The Test Drive: Beauty In Chaos – Behind the Veil Album + Grasp The Stars Video Premieres + Exclusive Content

The musical collective known as Beauty In Chaos are back tomorrow (2/22/22) with their new album titled ‘Behind The Veil’ via 33.3 Music Collective as well as the official premiere of their new video from said album featuring Betsy Martin (Caterwaul, Purr Machine) titled ‘Grasp The Stars’.

When you first press play, if you have been a BIC fan for the last few years, you will notice that now solidified original sound hitting you in the ears. It’s here, or hear if you prefer. Everything has come to this. And while the first few albums of Beauty In Chaos each had their own respective sounds that excelled in their own way in the world of musical #indie, what we get here is the defining album.

Finding the right artists to collaborate with can be daunting, to say the least. A wide range of results can ensue and it can either work or not work. Michael Ciravolo is one of those artists with that rare quality; an open mind. While the goal for this album was to work exclusively with female singers, that’s where the similarity ends. The sonic and stylistic differences beautifully mesh into the world of musical chaos in ways that highlight the contrasts in creativity and the unity in the originality.

‘Behind The Veil’ releases tomorrow via 33.3 Music Collective. Get your copy HERE.

There is also a two-disc set featuring the album plus the remix version titled ‘Further Behind The Veil’ HERE.

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Lets not forget that, with the album ‘Behind The Veil’ coming out tomorrow, we also get to see the exclusive premiere for another video from that album in the form of the Betsy Martin fronted track titled ‘Grasp The Stars’.

While the song is more of a rock tinged track with more emphasis on the guitar, the musical metamorphosis discussed earlier is still there, right there in front of you. Betsy has always had a signature voice in everything she does and is, quite frankly, a legend of the underground scene. So, to write a song with her in mind that highlights her vast and obvious vocal strengths is something to behold.

Cinematically, the video shows the detail that goes into the diversity of each and every BIC music video. Each has it’s own signature look, like all good filmmakers such as Vicente Cordero (Industrialism Films), add as that visualization to add color and memory to an already memorable song. The slightly darker turn that ‘Grasps The Stars’ takes deserves the video it gets.

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Video Credits

• Betsy Martin: vocals
• Michael Ciravolo: guitar
• Tish Ciravolo: bass
• Dirk Doucette: drums
• Kevin Kipnis: bass VI

• Filmed and Directed by Vicente Cordero (Industrialism Films)
• Edited by Ryan Conlon (Industrialism Films)
• Video concept: Michael Ciravolo
• Lighting by Anthony Love
• Makeup by Jessica Zweig

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Michael Ciravolo and Michael Rozon asked me to be a part of this dark and heavy, dirge-y song that they created. The music took me to a place of being in a meteor shower of emotion.

It brought out feelings of how we sometimes create unhappiness for ourselves with manipulation brought on by pain, causing such confusion.

I could visualize dodging these sharp and pointy damaging stars of thoughts whizzing by in my head. The music travels a celestial path to a calm after a storm. I love that music can do that..

Betsy Martin

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Check out our other features with Beauty In Chaos HERE.

Check out our first documentary with Beauty In Chaos, titled ‘Behind The Beauty: Remixing The Chaos’ HERE.

An Interview with Michael Ciravolo

How do you feel BIC has evolved musically from the first album until now?

I really think the main element of BIC is that we do revolve and evolve. I also think each record has a different ‘feel’ that goes deeper than just different singers. While I know listeners will have their favorite album, I think our BIC Family understands that this entity will continue to evolve.

There will always be the elements from ‘Finding Beauty In Chaos’ throughout what we do, as that record certainly encompasses how I play guitar. I think the decision to feature all female vocalists on this record allowed Michael Rozon and I to experiment a bit more sonically and dare I say, even chord structure-wise. Evolution and De-Evolution will always be in BIC’s DNA.

What is your favorite track from Behind the Veil and why?

