Christopher Lee Lewis, vocalist for defunct post-hardcore outfit The Kinison, has penned a tribute to his late friend and mentor, Amen vocalist Casey Chaos. The latter was instrumental in helping The Kinison get off the ground in the early 2000s, overseeing their recording sessions and championing their releases, while also serving as a mentor for the band.
Chaos unfortunately passed away on December 20th of last year, with his death being the result of a massive heart attack. According to Chaos‘ longtime friend Dean Karr, Chaos had been dealing with underlying heart issues for several years prior to his death.
Lewis titled this new tribute to Chaos, ‘An Ode To Casey Chaos’. You can read the introductory paragraphs below:
“I spent much of my formative years meandering around Pop’s Nightclub and Concert Venue in Sauget, IL.
Pop’s claim to fame is that it never closes: 24/7 x 365. I read recently that it had to shut its doors during early COVID; it was the first time it stopped operations in decades. Pop’s is unique because it’s technically on the Illinois side of East St. Louis, surrounded by gentleman’s clubs and truck stops. It is a wasteland of idling 18-wheelers, speedfreaks, strippers, and a 24-hour-a-day music venue nestled in the center.
Once, as a teen in Pop’s parking lot, my childhood friend Eric bet John Dolmayan from System of a Down that he could throw an icepack into a trashcan 50 feet away. If he made it, he would receive SOAD tickets for a lifetime. Eric sunk the shot, but John never followed through on the tickets.
In 2001, I met Casey Chaos at Pop’s, and it changed the course of everything for me. I spotted him in his leathers at an Amen show and handed him my band, The Kinison’s demo, Our First Failure. He graciously took the CD, thanked us for coming, then walked off in his Herman Munster clodhoppers.
Half an hour later, Casey found me in the crowd, grabbed me by the shirt, and dragged the whole band onto Amen’s bus to talk. In those 30 minutes, he had already listened to the demo and thought we had the potential to be special.
He later gave us a shoutout during the show: “You see these guys right here? They’re in a local punk band, the future of punk rock. They’re called Kinison!””
The whole piece is available via Lewis‘ Substack.
