Jammerzine has an exclusive interview with Michael Ciravolo, curator of Beauty In Chaos, as well as the exclusive premiere for their new double video feature for their new singles ‘Children Of The Revolution (ft. Al Jourgensen)’ & ‘Open Your Eyes’, from their latest album ‘Signs In The Heavens Reality Upside Down’, also releasing today via 33.3 Music Collective.
Michael has long ago solidified his space in the indie music community on a global level. I say indie and not goth because, well, beside some other publications mislabeling BIC as goth, there is much more of a broad and fluid scope than can merely fit into a subgenre. There is more substance, variance, and a musical mission statement that highlights inclusion as well as a love for music as an expression.
And, in this interview, we talk about that inclusion and distinctiveness that is everything Beauty In Chaos stands for, from the ever-increasing membership, to the ever transforming and reimaging that is engrained in this collective and should be used as a guide and a mentorship for other artists to follow.
‘Signs In The Heavens Reality Upside Down’ is out as of today on Bandcamp, most other streaming platforms, and a limited edition deluxe double CD HERE.
Check out our other features with Beauty In Chaos HERE.
‘Children Of The Revolution (ft. Al Jourgensen)’ & ‘Open Your Eyes’ Double Feature Video
Music is an expression of everything we are, have been, and will ever be. They are timestamps of our culture, cooperation, and coexistence. That can be a good thing or a bad thing, but, it always is what it is. ‘Children Of The Revolution’ and ‘Open Your Eyes’ are two tracks that continually define and shed light on those times in our history that will become moments in history that will define the future. That time is now. And that sometimes dark part of our now has a little light shed with these reimaging entries of the T. Rex and Lords of the New Church classics.
Some say history repeats itself. Well, it does, but sometimes the music changes. And here, we hear enough of the originals as an homage but we listen to new music. We feel the new meaning. Bookends of audio from another time relevant still. Adding substance to the visuals and lending a message to the symbolism.
Featuring Al Jourgensen (Ministry) on vocals for ‘Children Of The Revolution’ and Michael on vocals for ‘Open Your Eyes’, there is a dissonance between the two songs that creates a tension as well as a unique solace as a yin and a yang for the video as a whole that feels like two sides of the same coin. This is an unconscious highlight as to what BIC is. Community. A non-monogamous union of different genres from different parts of the world, making that world one.
“As what has become our ‘norm’, we follow up ‘Dancing With Angels’ with its revision-counterpart ‘Signs In The Heavens Reality Upside Down’! I am truly blessed to have enlisted this amazing collection of talented and creative Artists, Producers and DeeJays to create their own interpretations of the album’s original 8 songs.
It is indeed a ‘big’ listen, with 27 unique and diverse tracks. As with our other three re-envision releases, it is my hope that you will find your own ‘gems’ amongst … which to my ears are far more innovative than simply adding a ‘dance-club beat’. You will find versions that are completely re-assembled, starting from the original vocal, as well as several ‘almost acoustic’ renditions!
Being we view this release as a ‘sonic continuation’ of ‘Dancing With Angels’, we are fortunate to again have Ms. Maren Platzhoff create the beautiful hand painted art that adorn the cover and the discs!
This limited-edition double CD closes with BIC’s ‘take’ on two special cover songs. Once you see the the double-feature video HERE, it will hopefully make a bit more sense to why I opted for the title of the CD. To be VERY clear, this is NOT a call for violence or a political left or right, democrat or republican, or whatever other label that is put on everyday working-class citizens … but it is a double-middle-finger FU to the military industrial complex and globalists that are hell-bent on keeping the world in endless, senseless wars. Fucking enough. Open your eyes see the lies right in front of you.”