That is a tough question! When you make a record, I think you grow really close to the songs, at least I do. Since we are discussing some ideas for the next video, I think if I had to answer, which I guess I do since you asked …. Probably a toss-up between “Afterlife” and “Open Wound Heart”. Both have very visual lyrics which I have been trying to imagine on screen.

What made you decide to add mixes to ‘Behind The Veil’ ?

We had fallen a bit into a formula of following each release with a ‘remix’ album. ‘Finding Beauty In Chaos / Beauty Re-Envisioned’ and ‘The Storm Before The Calm / Out Of Chaos Comes…’. With Michael Rozon also working on the Ministry record, it was taking us a bit longer to get the songs together. Some of that falls on me since I was writing in different tunings, and on a few different odd instruments.

I know I wanted the record to be out in early 2022, so I capped it at six new songs, which with BIC’s never under 5 minute tracks … gave us a full vinyl’s worth of material. It just seemed to be a waste to not add more music to the CD version, which can hold over double the time of vinyl.

I then decided to flip our script and include remixes on the original CD. I am certainly blessed to have a lot of amazingly talented friends who created some great remix / re-envisions. In typical BIC fashion … that went overboard and we ended up with more remixes than would fit on the CD!

I value everyone’s time and effort, so I convinced 33.3 Music Collective to press ‘Further Behind The Veil’, which contains nine additional remixes and a cool extended version of “Orion”. This is only available as part of a Limited Edition 2-CD set.

With being a big proponent of vinyl, why did you decide to make ‘Behind The Veil’ limited?

This was a simple case of supply and demand. All of the major artists were basically taking ALL of the production capacity of the big vinyl pressing plants. 33.3 was quoted 55-65 WEEKS for vinyl from the two plants we have used in the past. I don’t even think our Bic Family faithful would want to wait over a year for the next album. Ashton (Nyte) had found a smaller plant that specialized in short-run pressings.

He used it for his last Awakenings release and was happy with the result. Short-run, however comes with limited options and about 3-4 times higher cost. I convinced 33.3 to utilize them for the limited edition pressing … which I am thankful for. The plant did a great job for us and we actually got the 180g vinyl in our hands before our scheduled 2.22.22 release date!

With all of the different collaborations within BIC, how do you feel BIC has changed your style as a musician?

I don’t start to write a song necessarily for a singer in mind, at least not consciously. That starts to come as the song takes a bit more of a form. To me, “Stranger” off of ‘The Storm Before The Calm” really set me on a path of this new record.

The female voices combined with more atmospherics and ethereal tones. At one point, before we really got deep into this album, I was going to call it ‘The Calm’.

But, Beauty In Chaos has always been about combining elements; beauty AND chaos. ‘Behind The Veil’ certainly has its blasts of chaos over, around and through the beauty. I think the closing track, “Grasp The Stars” is one of the heavier things we have done so far. Maybe that leads into whatever comes next ???

What can you tell us about the new video “Grasp The Stars” ?

I thought this was the perfect closing track for the vinyl. Just as “Afterlife” seemed to be the perfect needle-drop opening song. Betsy’s cold dry vocal line “We all know what it’s like, when you see it in another light” and Fine’ . I do put a lot of thought into the running order … which probably goes unnoticed by most! As for the video, I think Vicente Cordero and his Industrialism Films crew did a great job in pulling together my visual concept of the ’87 -’88 Scream scene here in Los Angeles.

Scream was a very popular ‘goth’ club that actually spawned an underground scene that was a great counter to the hair-metal scene on Hollywood’s Sunset Strip. Betsy was in Caterwaul, I was in Human Drama, and Kevin Kipnis (who adds bass-vi to this song) was in Kommunity FK…. all popular bands in this scene. This is actually when we all met. I thought it would be fun to do sort of a throw-back homage to that special place in time.

The lights, the clothes, the makeup and hair styles, the sound …. all things, at least to me that made those days so special. This video was really about having a good time and not overthinking it.

What are your favorite remixes this time around?

