https://www.blabbermouth.net/news/amen-officially-part-with-virgin-records/ |website=blabbermouth.net |date=March 4, 2002 |publisher=Blabbermouth |access-date=February 18, 2022}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=EMI to Slash 1,800 Jobs, March 2002 |url=https://www.nme.com/news/music/mariah-carey-45-1369917 |website=nme.com|date=March 20, 2002 |publisher=NME|access-date=June 22, 2022}}</ref> Amen had just recorded 20+ tracks for their new album and Virgin refused to release them. Amen went onto tour whilst they searched for a label to release new material under.
In 2004, Daron Malakian of System of a Down had founded his own label through Columbia Records called EatUrMusic Records. Malakian and Chaos had met at the 2002 Big Day Out festival in Australia and had become friends. Chaos put together a new lineup, recruiting bassist Scott Sorry, drummer Luke Johnson, and guitarists Matt Montgomery (aka Piggy D.) and Rich Jones. Amen was the first band Malakian signed and the label released Amen's ''Death Before Musick'' in 2004, along with a video for the single "California's Bleeding". The band then embarked on a world tour in promotion of this release.
In 2005, Chaos released a compilation box set that included previously unreleased Amen and Disorderly Conduct track in addition to remixes of previously released songs. The four-CD boxed set was a limited edition release of 2,000 copies ''Pisstory: A Catalogue of Accidents, a Lifetime of Mistakes''.
In 2007, Amen were invited to perform on ''The Henry Rollins Show'', a weekly talk show hosted by musician Henry Rollins on IFC. Amen performed three songs, two of which aired live: "Coma America" and "Liberation", with the third "Another Planet" release in IFC.com. The performance aired internationally on July 13, 2007, on the 14th episode of season 2. Between the two songs, Chaos made political death threats and it became the first of the show's episodes to have material cut by IFC, although it ran the full performance on its website. Amen then went on a full tour of Europe including a co-headline slot with Kreator at the Damnation Festival hosted at the University of Leeds. Amen booked a full European tour.
In 2014, Chaos went back into the studio with Amen to begin recording a new album with Ross Robinson with Dave Lombardo on drums.<ref>{{cite web |title=Former SLAYER Drummer DAVE LOMBARDO Joins AMEN, June 2014 |url=https://www.blabbermouth.net/news/former-slayer-drummer-dave-lombardo-joins-amen/ |website=blabbermouth.net |date=June 11, 2014 |publisher=Blabbermouth |access-date=February 19, 2022}}</ref> Due to former commitments, the album recording was not completed with Robinson and Amen went on to perform at Knotfest in support of Slipknot.<ref name="AMEN Performs New Song At KNOTFEST">{{cite web |title=Amen Performs New Song At Knotfest |url=https://archive.blabbermouth.net/news/video-amen-performs-new-song-at-knotfest/ |website=blabbermouth.net |date=October 26, 2014 |publisher=Blabbermouth |access-date=February 19, 2022 |archive-date=February 19, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220219204951/https://archive.blabbermouth.net/news/video-amen-performs-new-song-at-knotfest/ |url-status=dead }}</ref> In late 2019, Chaos went back into the studio to continue work on the latest Amen album in the UK before COVID-19 put a hold on the recording. The album was later reported as finished by the time Chaos’ death occurred in December 2024, and will be released posthumously in the future.
=== Other projects === Chaos collaborated with Twiggy Ramirez and members of Queens of the Stone Age on a project called Headband, who recorded music but never released it.<ref>{{cite web |title=Casey Chaos Interview, Nov 2003 |url=http://www.basetendencies.com/archives/2003.html |website=basetendencies.com |publisher=Base Tendencies (Jeordie White) |access-date=February 18, 2022}}</ref>
Chaos produced an EP for The Kinison, working with the band off the back of a demo they passed Chaos when he was touring with Amen.
Chaos founded the band Scum with black metal icons Samoth and Cosmocrator from Zyklon, Bård Faust from Emperor, and Happy Tom from Turbonegro. Scum eventually released an album, 2005's ''Gospels for the Sick'', which was nominated in the metal category at Norway's 2006 Alarm Awards.
In 2005, Chaos recorded a song for ''No End in Sight'', an album by This Is Menace. Amen was then meant to tour with the band, but all dates were canceled when Chaos had to undergo emergency surgery to repair multiple ruptured hernias. When he got out of hospital, Amen joined the band Sick of It All to fulfill its European tour commitment.