Michael Ciravolo
Curator / Beauty In Chaos
Credits
- Filmed and Directed by Vicente Cordero (Industrialism Films)
- Edited by Ryan Conlon
- Staging, Lighting and AI intro by Skum Love
- Makeup by Dania Ridgeway
- Thumbnail photos by Kevin Estrada
- Thumbnail created by GABB
- Video Concept by Michael Ciravolo
‘Children Of The Revolution’ (written by Marc Bolan c1972)
Video
- Al Jourgensen – vocals and slide guitar
- Michael Ciravolo – guitar
- Tish Ciravolo – bass
- Michael Rozon – drums
Studio
- Al Jourgensen – vocals and slide guitar
- Michael Ciravolo – guitars , textures and backing vocals
- Michael Rozon – drums, bass and backing vocals
- Whitney Tai – backing vocals
- Paul ‘Yachty’ Pate – saxophone
Recorded, mixed and mastered by Michael Rozon.
‘Open Your Eyes’ (written by Stiv Bators and Brian James c1982)
Video
- Michael Ciravolo – vocals and guitar
- Colin Alflen – guitar
- Tish Ciravolo – bass
- Michael Rozon – drums
- Anthony Love – Uncle Sam saxophone
- Whitney Tai – backing vocals
Studio
- Michael Ciravolo – lead and backing vocals, guitars and bass
- Michael Rozon – drums, synth, bass and backing vocals
- Whitney Tai – backing vocals
- Paul ‘Yachty’ Pate – saxophone
Recorded, mixed and mastered by Michael Rozon.
‘Signs In The Heavens Reality Upside Down’
About ‘Children Of The Revolution (ft. Al Jourgensen)’, ‘Open Your Eyes’, & ‘Signs In The Heavens Reality Upside Down’
As what has become Beauty In Chaos’s modus operandi, their most recent studio release, ‘Dancing With Angels’ is now followed up with its ‘re-envision’ companion ‘Signs In The Heavens Reality Upside Down’. This 29-track Limited Edition double-CD features stylistically diverse versions of the 8 songs that comprise ‘Dancing With Angels’. BIC’s curator, Michael Ciravolo says “I still really enjoy turning complete control of these songs over to an extremely talented cast of artist, producers and dee-jays, giving them total creative freedom to sonically disassemble and reassemble these tracks as they hear ‘em. I realize that this is a BIG listen, but I think our BIC audience will find some gems amongst these reiterations that certainly run the gamut from almost-acoustic to four-on-the floor-dance club’.
Returning participants in the chaos-fun include Mark Gemini Thwaite, Kitty Lectro, Tyler Bates, Kevin Kipnis and Julian Shah-Tayler, with a cast of newcomers as William Faith, Frontal Boundary and Combichrist’s Andy LaPlegua. Beauty In Chaos also worked with Ashton Nyte and Cynthia Isabella to create two ‘almost acoustic’ versions of their songs, which Ciravolo cites amongst his favorites.
This double-CD will be limited to 100 copies, and is available via through Beauty In Chaos’s on-line store. BIC’s curator adds, ‘since this is the sonic-companion to ‘Dancing With Angels’, we are blessed to again have German artist Maren Platzhoff’s hand-painted art adorning this CD.
Also coinciding with this release, Beauty In Chaos is premiering a ‘double feature’ video of the two ‘bonus’ tracks that close this album. While careful not to categorize them as a political statement, Ciravolo describes this choice of covering T. Rex’s “Children Of The Revolution” (featuring Ministry’s Al Jourgensen on vocals) and The Lords Of The New Church’s “Open Your Eyes” as a ‘middle-finger’ to the Military Industrial Complex and Globalists that keep the world in endless, often senseless wars. “It is a more than a bit frightening that humanity seems destined to repeat history as opposed to learning from it. Stiv (Bators) said it perfectly …. “Open your eyes see the lies right in front of you….”
All images by Kevin Estrada.
‘Signs In The Heavens Reality Upside Down’ album cover by Maren Platzhoff.
LINKS:
https://www.beautyinchaosmusic.com
https://www.facebook.com/beautyinchaosmusic
https://www.instagram.com/beauty.inchaos
https://x.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
