Chaos 95

Tuesday, March 7, 1995 at The Whisky in L.A.

Haloblack/16 Volt/Virus 23/Bile

This was a concert I had to see being a 16 Volt fan and it was the first opportunity I knew of to see 16 Volt play live with their new drummer. I was curious about Virus 23 and did like them. Another new band played called, Haloblack featuring guest Charles Levi from My Life With The Thrill Kill Kult and Pigface. Also a mysterious band Bile, I had never heard of headlined. My boyfriend Travis got the tickets and took us to Chaos 95.

While we were there they played the compilation, "Shut Up Kitty" as the stage was being set up. We hung out and looked at the various T-shirts, CD's and other band merchandise. Jeff Taylor was by the booth. He's a musician that plays guitar, bass and does additional sampling for 16 Volt. We got to talk for a few minutes and he mentioned a video in progress.

After introducing ourselves to Charles Levi we met John De Salvo who is the drummer for Chemlab, and Buzz from My Life With The Thrill Kill Kult and Bryan Barton of Haloblack. The music of Haloblack, live, was very mood setting. There were cool song intros mixed with Bryan's range of soft to hard vocals that made his sound distinctive but unusual. The guitar sounds stood out being played by Bill Morrisette. Phenomenal Bassist Charles Levi has earned the right to be center stage at every show he's involved in. Charles is stylish, this time wearing a patent leather cowboy hat. The band played a short set but was good even though there was a small crowd. We bought the CD, "Tension Filter" which was produced by Die Warsau with additional vocals by Jim Marcus and guitar by Krayge Tyler from Virus 23.

This was 16 Volt's tour promoting their second album, "Skin". It is different from their previous work on "Wisdom" but really powerful and energetic so it is just as entertaining. Their new CD is much heavier and shows the real, raw talent of 16 Volt. Eric Powell is the lead singer who does programming, synth. and additional bass. Von Vinhasa is an insane drummer who also assists with programming. I really enjoyed 16 Volt and wondered why they were not headlining this show. I thought I'd experience Virus 23 from the front row. I felt it was a great show as I enjoyed Krayge's voice and his energetic performance. Matt Green from Spahn Ranch was there supporting the scene. He used to work at a shop called, Vinyl Fetish and recommended great music to us when he was working there.

Bile had black ski masks and a bad stage performance that just was not my style. I really did end up enjoying most of the bands. It was especially memorable because I got to meet some great people I had admired for years. All even nicer than I imagined!

Virtual Night Angel