Chris Clavin is a musician, anarchist and record label owner from Indiana

Indiana

Indiana is a US state, admitted to the United States as the 19th on December 11, 1816. It is located in the Midwestern United States and Great Lakes Region. With 6,483,802 residents, the state is ranked 15th in population and 16th in population density. Indiana is ranked 38th in land area and is...

, USA, with a strict DIY (do-it-yourself) punk ethic. He has been involved in numerous punk bands and runs Plan-It-X Records, a label founded in 1994.

Bands involved in

Clavin has been a part of many (primarily pop-punk) bands that have toured all over the world, some of them very influential in the DIY punk scene. Below is a partial list of the bands Clavin has played a part in.

• Last August
• Drowner
• The Ted Dancin' Machine
• Operation: Cliff Clavin
  Operation: Cliff Clavin
  Operation: Cliff Clavin was one of Chris Johnston's first bands and one of the earliest bands on Plan-It-X Records. They were an influential DIY political pop-punk band that toured the United States consistently and had one international tour...
  
  
• Disarm
  Disarm
  "Disarm" is a song by American alternative rock band The Smashing Pumpkins. It was the third single from their second album, Siamese Dream. "Disarm" was written by Billy Corgan and is one of the band’s most highly regarded songs...
  
  
• Pink Ass Flowers (P.A.F.)
• The Trolls
  The Trolls
  The Trolls are an American musical group, the members of which consist of Iggy Pop, Whitey Kirst, Pete Marshal, and Alex Kirst. The band were first labeled as such on Iggy's 2001 album Beat 'Em Up, and they also appear on 7 tracks on Skull Ring. Drummer Alex Kirst was killed in a hit-and run near...
  
  
• The Coug
• The Ground-Ups
• I Like Japanese Hardcore
• The Sissies
  The Sissies
  The Sissies were an American pop-punk band based in Bloomington, Indiana. Formed in 1998, the band released two albums before breaking up in 2002: 1999's Geography, released on Plan-it-X Records, and 2001's Look Back and Laugh on New Disorder Records...
  
  
• Ghost Mice
  Ghost Mice
  Ghost Mice is a two-piece folk-punk band from Bloomington, Indiana. Both members, Chris Johnston and Hannah Jones, have been in a handful of pop-punk bands together: namely Disarm, The Devil is Electric and Operation: Cliff Clavin...
  
  
• The Devil is Electric
  The Devil Is Electric
  The Devil Is Electric were a DIY political pop-punk band from Bloomington, Indiana, and were formed when Operation: Cliff Clavin, the former pop-punk band of Chris Clavin and Hannah Jones broke up, following the release of their EP Last Words....
  
  
• Captain Chaos (see below)
• Helter Skeletor
• The Jammy Dodgers
• Imperial Can
• Long Duck Dong
• By Blood
• Inky Skulls

Solo musical projects

Clavin started working on solo recordings in the fall of 2004 when he wrote a song and recorded it in the same day to give to someone as a gift. He tried to write and record one song a day. He only made it 8 days. Those 8 songs along with 7 others are on the first album, "May All Liars Burn in Hell". The idea behind his solo projects is to write songs without thinking about them, to be pure in writing and hold nothing back. Occasionally Clavin utilized his friends "Colorblind" Joe, McKayla or others for help. Primarily playing with acoustic guitar or ukulele, he has toured the US West Coast

West Coast of the United States

West Coast or Pacific Coast are terms for the westernmost coastal states of the United States. The term most often refers to the states of California, Oregon, and Washington. Although not part of the contiguous United States, Alaska and Hawaii do border the Pacific Ocean but can't be included in...

, Midwest

Midwestern United States

The Midwestern United States is one of the four U.S. geographic regions defined by the United States Census Bureau, providing an official definition of the American Midwest....

, and Europe

Europe

Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...

 multiple times.

As Captain Chaos

When Clavin first started releasing solo songs, he did not want his typical moniker attached to them. Spoonboy (of The Max Levine Ensemble

The Max Levine Ensemble

The Max Levine Ensemble is a DIY punk band from the Washington, DC metropolitan area. They play punk rock with various pop influences, and often have politically conscious lyrics. They used to have a rotating band roster that changed from tour to tour depending upon who could go...

) gave him the name Captain Chaos. Though Clavin did not like the name, it stuck. He released six full-length albums, one split, and appeared on a handful of compilations and other small projects as Captain Chaos before using his real name on his solo work (see further below).

