CHAOS THEORY

Two unidentified American male voices emanate from the cubicles of the Ladies Toilets in the Temple Bar Music Centre, casually discussing the charms of Irish womanhood. "Hey, man, I took a walk around the city for about an hour today, and the women are really attractive, man, some really nice-looking girls," one informs the other. "Excuse me," I interject. "Are you guys with the band?"

Since I'm on my way to interview Amen vocalist Casey Chaos prior to their Dublin gig, I introduce myself, amused by the prospect of commencing our little chat in the Ladies. The singer is not present, but the pair of band members (who choose to remain otherwise anonymous) assure me that there's nothing untoward going on behind closed doors - it's just that the male conveniences "didn't look too hygienic." Rock 'n' roll.

They direct me to the dressing room, where I find the man I'm after. Casey Chaos looks very much the troubled rock star, wearing shades, with a myriad of scars, old and new, scoring his arms, courtesy of violent extremes of onstage physicality which have seen him hospitalised on numerous occasions.

Amen's music is a visceral expression of rage. Their album We Have Come For Your Parents is a ferocious attack on the hypocrisy of American society. So what aspects of the culture sicken him the most?

"The American Dream as a whole, the facade of doing everything you can to become rich and famous," Casey replies. "The desire for monetary success and materialism is what most Americans have in common these days. They don't care about being a human being. I'm singing about things that disgust me, being unable to breathe, with this so-called 'civilisation' around me."

Do you think having a Republican in the White House will breed a better climate for artists, give them something to rebel against?

"That's what everyone seems to think now. I agree to a degree, but I think either you have it in you or you don't. I didn't care what president was around when I was getting in fights when I was seven years old. I was just fighting 'cause there was a bunch of stupid Americans around me, wanting me to conform and be who they were. Maybe teenagers and older people will be affected by it, but human nature will still spawn the boredom, disorder and mistakes." The singer is soft-spoken and matter-of-fact in his statements, rather than scary and emphatic as his words might suggest. Since many the songs he co-writes with drummer Larkin are directed at the youth of today, I inquire if he's particularly worried about teen America?

"Yeah, it's the most difficult time to figure out what's going on, to guide any hostility you have." To what would he ascribe acts like the Columbine shootings? Music like Amen's and Marilyn Manson's clearly isn't to blame, as some would have it, so what is? "It's definitely the parents. And those pieces of garbage - cheerleaders and jocks and the people picking on the kids who wore trench coats and listened to 'weird music.' Typical American hypocrisy, interviewing these kids going, 'Oh God, they shot up the school!' when it's actually they who are to blame for attacking these kids."

According to Chaos' theory, America is going down. "There is no solution for America. It just gets worse and worse and worse. If you look at the statistics, there's more killing, more money motivation, and more people not getting along. It's a mess."

Their song 'CK Killer' is about America's most successful fashion designer. "I think Calvin Klein is probably one of the biggest murderers in the history of the world." Casey states. "There's no truth in the advertising. We have these unattainable images and women that are dying to fit the image (and men for that matter). His ad campaigns were pulled in America because they were considered child pornography. To me, things like Columbine have more to with Calvin Klein than they do with Marilyn Manson." Hence Amen's iconoclastic album sleeve imagery, which includes uniformed pre-pubescents posing provocatively with automatic weapons, in outright juxtaposition to the insidious depictions of conventional advertising.

Amen gigs have been known to provoke riots in the States. Casey shrugs, "People get out of control. I get out of control on stage, but only towards myself, not towards the audience. If anyone gets hurt, it's always me. It's like skateboarding. You know you're going to fall constantly when you're trying to do a new trick. You don't think about it, you just do it. Inevitably you're falling sixty, a hundred times."

How many times have you been hospitalised as a result of performing?

"At least twenty. Splintered ribs, torn arteries, eyes black and blue - they thought I had a brain aneurysm once, from screaming so much. I have a breathing disorder, so there are a lot of breathing problems and stuff."

Do you advocate violence as a kind of catharsis?

"I advocate violence when necessary. I don't go around starting fights with people or invade anyone's space. But if anyone comes up and confronts me, I won't turn the other cheek. As a child, I got in a lot of fights. I didn't go around shooting people. So what, some kid had a broken nose or got a tooth knocked out. That's a mutual thing, not some gang-related thing. I think violence is necessary as a response to violence."

Since this interview is being recorded for the hotpress website, I ask about the song 'Piss Virus', which is very anti-Computer Age.

