Chaos Engine

Chaos Engine from 1994 – 1995 were Kurt Joy (bass, programming), Tristam Murdoch (vocals) and Graham Woods (guitar).

As with several other related bands and projects formed within these circles, Chaos Engine were a band who combined heavier guitar-based music with electronica, which in this case has been described as “technodeathgrind”.

The band played predominantly between Auckland and Hamilton, including the Battle of the Bands 1994; appeared Live to Air on Contact 89FM and Herringbone Shed in 1995, and had several tracks recorded with Dave Whitehead at Theta Productions.

Kurt Joy was essentially the driving force behind the project. In a September 1995 Nexus article on Nihil, after their BOB win, Nexus made the statment to Kurt "And you were in Chaos Engine", to which he replied "I was Chaos Engine". He had previously played with Toolmaker and Room, while Murdoch and Woods had both been in Lungfeast.

Kurt Joy moved on to play as bassist for Greg Broadmore’s project Nihil, but more significantly, commenced working with Adrian Wallace for the first time, with whom he co-founded Usine in 1995. Both also became members of Department of Corrections in 1996.

Kurt later went on to work in the film and television department at Wintec.