Chaotic Dischord

History

Chaotic Dischord's line-up consisted of Ampex (Igor, bass), Evo Stix (Shane Baldwin of Vice Squad, drums), Ransid (aka Bambi, vocals), and Pox (Dave Bateman of Vice Squad, guitars). The band originally formed to parody the pointlessness of many of the generic 'crusty' second-wave punk bands that had been signed to Riot City Records, but ironically became one of the label's best-selling acts. After an argument with Riot City boss Simon Edwards, in which Bateman and Baldwin claimed they could knock out something on the same lines as some of these bands 'in ten minutes', the band later went away and recorded "Glue Accident". They submitted the track under the name Chaotik Dischord, via a friend to Edwards who was looking for bands for his forthcoming Riotous Assembly compilation LP. To avoid Edwards learning their true identity they claimed that Vice Squad were friends of theirs and that they would only deal with them. It apparently "scared the pants off" Edwards, and he included the track on the album, misspelling their name as Chaotic Dischord, which would stick as the spelling from then on. Edwards eventually discovered the true identity of the band, but by then they were selling records in sufficient numbers to carry on.

Chaotic Dischord's brand of punk was aimed at shocking and insulting whoever they could, with one reviewer claiming that the band's aim was to use the word "fuck" more often than any other band before or after. The band had several hits on the UK Indie Chart, and were received positively by many critics. United States hardcore punk fanzine Maximum Rock 'n' Roll, unaware of the band's true identity, gave the band several positive reviews despite a dislike for Vice Squad. Attila The Stockbroker, writing for Sounds under the pseudonym John Opposition gave their Fuck Religion... album 5 stars.

The band recorded a one-off EP, Back On The Piss Again, under the name Sex Aids, with Igor on vocals.

When Beki Bondage left Vice Squad, Igor also departed, and despite his desire to stay with Chaotic Dischord, was sacked from the band. Bondage and Igor retaliated by releasing an album along with Mik Heslin (guitar) and Steve Roberts (drums) credited to Chaotic Dischord titled Fuck Off You Cunt, What a Load of Bollocks, which Baldwin claims is a 'bogus' Chaotic Dischord record that he has never even heard. The album was recorded over three nights and was done in the true punk rock spirit: The musicians improvised the backing tracks on the first night, Beki added vocals the second night without having heard the music previously, and the mixing was done by engineer Paul Gadd with the rest of CD collapsed on the settee on the third night. When the band arrived, he asked,"How do you want this to sound?" The response was, "A pile of shit." The album was released on Syndicate records and sold well; the band made nothing on it.

The band released the Live In New York album in 1984 despite never actually playing a gig. When the Riot City label closed down, the band moved to Not Very Nice, continuing to release records, including three more albums. They eventually got bored with what was essentially the same joke, and split up in 1988 when Bambi's tool hire business took off.

Baldwin later said of the band, "Of course it was a joke, and we were actually quite disturbed when so many people took it seriously!"

Discography

Chart placings shown are from the UK Indie Chart.

Singles/EPs

Albums