In June of 1995 amongst the crime ridden wasteland of Noble Park, located in the dingy South Eastern suburbs of Melbourne, a garage band was formed . The group consisted of brothers, Quiintus (drums), Robert Ban (vocals) and long time friends Daniel Bratten (guitars) and Frank Torcasio (guitars). The band predominantly played covers from bands such as Iron Maiden, Thin Lizzy, Alice in Chains, Pantera, Metaliica and Guns’s ‘n’ Roses.
September of that year saw the departure of Rob due to lack of commitment from other band members. At that time the band recruited drummer Louie the Fly and with a slight change of direction Quiintus made a inevitable transition to vocals and they began to rehearse songs written by Daniel that were very much in the vein of Pantera.
By the years end the band met its early demise but was reborn afresh in 1997 with the addition of a young versatile rock guitarist named Robert Mesarich. The writing process began and early glimpses of the new Chaos Theory were unveiled. By 1998, Voices from the Holocaust, Killers in the Midst (All-Seeing Eye), The Beast Within, Image of God, War of the Worlds, Red Dawn, Into the Sun, In the Mouth of Madness, Dead Man Walking, Fear No Evil, Heaven and Earth, Alien Natives, Gemini Syndrome (Whispers of Doom), and On the Road To Hell would be just some of the songs in the bands repertoire. The sound was a mesh of Iron Maiden’s classic heavy metal hum crossed with Guns ‘n’ Roses hard rock edge.
It was not long after this time that Frank made the decision to leave the band. With additional band members hard to find, Chaos Theory lay dormant for the next couple of years… dormant but not forgotten.
The start of the new millennium would see the end of Quiintus’ days as a drummer as he tried to tackle songs that would challenge him beyond his own capabilities. He joined an Iron Maiden cover band, which included drummer Albi ‘Potter’ from local thrash metal maniacs ‘Carnage’. By mid year however, playing covers was not enough to satisfy Quiintus’ true musical ambitions so after calling it a day with the cover band, Quiintus asks Frank to give Chaos Theory another shot and promises a wider variety of influences with a more modern day spin on the songs using Iron Maiden, Megadeth, Metallica, Guns’n'Roses, Black Sabbath, Led Zepplin, Judas Priest, Alice Cooper as the backbone of the music then adding more subtle modern day influences such as Smashing Pumpkins, Dream Theatre, The Super Jesus, System of a Down, Audio Slave, Life of Agony, Disturbed, The Tea Party, Faith No More, Opeth, In Flames, Children of Boddom, Powder Finger, Alice in Chains and much, much more…
Frank, excited at the new direction the band was taking, agreed to give it another shot and with Albi ‘Potter’ continuing to help out on drums, they began to rehash some of their old songs with newer influences added. It wasn’t long before Bassist Snakebite joined the band through an internet advert and a week later a nervous long-haired guitarist by the name of Johnny Emslie auditioned and despite only playing guitar for 3 years is unanimously voted in by the band.
The band continued to rehearse and write songs and by early 2001, in order to perform the songs properly live, guitarist Robert Mesarich rejoins the band as the 3rd axe-wielder. Once more, this year would consist of much song writing experimentation and rehearsals but as Albi still remained only temporarily, the band hastily recorded nine of their songs for future reference.
January 2002 saw Quiintus pushing the band further, with a new and improved drummer (Lucifer Wilson) and although only 15 years old he showed remarkable maturity in his ability to play the material at speeds that were beyond human comprehension. Sadly for Chaos Theory, Mez (Robert Mesarich) decided to step down soon after although despite his departure, the next month the band finally hit the stage at ‘The Venue’ in Noble Park.
After complications with Snake, the band opted to replace him as they felt he wasn’t committed enough and not long after, due to some musical and band managment differences, Johnny made his regretful departure also.
In mid 2003 the band was reduced to a trio, the line up being Quiintus on vocals, Frank on guitars and Lucifer behind the kit. Once again the band continued it’s never ending search for members. With a bit of luck they stumbled upon veteran guitarist Caveman a month later who added remarkable depth and precision to the band that had not previously been seen before in any other line-up. The wheels were once more in motion for Chaos Theory. Several weeks later would see Quiintus & Frank’s long time friend, Ben Hennessy fill the slot on bass. This was quite a feat considering he had never played bass before.