Early works

• Captain Chaos Cassette Tape
  Spoonboy's Tape Label, 2004
• Tour CD-R CD-R
  Self-Released/chaos records, 2004
  (Would later go on to make up the bulk of May All Liars Burn in Hell)

Full-length albums

• May All Liars Burn in Hell (a.k.a. self-titled) CD
  The Scientist and the Duke Records, 2006
• This is CakeCD
  Crafty Records, April 5, 2006
• Bloomington, Vol. 1 CD
  Big Magic Records, September 15, 2006
• Ireland CD-R
  Valiant Death Records, October 23, 2006
• The Fool CD
  Anti-Creative Records
  Anti-Creative Records
  Anti-Creative Records is an independent record label based out of Upland, California. The label's releases consist primarily of folk-punk and punk bands from across the United States. However, the label is not limited to these genres....
  
  , March 12, 2007
• For the Devil CD
  Fall of the West Records
  Fall of the West Records
  Fall of the West Records is an independent record label based out of San Francisco, California, Oak Park, Illinois, and Amherst, Massachusetts. FOTW started in May 2005, as a collective effort between Brian Van Slyke and Alex Felsinger after networking on the internet...
  
  , April 1, 2007
• Your Bright Eyes Are Gonna Kill Me For Sure CD-R
  Crafty Records, April 5, 2007
  Included in the boxed set (see below)
• Nice and Friendly/Captain Chaos Split - Have Fun/Die Hard CD
  Sweet Now Records, January 11, 2008

Box set

All six of the full-length albums (and a bonus CDR of cover songs) were available in a hand-crafted wooden box set with hand-made art. These boxes were made by Dan Treiber of Crafty Records. Fifty-one of them were made. The first 25 were made out of recycled 99 year old barn wood. The second 26 were made out of recycled 1960 Canadian crate wood. The box set became officially available as of April 5, 2007. It is now out of print.

Compilations

• Bella's Birthday CD Digital Album (free!)
  Plan-It-X Records, April 5, 2005
• Live At Bandit H.Q.
  Live At Bandit H.Q.
  Live at Bandit H.Q. is a split live album between American folk punk artists Captain Chaos and Johnny Hobo and the Freight Trains. It was released on October 1, 2005, through the DIY Bandits label...
  
  CD-R
  DIY Bandits, 2006
• The Three Dollar Gallon CD
  Crafty Records, December 16, 2006
• Night of the Living Devilock: A DIY Tribute to the Misfits CD-R
  Playground's Greatest Records/Pop Monster! Records, 2006
• Ponies in a Stable CD
  Don't Stop Believin' Records, April 2007
• Thanks For The Floor CD
  Crafty Records March 2008

As Chris Clavin

In 2008, Clavin decided to stop releasing songs as Captain Chaos, and instead use his traditional moniker. He began to tour solo again on a small scale, and has released one album so far.

Full-length albums

• The Roads Lead Everywhere LP
  Crafty Records, June 3, 2008
• Secrets (Chris Clavin / Sara Cilantro Split) Cassette Tape
  Plan-It-X Records, 2009
• Chris Clavin / Madeline Ava Split Cassette Tape
  Plan-It-X Records, November 2009
• Chris Clavin / Andrew Lips Split Cassette Tape
  Plan-It-X Records, September 2010
• Chris Clavin / Kyle Hall Split Cassette Tape
  Plan-It-X Records, 2011

Record labels

Clavin's solo projects have appeared on the following record labels (this list excludes compilations and smaller projects)

• Anti-Creative Records
• Big Magic Records
• Boom Boom Tapes
• Crafty Records
• Fall of the West Records
• Plan-It-X Records
• The Scientist and the Duke Records
• Sweet Now Records
• Valiant Death Records
• Rock-it Records

See also

• Plan-It-X Records
• Operation: Cliff Clavin
  Operation: Cliff Clavin
  Operation: Cliff Clavin was one of Chris Johnston's first bands and one of the earliest bands on Plan-It-X Records. They were an influential DIY political pop-punk band that toured the United States consistently and had one international tour...
  
  
• Ghost Mice
  Ghost Mice
  Ghost Mice is a two-piece folk-punk band from Bloomington, Indiana. Both members, Chris Johnston and Hannah Jones, have been in a handful of pop-punk bands together: namely Disarm, The Devil is Electric and Operation: Cliff Clavin...
  
  
• The Devil is Electric
  The Devil Is Electric
  The Devil Is Electric were a DIY political pop-punk band from Bloomington, Indiana, and were formed when Operation: Cliff Clavin, the former pop-punk band of Chris Clavin and Hannah Jones broke up, following the release of their EP Last Words....
  
  
• DIY ethic
  DIY ethic
  The DIY ethic refers to the ethic of self-sufficiency through completing tasks oneself as opposed to having others who are more experienced or able complete them for one's behalf. It promotes the idea that an ordinary person can learn to do more than he or she thought was possible...
  
  
• List of record labels
• Punk rock
  Punk rock
  Punk rock is a rock music genre that developed between 1974 and 1976 in the United States, the United Kingdom, and Australia. Rooted in garage rock and other forms of what is now known as protopunk music, punk rock bands eschewed perceived excesses of mainstream 1970s rock...