Well, that is also a tough question to answer! I really value every artist that gave us their time and talents to put into these remixes. I love the surprise element of hearing how someone else approaches a song that we’ve created. I don’t give them any direction … just wind them up and let ‘em go! Again, I think we have a really diverse blend of musical approaches … and some sound really different from the originals. Bentley Jones’s dance approach to “Orion”, while not in my wheelhouse, is totally insane and I think it could be an electro-dance smash hit! Roman Marisak’s autotune-injected take on “Not Your Fault” is very trippy.

Also, Julian Shah-Tayler jumped in with several re-envisions … and brought in Alan Whyte (Morrisey), who added some really great guitar bits to “Open Wound Heart”. Certainly, something I would have never thought to play on guitar. I think there is so much to digest in these remixes but I feel everyone while find what they love and want to hear.

I know you love vinyl, so I got to ask why you opted to put this and now the other BIC releases on streaming services like Spotify?

I guess I decided to stop fighting it. In a way, I think I was doing a disservice to all of the great artists that are part of our BIC Family if I stuck to my guns on this. While streaming may be convenient in some cases, I still think it destroys the ‘value’ of the art of making music. I watch my daughters when I’m in the car with them just skip before even finishing the whole song. I ask them if they don’t like the song and they’ll reply that they love it … so I don’t understand the impatience to play what comes next. It’s all a bit foreign to me. I grew up going to record stores and loved the entire process it took to find new music.

In the end, all of BIC gave their time, heart, soul and talents … and I think it should be heard however the listener decides. I still must add … if you like an artist you hear during your streaming surfing … BUY their music. This is the way that you can help the artist and assure you will hear more music from them.

What’s next for BIC ?

Next? You mean besides this 25-track release and new video??? Well, I have always hoped we would create videos for each of the six tracks on this album. We are now halfway there with “Grasp The Stars”! I have been talking to both Tish and Cinthya about some cool concepts for their songs. Then I will work with Ms. Turzo to complete the six! Also, we have ‘Unveiled’, the behind-the-scenes making of the documentary that is teased a bit here. After that? I wanted to jump into a string of ‘singles’, as there are quite a few ladies I really wanted to work with on this record that unfortunately we just ran out of time.

My partner in BIC, Michael Rozon, will be playing pedal steel with Jerry Cantrell in March and April…. so in a way this forces me to slow down, which is probably a good thing. I will start some new song ideas for us to dive into when he returns. I still like the idea of a few single track releases, as I’d really like to have a few new songs out there later this year. The BIC machine may rest a bit … but we will never stop ☺

About Beauty in Chaos, ‘Grasp The Stars’ & ‘Behind the Veil’

33.3 Music Collective has announced the release of ‘Behind The Veil’, the anticipated newest from Beauty In Chaos. This all-female featured collection, brings back three BIC alumni – Tish Ciravolo, Cinthya Hussey and Betsy Martin as well as new family members, Whitney Tai, Elena Alice Fossi and Pinky Turzo.

BIC curator Michael Ciravolo explains “the concept of this all female release started to take form when we added “Stranger” (ft. Kat Leon) as the closing track of ‘The Storm Before The Calm’. It was a bit different than the rest of the album, but it turned into the perfect lead-in to the direction of this new record.” Ciravolo also adds “our past formula has been to follow up each of our two albums with a remix record. This time I decided to change the script a bit and include a remix of each song on ‘Behind The Veil’.”

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“Afterlife” is a very descriptive word detailing the moments that happen after you or me or everyone else we know, dies. The people that surround your life – your loves, your friends, those who care for you are all left to wonder, what happens now. Everyone you know will die. But is it sad, is there hope, what is going to be your question when you go?

Every human being has a slightly different idea of what will happen when your heart stops beating, your brain stops working, and your life has now ceased. My song, Afterlife, attempts to search verbally through these emotional states. Now personally, I have had a near death experience but have lost most of those memories from over 40 years ago.

