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| Interview by Burt Wolf with guitarist, Stacey Murray of KAOS. Interview done on May 5th, 2004! |
| KAOS HAS BEEN AROUND FOR A FEW YEARS NOW, BUT I'M PRETTY MUCH NEW TO YOU GUYS. CAN YOU GIVE SOME OF THE BACKGROUND HISTORY ON THE BAND? ANY PREVIOUS BANDS YOU GUYS WERE IN? Long story short, KAOS formed in 1988. I left my group, HATE in 1993 to fill the second guitar position. KAOS had a great run in 1996. The music scene in the Bay Area basically disappeared & we decided to pursue other aspects of our lives. We got back together just to have a little fun in 2000 & it has now spawned into something we never expected. Here we are...ready to storm the world. WHY WAS THE NAME KAOS CHOSEN AS THE BANDS NAME? The band wanted a name that was short & to the point, powerful & symbolic, without it being half a sentence. How do you make a logo out of those things anyway? WHO OR WHAT ARE SOME OF YOUR INFLUENCES IN CREATING YOUR STYLE & SOUND? Speaking for myself, it's a huge list. I will just touch on some over a timeline. KISS, VAN HALEN, old METALLICA, SLAYER, MERCIFUL FATE, KREATOR, EXODUS, ANTHRAX, TESTAMENT, NUCLEAR ASSAULT, S.O.D. and VIO-LENCE. I could go on, but these bands made a huge impact on me. Not just musically either...I live by it! |
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| HOW WOULD YOU BEST DESCRIBE YOUR STYLE & SOUND? We are a fucking Metal band & that's all there is to it. I don't know where people are coming up with all this Metal-core, Hardcore, Thrash-core stuff. If it helps someone else specifically define us in a sea of a million bands, they can call us whatever makes them feel like the professor of hard music! If you ask me, we are a Heavy Metal band...plain & simple! YOU'RE NEW CD "KAOS AMONG US" HAS BEEN OUT FOR A LITTLE BIT NOW. WHAT HAS THE RESPONSE BEEN FOR THIS GREAT RELEASE SO FAR? Yeah, we released it in August 2003. We had a huge CD release party & played the DEATH ANGEL comeback show immediately after. |
| We ran into a couple of snags that prevented us from pushing the CD, so it took from the middle of August to January 2004 to iron out the wrinkles. Then we hit it as hard as we could. You can see the responses on our website. The reviews have been incredible! It's a great feeling to see our album in columns with bands that have had multiple albums out on well known record labels & get better marks than them...it makes it all worth it. WHAT IS SOME OF THE SUBJECT MATTER IN YOUR SONGS? Life, death, Hell, Heaven, GOD, Satan & War. WHO DOES THE MAJORITY OF THE SONG WRITING? IS IT A WHOLE BAND COLLABORATION? TAKE US THROUGH THE PROCESS? The whole band collaborates in one form or another. Jason, our vocalist, is a major part of the process for me. I can write down a bunch of random thoughts pertaining to a particular subject, and he can turn it into things I would never have imagined. The whole band brings ideas to the studio. It all comes together in different ways. I don't think there is any real process involved. Almost half of "KAOS AMONG US" was put together in the recording studio. I ONLY HAVE YOUR NEWEST ALBUM, CAN YOU TELL A LITTLE ABOUT YOUR PREVIOUS RELEASES & THEY'RE AVAILABLITY? KAOS has put out 5 demos & 2 full length albums over our career. We have decided to make all of the demos & the first full length "VISION BEYOND" unavailable for the time being. We feel very strongly about the "KAOS AMONG US" and want it to get as much attention as possible. There will be a time & place for the past, but that time is not now. |
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| HOW DO YOU FEEL THE BAND HAS IMPROVED BETWEEN THE RELEASES? Ten Fold!!! "VISONS BEYOND" is great for what it is, but the process was something else. Recording "VISON BEYOND" gave us a better understanding of what to do & what NOT to do in the recording studio. The outcome of "KAOS AMONG US" is a record that is right up there with bands that have the major backing...thanks to Mark Keaton, our engineer & co-producer (who just recently engineered "T.T.A.O.E." by MACHINE HEAD). I can't say enough about that guy. HAVE YOU GUYS BEEN APPROACHED BY ANY LABELS YET? IF SO, WHO? |
| Start up indies have pursued us quite a bit. the ones that have been in touch, haven't been able to do for us that we haven't done, or are already doing, for ourselves. I'm not sure that a prominebt label could work as hard for us as we do. |