post sponsored by giffgaff
Dan Skinner trades in his Shooting Stars alter-ego Angelos Epithemiou to play feckless band manager Dougie Charms in new online comedy The Chaos. Created by mobile network giffgaff and multi-award winning comedy production team Hoot, The Chaos is also the name of Camden’s finest, fictional, up-and-coming prog-rock four piece.
The five part mini-series follows their fortunes as they struggle to hit the big time. The Chaos is made up of Jeff Leach (Confessions of a Sex Addict) who plays keyboardist Lenny, Chris Kendall (Live at the Electric, Cuckoo) as front man Carl, comedian Thomas McGarva as Sean and Sammy T Dobson as Sharona, the band’s only girl – and as she’d put it, ‘the only member who doesn’t need a YouTube tutorial to play her instrument.’
One night Dougie falls prey to the generous bar tab of sinister A&R man Jonny Lucifer, played by Rufus Jones (Hunderby, Fresh Meat, Holy Flying Circus). The dream of rock stardom is cruelly shattered when, in a post-gig miasma in the Barfly’s backroom, The Chaos sign a two year contract with Jonny Lucifer Records, a move they instantly regret.
Dougie’s slurred promises of ‘no surprises, no suits, just us and a whole big bag of wrong’ turn to dust as Lucifer takes over and starts modelling ‘the most dangerous band in Camden’ in to just the kind of money making corporate yes-men they despise, ‘re-imagineering The Chaos for single women, pre-teens and the Americans.’ No sex, no drugs and certainly no rock and roll.
But there’s a twist. One band member didn’t sign the deal. Lenny refused to sell out and has struck out on his own, contract-free and with the freedom and flexibility to make sweet music on his own terms. Under Dougie’s guidance, the depleted band sets about sabotaging their own careers by creating a ‘rockapocalypse’ to smash their ties with Johnny Lucifer Records.
From steaming their music for free to a bad taste performance on a kids TV show, the band’s stunts become increasingly desperate as they rebel against the confines of their record contract.
And all the while, Lenny’s star continues to rise; he’s got a new band, a new sound and he’s even playing Glastonbury. Watch the story unfold at www.thechaosband.com.