But I wrote this song imagining what I will be searching for in that dying moment since I am a Christian who loves The Father, The Son and The Holy Spirit and believes in Guardian Angels, her name is Destiny.

I’ve been obsessed with this concept – watching YouTube videos and reading true life accounts of Heaven and Hell. Is it scary, will it hurt? These are long and deep conversations that I’ve delved deep into with the love of my life, the best of friends, and those who follow the Bible. But in the most hopeful, positive and loving way I have sought these answers for years and years. My conclusion? This song.

Tish Ciravolo

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In addition to the six new songs, this release features some diverse re-envisions by Tim Palmer, MGT, John Fryer, Statik, Tommy Hatz, Julian Shah-Tayler and Michael Rozon.

33.3 Music is releasing ‘Behind The Veil’ on CD as well as a Limited Run Vinyl. As with all BIC releases, a 25-track digital version is included with all physical copies. Ciravolo imparts “I am blessed with a lot of talented friends that created more remixes than would fit into the time-constraints of the CD. I value everyone’s time and talents, so I convinced 33.3 to release ‘Further Behind The Veil’, which contains these additional re-envisions as part of a limited edition 2-CD set.” Hopefully that clears any confusion, and all formats of ‘Behind The Veil’ are in stock and shipping now at the Beauty In Chaos On-Line Store.

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‘The Kiss of The World’ attempts to bring what has been hidden by the manipulators for so long to the surface. We’ve been asleep for far too long, it’s truly time to wake up to the truth!

No, it’s not a love relationship that ended badly, as it might seem on the surface. This story’s plot is instead enclosed in the domination and deception that, perpetrated over time, have generated a zombified society, where the living dead obey an authority which in turn is the servant of stronger occult powers. And it’s these powers that pull the strings of a comedy in which consumerism, betrayal and manipulation are the masters.

The tyranny is well hidden and the slave doesn’t know he is, because he finds himself in a maelstrom of materialism and “online drugs” that make him unaware and helpless. But things are about to be turned around and this flawed system will be cornered. Satan’s mighty valet has pulled the rope to such an extent that it finally breaks and the lies that have long been embellished now reveal their true face.

The hour of the rescue is going to come because not a few are awakening from the long torpor.

Elena Alice Fossi

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This evolving and revolving collective is also premiering a new video along with the release. “Grasp The Stars”, this album’s dark and heavy closer feature’s former Caterwaul front woman Betsy Martin. BIC once again teamed up with Industrialism Films to create what Ciravolo describes as a “homage to the ’87-’88 Scream scene in Los Angeles”. Scream was a popular dark-wave club that Ciravolo’s former band Human Drama and Martin’s Caterwaul were stables.

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I was in a very dark place and struggling with the substance abuse of someone very close to me when Michael reached out to me. My first thought was that I’d love to work with him but everything is so chaotic right now, I couldn’t possibly make time in my busy worrying schedule to do something for myself or someone else not directly involved in my chaos.

Then, Michael explained the meaning behind the name of the project and with added encouragement from Johnny Indovina, I started to think that maybe this is exactly what I needed. Michael sent me the track he had in mind for me and I immediately fell in love with it and heard the chorus melody in my head.

Then, the hardest part, lyrics. I have always struggled with writing lyrics but I convinced myself that maybe this could be cathartic to write about this all encompassing issue I was entrenched in. I started viewing it differently. It’s strange to express something so painful with the intent of self care. I wanted this process to release me from some of the pain, the worry, the guilt.

Then it dawned on me that the person I was writing about is probably feeling the same pain and guilt. I wanted to also release them. It felt so good to feel more compassion and understanding than anger. Even if they never know the song is about them, I felt a huge sense of relief. I’m so grateful for this incredible experience and it was an honor to finally work with Ciravolo and Rozon. And of course Johnny Indovina.

I’m beyond pleased with how the song came out. The problem still exists but when I’m in the throes of feeling anger, I remind myself of the song title.

