READ THIS REVIEW: Chaos Sauce

Chaos Sauce played an incredible show Friday night and I have started to believe that this is Orono/Old Town area’s most underexposed, yet incredibly skilled local band. Their set was filled with exceedingly and excellently executed covers by Rage Against the Machine and also quite a few Red Hot Chili Pepper’s songs from Mother’s Milk… one of the best RHCP albums ever. Their covers reference the awesomeness of the originals, yet when Chaos Sauce plays them, the songs don’t feel like covers. They are played with such energy and talent that they feel almost like Chaos Sauce originals. Which, in fact, are quite incredible as well and include Idiot Blood (named after some idiot who came to a CS show after getting into a fight and then proceeded to bleed all over CS’s stuff), Moose on Fire, Computer Malfunction (MGMT esque…. But way better!) and many more. The most interesting aspect of this band is their highly dynamic, almost amoeba-like nature. Every song changes who plays what instrument, some band members come back on stage, others go become part of the crowd… its such an awesome aspect of this band because it adds to their fluidity while each combination acts like a different component of an overall creative project.

Chaos Sauce’s music is pretty hardcore, but it’s also way, way more than that. They are playful, talented, and their stage presence, energy, and interaction with the crowd makes for such an incredibly good time. I have never seen a flying, cow bell jamming leap ever before…. But I tell you it’s a sight damn worth seeing. They are constantly jumping around stage, standing on the drums, and just intensely jamming your face off. Their vocals are awesome, the musicianship is mind blowing, and they have more vehemence than we have seen in the local area bands yet. You are seriously missing out if you do not see this band.

As with many good bands, Chaos Sauce’s members have changed throughout the years, but many core members have been jamming together in different forms since high school. Most of the band is from the Rockland or Portland, Maine area and their influences include; RHCP, Rage Against the Machine, Stone Temple Pilots, Sound Garden, and The Mars Volta. It all started with a talent show in high school where they tied for first….

CS: “Todd actually tied an egg to his forehead and kicked it…”

Way Live Should Be: “How do you decide what covers you do? What is the process in creating your originals?”

CS: “The vocals often decide our choices of songs, and obviously we look to certain bands. Usually someone proposes something and then we decide as a band. Our originals just start as jams, evolve, go through a very organic process and usually the vocals come last. We just kick out some beats and build up from there.”

WLSB: “Where did the name Chaos Sauce come from?”

CS: **some muttering about a dog named Chaos** “Well basically its meant to have many different meanings and to be very interpretive. We are large groups of friends switching it up on stage… it’s a huge creative.. sauce. It’s a creative chaos… its what it needs to be I guess.”

WLSB: “How would you describe your music?”

CS: “Its very experimental; we play with a lot of different time signatures; really keeps people guessing, interested, and it’s a challenge. It sounds like Chaos, but we are constantly reaching new levels. We like to try and bring a new musical act to the scene, something our audience would have no prior experience with… a feeling of going somewhere you haven’t gone before. Maybe that means you can’t follow everything if you just hear us once.. it takes practice. I think its important that crowd doesn’t know what the hell is about to happen, but wants it. It’s really about a different way to think about time.”

WLSB: “What has been the band’s most formative experience so far?”

CS: “A few years back some of the band members went to California to see what would happen musically out there. We lived in the ghetto, didn’t really have any electrical equipment, and we couldn’t find work enough to sustain our life style. Yet it was basically a year long writing session… a spiritual journey even. Now, our music reflects that experience… it was a huge part of our life experience so far.”

WLSB: “Anything else you would like to say about the band?”

CS: “Yeah…. We think the best part of our band is that fact that members are constantly filling in, sitting out, rotating… when one of us gets off stage they become part of the audience and its an important part of our band that we have that experience… we are both the producers and the observers of our creative process. Its less formal, very collective, and for us it really works seamlessly”
(I couldn’t agree more.. this is definitely a crucial part of the CS live experience!)

WSLB: “What does the future hold for CS?”

CS: “Well we will be playing gigs throughout the summer in Rockland and we may have a Jersey shore gig… This Friday at the Umaine Augusta campus from 5-10pm we are playing in a competition and the winner opens for Rustic Overtones! Some of our members will be moving around, but the band will keep rocking. We hope to play some festivals… we never turn down a gig. Even if the crowd may not be expecting what we bring, we think we can offer something to everyone. We played Woodman’s recently and weren’t sure how we would be received… but it ended up being an awesome experience. We play as we are and who we are every show no matter the venue or crowd.”

Thanks so much to Chaos Sauce for hanging out with The Way Live Should Be on Friday… we had a fucking blast at your show.

Collaborative review by Heather Omand and Kim Morrison