Chaos was part of the supergroup Ross Robinson assembled to write the soundtrack for the House of Shock documentary. The documentary is yet to be released.''<ref name=":1" />''
== Personal life and death == In 2012, Chaos was arrested for allegedly driving his car into 15 parked cars in Studio City, California. In June 2019, he was arrested again for allegedly assaulting a woman at his Los Angeles home.<ref name="obit">{{cite news |title=Amen's Casey Chaos Dead at 59 |url=https://blabbermouth.net/news/amens-casey-chaos-dead-at-59 |access-date=21 December 2024 |publisher=Blabbermouth |date=21 December 2024}}</ref>
Chaos died from a heart attack in his Laurel Canyon home on December 20, 2024, at the age of 59.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://blabbermouth.net/news/casey-chaos-official-cause-of-death-revealed|title=CASEY CHAOS: Official Cause Of Death Revealed|publisher=Blabbermouth.net|access-date=December 26, 2024|date=December 26, 2024}}</ref> He was said to have been suffering from underlying heart issues, poor circulation and high blood pressure just before his death.<ref name=":2">{{Cite web |last=Kennelty |first=Greg |date=2024-12-27 |title=AMEN's Final Album Is Still Being Completed In The Wake of CASEY CHAOS' Death |url=https://metalinjection.net/news/amens-final-album-is-still-being-completed-in-the-wake-of-casey-chaos-death |access-date=2024-12-29 |website=Metal Injection |language=en-US}}</ref> He was cremated three days later at the Valhalla Memorial Park Cemetery in North Hollywood.<ref name=":2" />
== Discography == === With Amen=== ;Albums *''Slave'' (1994), Drag-u-la Records *''Amen'' (1999), Roadrunner Records *''We Have Come for Your Parents'' (2000), Virgin Records *''Death Before Musick'' (2004), EatURMusic/Columbia *''Gun of a Preacher Man'' (2005 live album), Snapper Music/Secret Records
;EPs *''Uncontrolled Music for a Controlled Society'' (1999), Roadrunner Records *''Coma America'' (1999) Roadrunner Records *''Frontline Volume 3 – The Singles Club'' (1999, split with Misfits), Roadrunner Records *''Propamenda'' (2000), Virgin Records *''The Price of Reality'' (2000), Virgin Records/This Is An I Am Recording! *''Too Hard to Be Free'' (2000), Virgin Records *''The Waiting 18'' (2001), Virgin Records/This Is An I Am Recording! *''California's Bleeding'' (2004), EatURMusic/Columbia
===With Disorderly Conduct=== *''Amen'' (1986), Dirge Records
===With Scum=== *''Gospels for the Sick'' (2006) (Dogjob/Candlelight Records)
===Solo=== *''Pisstory: A Catalogue of Accidents, a Lifetime of Mistakes'' (2005), Refuse Music
===Other===
;Soundtrack credits *''Faust: Love of the Damned'' (2000, film) *''Final Destination'' (2000, film) *''Atop the Fourth Wall'' (2012, TV series) *''House of Shock (2013, documentary)<ref name=":1">{{cite web |last1=Hartmann |first1=Graham |title=Members of Slayer, Exodus + More Collaborate...Jan. 2013 |url=https://loudwire.com/slayer-exodus-more-collaborate-house-of-shock-documentary-soundtrack/ |website=Loudwire |date=January 3, 2013 |publisher=loudwire.com |access-date=February 19, 2022}}</ref>'' *''One Hit Wonderland'' (2015, TV series) *''Roll Red Roll'' (2018, Documentary)
;Compilation inclusions *Disorderly Conduct – ''I'm Buck Naked!'' (1984), BCT *Disorderly Conduct – ''Flipside Vinyl Fanzine 2'' (1985), Gasatanka Records *Disorderly Conduct – ''There's a Method to Our Madness'' (1986), Phantom Records *Amen – ''Launch'' (2000, video compilation), Launch Magazine *Casey Chaos – ''Rise Above: 24 Black Flag Songs to Benefit the West Memphis Three'' (2002), Sanctuary Records *Amen – ''Join, or Die'' (2003), Refuse Music *Amen – ''Here's the Poison'' (2016), Secret Records
;Guest appearances *Rikk Agnew – ''Turtle'' (1992), Triple X Records *Christian Death – ''Iconologic'' (1992), Triple X Records *Christian Death – ''Sleepless Nights Live 1990'' (1993), Cleopatra Records *Queens of the Stone Age – ''Songs for the Deaf'' (2002, as guest DJ), Interscope Records *This Is Menace – ''No End In Sight'' (2005), PSI Records *Christian Death – ''Death Club'' (2005, compilation), Cleopatra Records *Ministry / Paul Barker – ''Fix'' (2012), Gigantic Pictures
;DVDs *Amen – ''Caught in the Act'' (2004, live), Secret Records *Christian Death featuring Rozz Williams – ''Live'' (2005), Cleopatra Records *Ministry / Paul Barker – ''Fix'' (2012), Gigantic Pictures
== References == {{Reflist}}
== External links == {{Commons category}} * [http://www.AmenTheEnd.com Casey Chaos memorial website] * {{IMDb name| 3925620}} * [https://www.youtube.com/amenbrigade Official YouTube]
{{Amen}} {{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Chaos, Casey}} Category:1965 births Category:2024 deaths Category:American male singer-songwriters Category:Daron Malakian and Scars on Broadway members Category:Christian Death members Category:Amen (American band) members Category:Grip Inc. members Category:Nu metal singers Category:People from Trenton, New York Category:People from Melbourne, Florida Category:Singer-songwriters from New York (state) Category:Singer-songwriters from Florida