This film is not about punk rock — it’s about an extraordinary life and surviving astounding circumstances against immeasurable odds. “Wired For Chaos” touches on child stardom, trauma, child abuse and neglect, violence, depression, and the evolution of a boy into one of modern music’s fiercest personalities.

Flanagan burst on to the punk music scene at the age of 11 in the late 1970s as drummer for his aunt’s New York-based band THE STIMULATORS, later founding the seminal hardcore act CRO-MAGS. Flanagan tells his inconceivable story through gritty footage of NYC’s downtown 1970s and ’80s music scene as the backdrop, alongside stories from friends and peers like Flea, Ice-T, Henry Rollins, Michael Imperioli, members of BAD BRAINS, BEASTIE BOYS, CIRCLE JERKS, ANTHRAX and many others.

While Harley‘s journey as a musician is certainly explored, “Wired For Chaos” centers on the lasting effects of trauma and its integration into his present-day life. Harley Flanagan was a child prodigy musician, who raised himself in the very adult world of rock ‘n’ roll. He was born to a Warhol Factory “it” girl, enmeshed in the Lower East Side artist sub-culture of the late ’70s and ’80s, surrounded by copious amount of sex, drugs and violence as victim and later perpetrator, simultaneously achieving punk rock legend status.

In addition to touring with his band CRO-MAGS all over the world, today Harley Flanagan is also a jiu-jitsu professor (under the tutelage of Master Renzo Gracie), devoted husband (having married a Park Avenue attorney), the father of two sons and a deeply introspective human. He confronts his past, hoping that it can bring him some peace, and pass what he’s learned forward to others struggling. Though he has moved on from the violence of his youth, it is never far away as he works through his very pronounced PTSD. His primal instincts to survive remain sharp. The film is built around a vast archive of material, scenes with Harley and his friends, several intimate interviews with Harley and his wife, and abstract imagery and animation.

Harley‘s childhood with iconic artists (Andy Warhol, Debbie Harry, Joe Strummer, Alan Ginsburg) looks enviable on the surface, but ultimately his DNA is riddled with the trauma of abuse and sexual violence, laying the groundwork for an unstable adolescence and rocky young adulthood.

Filmmaker Rex Miller‘s career spans more than 25 years and has yielded two Peabody Awards, several Emmys and two Oscar shortlists. He recently directed (with Sam Pollard) the film “Citizen Ashe” (CNN Films), which won “Best Documentary” at both the 2022 Critics Choice and Grierson Awards and was nominated for a Sports Emmy for “Best Feature Documentary”.