Kid Chaos, also known as Haggis (born Stephen Harris), is a British rock

bassist A bassist (also known as a bass player or bass guitarist) is a musician who plays a bass instrument such as a double bass (upright bass, contrabass, wood bass), bass guitar (electric bass, acoustic bass), synthbass, keyboard bass or a low b ...

and

guitarist A guitarist (or a guitar player) is a person who plays the guitar. Guitarists may play a variety of guitar family instruments such as classical guitars, acoustic guitars, electric guitars, and bass guitars. Some guitarists accompany themsel ...

who played in incarnations of

hard rock Hard rock or heavy rock is a loosely defined subgenre of rock music typified by aggressive vocals and distorted electric guitars. Hard rock began in the mid-1960s with the garage, psychedelic and blues rock movements. Some of the earliest ha ...

bands

Zodiac Mindwarp and the Love Reaction Zodiac Mindwarp and the Love Reaction are a British hard rock group, which was formed in 1985. Zodiac Mindwarp and the Love Reaction play a sleazy style of commercial hard rock featuring big riffs and choruses, as was the trend in the band's ...

The Cult The Cult are an English rock band formed in 1983 in Bradford, West Yorkshire. Before settling on their current name in January 1984, the band performed under the name Death Cult, which was an evolution of the name of lead singer Ian Astbury' ...

and

The Four Horsemen The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse are figures in the Christian scriptures, first appearing in the Book of Revelation, a piece of apocalypse literature written by John of Patmos. Revelation 6 tells of a book or scroll in God's right hand th ...

as well as guesting with ''

Appetite for Destruction ''Appetite for Destruction'' is the debut studio album by American hard rock band Guns N' Roses. It was released on July 21, 1987, by Geffen Records. The album was released to little mainstream attention in 1987. It was not until the following ...

'' era

Guns N' Roses Guns N' Roses is an American hard rock band from Los Angeles, California, formed in 1985. When they signed to Geffen Records in 1986, the band comprised vocalist Axl Rose, lead guitarist Slash, rhythm guitarist Izzy Stradlin, bassist Duff ...

History

Harris was born in 1966, in

Swansea Swansea (; cy, Abertawe ) is a coastal city and the second-largest city of Wales Wales ( cy, Cymru ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by England to the east, the Irish Sea to the north and west, the C ...

, Wales. He joined his first group, The Autonomes, at age 13, . At 16 he failed most of his O-levels and left school. Harris enrolled in the Youth Enterprise Scheme, setting up a record label called Fierce Recordings with a friend. Various record label dealings brought him to the attention of the just forming

and he joined the band as their bass guitarist in October 1985, appearing on their mini album ''High Priest of Love''. After this release he left the Love Reaction and joined The Cult as their bassist for their tour supporting the ''Electric'' album. Cult bassist Jamie Stewart had switched to rhythm guitar for the duration of the tour. Kid Chaos was credited in the tour booklet as "special guest" and was billed as "The Kid". In addition to playing live with The Cult on their tour, he can also be seen in the video for the "Wild Flower" single. After the ''Electric'' tour finished, Kid Chaos moved to New York City and then Hollywood, quickly putting together a new band, The Four Horsemen, who were a more blues and boogie inspired group than the hard rock/metal of ZMATLR and The Cult. Now known as Haggis, he switched to guitar and wrote most of the material. The Four Horsemen released a four track self-titled EP in 1989 before releasing the first full-length album ''Nobody Said It Was Easy'' in 1991 on

Rick Rubin Frederick Jay Rubin (; born March 10, 1963) is an American record producer. He is the co-founder (alongside Russell Simmons) of Def Jam Recordings, founder of American Recordings, and former co-president of Columbia Records. Rubin helped popula ...

Def American American Recordings (formerly Def American Recordings) is an American record label headed by producer Rick Rubin. The label has featured artists such as Slayer, the Black Crowes, ZZ Top, Danzig, Trouble, Tom Petty, Johnny Cash, The Mothe ...

label. Business issues and internal fighting led to Harris walking away from the band. Now residing in New York City, he released a solo album after a long absence under his real name of Stephen Harris. The album, ''Songs from the Mission of Hope'', was released in 2003. The music was more singer-songwriter than his previous output, with Harris playing most of the instruments. The lyrics were personal, making the album a sort of autobiography. In his thirties, Harris decided to go back to school, and after initially struggling with his studies he learned he has a lifelong learning difficulty. By 2006 he was able to overcome this enough to enroll in Columbia University as a pre-med student. Harris graduated from

Columbia University Columbia University (also known as Columbia, and officially as Columbia University in the City of New York) is a private research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Church in Manhatt ...

summa cum laude Latin honors are a system of Latin phrases used in some colleges and universities to indicate the level of distinction with which an academic degree has been earned. The system is primarily used in the United States. It is also used in some Sou ...

and

Phi Beta Kappa The Phi Beta Kappa Society () is the oldest academic honor society in the United States, and the most prestigious, due in part to its long history and academic selectivity. Phi Beta Kappa aims to promote and advocate excellence in the liberal ...

, in 2008, after which he attended the Mount Sinai School of Medicine in New York. In 2013, his first band, The Autonomes, reformed briefly while he was visiting Swansea for a one-off gig, and recorded an album. He also helped form Punkhouse Records, a record label dedicated to releasing material from Swansea punk bands in the late 1970s and early 1980s, on which the Autonomes album was released.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kid Chaos 1964 births Living people British rock bass guitarists The Cult members Musicians from Swansea British expatriates in the United States Columbia University alumni