Pinky Turzo

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About the song, Martin adds “The music took me to a place of being in a meteor shower of emotion. It brought out feelings of how we sometimes create unhappiness for ourselves with manipulation brought on by pain, causing such confusion. I could visualize dodging these sharp and pointy damaging stars of thoughts whizzing by in my head. The music travels a celestial path to a calm after a storm.”

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Songwriting has a strong magnetism that’s pulled me in from childhood. The art of storytelling through lyric, melody and visual is a language I feel most like myself within. As a young designer planning buildings on the east coast, my approach to music was its mirror: composition, proportion, movement, hierarchy, balance, asymmetry. How I write music is very 3 dimensional.

When Michael and I had our first talks about teaming up, the intrigue heightened and he subsequently followed with an arrangement that was as emotionally complex and elaborate as the façade of a gothic cathedral. I am a bit wild about sci-fi, astronomy and fantasy, so I felt an instant connection to the story behind the constellation of Greek Hunter, Orion.

A retelling of my own experience and of what is happening daily in mainstream media. Orion in this context represents a person, an energy field or a thought process that uses power and position to divorce self-governance in another. Everyone who has been compromised in this situation becomes the narrator. It is a portrait of someone we all know, someone whose ego and demeanor is controlling and dangerous. I wanted others to know that there’s hope if they are being abused and that love does not present in the form of control.

Love is setting others free to blossom and be themselves. The protagonist of the song, you or me, finds that sometimes the only way out is through, like an unpredictable series of actions in a game of chess. It’s here that the player may regain their voice, confidence, and dignity to turn the hand of the board.

Whitney Tai

After having worked on a more laid back version of “The Delicate Balance Of All Things”, Michael once again kindly invited me to sing on his next all female singers EP and ever so happily and humbly I said yes! When sent the music for what later would become “Open Wound Heart”, Michael said he would send me other options if I wasn’t so keen on this one. Oh my… was I in for the biggest treat?! I really could not believe my ears… It was the most beautiful piece of music I could’ve ever imagined myself singing. I loved it so much that it took me ages to gather the courage to face the beast and start working on it. Nothing seemed good enough to match up that level of beauty.

I didn’t like anything I was coming up with. So I took yet another break from it and continued working on the album I am currently recording with Wayne. Days later, on a gorgeous afternoon, I was watching the sunset (my favourite time of day for it’s magical and ephemeral qualities over the mountains in the countryside where we live when the opening line came to me.

That same evening I began humming along and writing the lyrics. So all my vulnerability, the fear of rejection, the incapacity of controlling everything and finally allowing myself to let go of all of that was transposed into this love song. Michael’s haunting and dramatic guitars set the dream like bed in which I laid and opened up my heart. I pre recorded layers and layers of vocals and harmonies onto my laptop and when it was time, I asked Wayne to set me up in the control room in our home studio so I could record myself and take my time to work out all the backing vocal parts.

Both Michaels, Ciravolo and Rozon have done such an amazing work mixing the track and I couldn’t be more proud of what we’ve created! Plus hearing the remixes done by the legendary John Fryer, super creative Julian Shah-Tayler and the almighty Tim Palmer have brought tears to my eyes and astonishment to my soul.

I am eternally thankful to Michael, Tish, Rozon and everyone involved in the making of this project and I hope it connects to you in some way. … Much love xxx

Cinthya Hussey

LINKS:
https://www.beautyinchaosmusic.com
https://www.facebook.com/beautyinchaosmusic
https://www.instagram.com/beautyinchaosofficial
https://twitter.com/_BeautyInChaos
https://www.beautyinchaosmusic.com/music-store
https://www.beautyinchaosmusic.com/bic-blog
https://soundcloud.com/33-3-music-collective
https://beautyinchaos.bandcamp.com
https://open.spotify.com/artist/2TwN2egUCb7rbS0Bfkdsd0?si=JcmKLf5MR5iMN6L2KzzInw