Meanwhile, wanting to recreate the studio versions of the songs as accurately as possible live, Quiintus invited original vocalist Robert Ban back into the band and not a moment too soon as ‘Battle of the Bands’ was the next big gig on the horizon.
With a complete line-up and the band never sounding better, Chaos Theory entered the first heat of the competition and soon after heads to the studio to record their debut EP ‘Aurora Twilight’. November would see the band go on to the Grand Final of ‘Battle of the Bands’. They finished third, a great effort considering it was Chaos Theory’s third ever gig.
With word spreading fast of the bands eclectic blend of metal, 2004 saw Chaos Theory perform various live gigs, and headline ‘The Venue’ where they debuted two years earlier. With the band in full flight, things were looking good; however Chaos Theory is dealt their hardest blow yet when long time founding member Frank Torcasio leaves due to work and family commitments. It was from this point Quiintus vowed the band would never lay dormant again.
After fruitlessly searching for another guitarist, fate would play its part and the band would again be reunited with the innovative talent of Johnny Emslie. This line-up debuted a second ‘Battle of the Bands’ and advanced them to the Grand Final with ease. In June the band would take their Demo to the printers for a 500 run production to be ready two weeks later. However they encountered complications and it wasn’t finished until the day of the Grand Final in September. They only received 100 copies of the 500 requested. Despite Chaos Theory being tipped to win the event it was not to be, although the crowd reaction and a total sell-out of the new EP certainly reflected how much Chaos Theory’s popularity was growing.
For the remainder of 2004, Chaos Theory played many more gigs around Melbourne with the inclusion of some quite weird venues and others not so. As the year drew to a close Rob would leave due to further miscommunications and Ben Hennessy with 2005 university commitments also gave his departure warning. So the band began its search for a new bassist.
Enter the year 2005. Chaos Theory whilst scouting for a keyboardist discovered the unique talents of child prodigy Leanne Lae. With the added dimension of keyboard and after only several weeks, the band performed at the grand opening of the prestigious ‘Screamers’ metal club alongside veteran heavy metal acts ‘Crimsonfire’ and ‘Anarion’. A handful of gigs followed and the headlining gig at the ‘Barleycorn Hotel’ in March ultimately became Ben Hennessys swan song.
With several shows lined up in the following months and no bass player to fill Ben’s shoes, Chaos Theory found themselves in a dilemma. All seemed lost until a last minute meeting with bass extraordinaire Dean Gaudoin of ‘Extreme Measures’ & ‘Titanium’ fame took place. Dean would learn the whole set in literally two days, and took to the stage one week later in phenomenal fashion. A series of gigs followed for the remainder of March and April with supporting acts such as ‘In Malice’s Wake’, ‘Dark Earth’, ‘Befallen’, ‘Embodied’, ‘Drowning Girl’, ‘Vendetta’ and ‘Rhythm Pigs’.
June 24th would see Chaos Theory play their final gig for the year, alongside Crimsonfire and Entertwilight, and give Dean ‘The Beast’ Gaudoin the fitting farewell he deserved. It would also mark the beginning of pre-production for the new album to be recorded at Palm Studio’s with producer virtuoso Endel Rivers.
Fate again would play its hand in delivering Chaos Theory a musical leviathan of staggering proportions. This leviathan would come in the form of Bass master Mirko ‘Merc’ Gribic, who witnessed the bands final performance of the year and was so impressed that he organized a meeting and auditioned successfully two weeks later.
This brings us to the current line up who are to be recording the bands debut album ‘Whispers of Doom’ in mid October 2005.
The journey thus far has had its fair share of peaks and troughs, but those who bore witness to the transformation of this band from amateur garage hacks, playing to there girlfriends and a couple of mates in Quiintus’s shed, to the bands monolithic live performances playing to hundreds of cheering punters, delivering their unique brand of devilishly, flamboyant, Neo Traditional Heavy Metal, will know that this Chaos Theory is only just getting started.
official Website: http://www.chaostheory.com.au