"I'm anti-e-mail. The band goes to internet cafés to check their e-mail, but I just use the telephone. Once I was using the computer and when I looked around it was, like, seven hours later! What happened to my entire day? I think the computer's great for creating art, but a lot of people live their lives through computers, which is sad to me." The band has an official website. "Yeah, the band uses the computer and we promote ourselves through it. I might use it, but I don't abuse it."

Why choose to live in Los Angelus. Isn't it the seat of all evil in your book? "My mother moved from New York to Florida when I was seven. I was surrounded by rednecks, in swampland stripped of any culture, constantly getting hassled. When I got older, all the cowboys and cops said 'Why don't you move to LA. That's where all the freaks live.' I hate the fact that I'm a consumer, but I do like the easy access to my cinema, my books and art exhibits which LA affords."

You're also part of the music industry which promulgates a lot of the culture you hate. "It's a necessary evil. It's a fine line of being able to create music and to survive. We have complete creative control of what we do. We don't make any money."

Chaos respects every genre of music with the exception of rap. "Rap music is the death of humanity," he reckons. "It promotes everything I'm against - materialism, the more girls you've got with big asses in your videos, the more Benzes and gold chains and teeth the better. It's all negative. We're angry, but it's a positive anger."

So is Puff Daddy the Antichrist, as Marilyn Manson claims?

"Yeah, and Will Smith. People look at Marilyn Manson and say he's evil, but he's a showman, a businessman, I don't find anything he does shocking. Me? I don't aim to shock people. If I did, I'd definitely be locked up."

They shed blood for rock'n'roll

Casey Chaos is not the only artist who has been on the cutting edge…

FOLLOWING THE IMPLOSION of seminal Liverpool outfit The Teardrop Explodes in 1982, frontman Julian Cope was rumoured to be suffering from depression following the collapse of his first marriage, while using elephantine quantities of LSD. His first solo album, World Shut Your Mouth, was pleasantly poppy rock, but those who feared Cope had gone all Victor Mature on us were heartened by his live appearance at the Hammersmith Palais in 1983. During a song called 'Reynard The Fox', Cope took his broken mic stand and repeatedly gashed his chest and abdomen. The song, which actually contains the line "He spilled his guts out all over the stage" later appeared on Cope's 1984 Fried album.

YOU MIGHT THINK that he's pretty full-on today, but 25 years ago no Iggy Pop gig was complete without a spot of self-mutilation. Showman that he is, the chief Stooge always reserved his rolling around in broken glass routine for the encore. Look at pictures of him now and you can still see the scar tissue.

THE BEGINNING OF the end for the Sex Pistols came when, confronted by a crowd of rednecks in Texas, Sid Vicious displayed his talent for DIY surgery. "A female fan gestured to Sid to lean down for a kiss - and then punched him in the nose, causing it to bleed profusely," reported the man from Rolling Stone. "Reveling in the gore, he spit blood on her. Then he smashed a beer bottle on his amp, using the shards to slash his chest, tearing open a previous arm wound." Nice.

IN TERMS OF blood let and stitches inserted, the undisputed King of Rock 'N' Roll Carnage has to be G.G. Allin. Twice certified by doctors as insane, the American's oeuvre included eating broken glass, tattooing himself with a 5" masonry nail and inviting fans to come on stage and kick the shit out of him. Not surprisingly Mr and Mrs Allin's little boy is no longer with us - a huge cocaine overdose stopping his 37-year-old heart in 1993.

In a now legendary incident, Richey Edwards, former guitarist/lyricist with the Manic Street Preachers, carved the phrase '4 Real' into his forearm with a razorblade on May 15th 1991, following a gig at the Norwich Arts Centre. The event occurred during an interview with NME/Radio 1 journalist Steve Lamacq, and was apparently a response to Richey's feeling that the band's punk principles were being called into question. Edwards had a long history of depression and self-mutilation, culminating in his mysterious disappearance in February of 1995.

While in the process of recording the band's first album, Casey Chaos continuously slashed himself and smeared the walls of the studio with his blood. The frustration of recording also caused him to punch a shelf, which promptly fell on him, splintering a rib. Chaos has also been known to arrive at the studio with up to eight safety pins stuck in his hand, and once tore some cartilage at a gig after jumping off a thirty-foot high p.a. The singer says his pain is anaesthetised by medication he takes for a breathing disorder.