Harley Flanagan: Wired For Chaos — Harley Flanagan: Wired For Chaos( Blu Ray/ DVD)
Here’s a 2024 documentary looking at the life of Harley Flanagan, who helped define the New York Hardcore punk sound and founded key crossover band Cro-Mags. Now in his late 50s, he’s lived a hell of a life- moving from being left to fend for himself in childhood, to being a drummer in a popular punk band at the age of eleven, where at times he was used & abused. Before jumping into an adulthood full of anger and addiction, which later shifted into faith and focus. Here from Lightyear Entertainment is a dual Blu-ray/ DVD release of the film, taking in seventy minutes of extras.
Harley Flanagan: Wired For Chaos was directed by NYC photojournalist turned filmmaker Rex Miller. Since the early 2000s, he’s had six other director credits and twenty-two cinematographer credits. His directorial filmography includes three tennis player-related documentaries: Somay Ku: A Uganda Tennis Story (2008), Althea( 2014), regarding Althea Gibson, the first African American to play and win at Wimbledon and the U.S. Nationals. And Citizen Ashe (2012), which looks at the life of Arthur Ashe and his impact on tennis and HIV activism.
The just shy of one-hour forty-minute film opens with a rather surprising/unequal shot, as we see the muscled, tattooed, and bespeckled Flanagan running topless through woodland playing his bass guitar. This is followed by the selection of short talking head tributes from the likes of Flea, Ice T, and Glen Danzig.
As the film unfolds, we go through Flanagan’s decidedly different/fascinating/ at times troubling life story. His mother, Rose "Rosebud" Feliu-Pettet was a prominent figure in Greenwich Village's bohemian culture, while his father Tex Flanagan, was a drug addict/ petty criminal. At the age of eleven, he joined NYC punk band The Stimulators, where he was pushed headfirst into the adult world, having both positive and negative experiences. Of the latter, he details a troubling sexual encounter with an older man.
As he moved into his adulthood, he shaved off his hippy hair- becoming fascinated with the Skinhead culture. Going on to form The Cro-Mags in the early 80’s, which helped define the NYC hardcore sound, and one of the first bands to perfect the Thrash crossover sound.
I won’t overly describe his life story beyond the above description, or detail where he is in his life today, as that is the point/ pull of the documentary. And I must say, his story will most certainly be intriguing to anyone, even if they have no interest in punk or crossover, as he’s had such a fascinating, at times troubling life.
The film is well edited/ put together, blending present-day interviews, old TV features/ interviews, concert footage, pictures, etc, well. Thankfully, the talking head parts of the doc are largely interesting/ relevant, and they rarely shift into back patting/irrelevance.
On the extra side, we get a good selection of extras- though these are mainly fairly short, that’s aside from a filmed interview between Harley and actor Carlos Ramirez- this runs around the forty-one-minute mark. Here’s a list of the other extras: Cromags live at Hellfest (5.10), Flea- extended conversion ( 5.25), Anthony Bourdain- extended conversion(5.56), Henry Rollings on hardcore( 3.58), Michael Imperiol on Harley( 3.19), Dawn of Hardcore( 3.15), Lamout- The subway cellist( 3.50).
Harley Flanagan: Wired For Chaos is a documentary that will, of course, appeal to punk, hardcore and crossover fans. But as mentioned earlier, I can see it having a wider appeal as Harley has had such a fascinating life.