U.S. Chaos
U.S. Chaos are an American punk rock band from Paterson, New Jersey, United States, formed in 1981 from remnants of first wave punk outfits The Front Line in 1978 and The Radicals in 1979. They were one of the first American bands to play in an Oi!/street punk style. The band was originally based in Passaic and Bergen counties. The band's approach was to play music with lyrics that had an overtly right-wing prose and sense of American patriotism. They often played recordings of military marches, air raid sirens and polyphonic sound assaults before going on  stage. Career. U.S. Chaos wrote songs and rehearsed in a basement for months before they played their first concert. In 1981, when their singer English Ron quit, Jack Gibson recruited Alan "Skully" Skolski. In the winter of 1982/1983, U.S. Chaos rehearsed and wrote several songs. In March 1983, they performed for the first time at a party at Aldo's Hideaway in Lyndhurst, New Jersey and many times at CBGB, as well as at City Gardens notably with T.S.O.L, in Trenton, New Jersey. The lineup at this time was Skolski on vocals, Gibson on bass, Spike Glenn Mayer on drums , Gary Reitmeyer on guitar and Brian Daley (HC) on rhythm guitar. Their first release was "We've Got the Weapons", a vinyl EP released in 1983. Its production, including recording and printing by Ross Eliss, cost them $5,000, which was unheard of in the American punk scene at that time. Their second release was the single "Kill The Killers" b/w "Suicide", which cost almost as much. This was later remastered and released by manager and producer Marty Munsch, from the first pressing disk plates, and re-released by Punk Rock Records as a limited release in 1996. The  unreleased singles "Blame it on Sam", "Scum Sucking Pig" and "For Being Young" were recorded and also remixed by Marty Munsch and eventually released ""We Are Your Enemy"" and""Stopping Evolution Dead In It's Tracks"" notably as a near impossible to find collectors piece, with only 10 in existence. Reitmeyer's departure from U.S. Chaos meant that the only original member of the band was Skolski. The band changed their name to The Chosen Few and wrote new material. This change coincided with the end of the first wave of US hardcore punk, with many bands changing their sounds or  leaving the scene altogether. In 1992, U.S. Chaos reunited to perform at a party. They continued this tradition every year until 1995, when they came fully out of hiatus. Munsch, owner of Punk Rock Records, became their manager. This led to several more releases and a few movie appearances. From 1996 to 1997, the lineup was Skolsky on vocals, Reitmeyer on guitar, Gibson on bass and Glenn 'Spikey' Mayer on drums. Mayer was later replaced by Eddie Enzyme (Active Ingredients, Fahrenheit 451, The Pickes). The band continued to play and release new material into 2007, the year Reitmeyer died. Prior  to his death, Reitmeyer had recommended Buddy Vern to fill his place. Vern had recently declined a longtime membership, and was replaced by Reitmeyer's younger sister Rene Wasted, an active founding member of Blanks 77. Munsch engineered and produced a U.S. Chaos album in 1999 called "You Can't Hear A Picture", which also led to several videos and four more singles. U.S. Chaos resumed their normal performance schedule as of September 15, 2007. The current lineup is Gibson on bass, Skolski on vocals, Mayer on drums and Wasted on guitar.