Beauty in Chaos have officially dropped the first video, titled ‘The Delicate Balance of All Things’, from their upcoming album ‘The Storm Before the Calm’. The song is a definitive evolution of the project’s previous album and remixes, with a darker tone and a subdued penchant for the musically macabre with hints of retro goth. You can also definitely see how the working relationship with Michael Ciravolo and Michael Rozon has evolved as they are branching out with their individual creativeness and finding that common ground where genius lurks and originality thrives.
To me, the video is the next step for the project as it involves familiar faces taking things into new directions with a video that is darker in tone, to match the track, and a brilliant mix of storyline scenes cut with performance shots beautifully breaking the fourth wall. In a way, this is what Beauty in Chaos is to me; that subtle balance between fantasy and reality, because this is where dreams become the motivation in us all.
‘The Storm Before The Calm’ album will be released on February 21, 2020, via 33.3 Music Collective. As with the two albums released to date, it will be available at the official BIC Store and Bandcamp.
We had the pleasure of asking Michael Ciravolo a few questions about ‘The Delicate Balance of All Things’ as well as what’s in store for all things BIC.
How do you plan and execute the obvious evolution of the Beauty in Chaos project between the last album, the remixes, and ‘The Storm Before the Calm’?
I don’t think its fully a calculated ‘plan’ really. A lot of our debut ‘Finding Beauty in Chaos‘ was spurred from the cover and name. ‘Beauty Re-Envisioned‘ was really an organic accident, which at the risk of repeating myself happened when Tim Palmer accidentally broke my ‘self imposed rules of no synths and no other guitarists’! He tells the story well on the Jammerzine documentary. That amazingly snowballed into 25 remixes! As for the forthcoming album … I knew I wanted it to be two things … darker and shorter. 😊
I know bot of the other albums are big listens (14 and 25 tracks respectively), so I wanted this to be a bit easier to digest, and really easier to finish as I felt we needed new music out as soon as possible. As far as the direction, I had delved back into a lot of my ’80s darker records …. ‘pornography’, ‘disintegration’, and ‘first and last and always’ to name a few.
I wanted to try to make a more linear record, with fewer grad choruses and such. The albums I mentioned to me have a stark vibe … almost a ‘coldness’. I wanted that element, which is why a started several of the songs using a drum machine. If I am planning anything, at least right now is that this new record is ‘the storm’, which I am hoping will lead to the next … sort of the calm’.
The song ‘The Delicate Balance of all Things’ is very textured and layered both musically/vocally as well as lyrically. Is this a song that was hard to conceive or did it come to fruition quickly and, in regards to vocal harmonies and the different guitar parts, were those inspired during the recording process or was there an idea already in place?
The music came together very quickly. It was one of the first two songs I started to write. I had a drum machine blaring through an SVT amp and my guitar and some pedals. It started from the dissonant chord riff that repeats throughout. Honestly, there are not as many parts on this song as there are on most track on ‘FBIC’. Some of the odd counter-melody parts were actually done in stereo before sending the track to Wayne. I really was not sure if Wayne would have the time to do this song.
He has just finished the massive undertaking of his autobiography ‘Salad Daze‘, and was prepping for his European solo tour AND coming to LA to shoot the 2 videos. I sent him 2 music tracks and he really liked this one in particular. He said he was a bit empty on words, but had the title ‘the delicate balance of all things’ kicking around in his hand and he would give it a go. To my surprise, he sent the completed vocal tracks a few days later! His cool melody on ‘only of YOU’ lead us to do the cool theremin-style guitar/synth parts which I think add a nice haunting tension to the song. While he was in LA with us, Wayne confided over some red wine that he was holding ‘the delicate balance of all things’ as a possible future Mission album title; and that he ‘reserved’ the right to still use it! I said okay. 😉
Vicente Cordero is someone who has directed most or all of your videos so far. Does he have a good interpretation of the BIC project and does he have a vision of how each video will look?
It has been a blessing that Ashton Nyte brought Vicente and Industrialism Films into the BIC circle. With this new video, it makes eight that we have done with Vicente behind the camera. Together, I think we have managed to make each one uniquely different. Leslie Gladney has worked with me to edit the last three, which has been a lot of fun. ‘The Delicate Balance Of All Things’ might have been the most difficult, simply because it is the one that I did not really have a solid concept in my head going into it.
After we shot the ‘beach scene’ for “The Long Goodbye“, Wayne suggested that we go back to the studio and get some footage of him singing the new song … just in case. Well, I am glad we did and I think we managed to cobble together something different and interesting with it I do know I love the song and it certainly sets the tone for the new album.
About ‘The Delicate Balance of All Things’
The Mission frontman Wayne Hussey and LA-based Beauty in Chaos present ‘The Delicate Balance of All Things’. This is the first taste of Beauty in Chaos’ forthcoming full-length album ‘The Storm Before The Calm’. The accompanying video was filmed and directed by Vicente Cordero, edited by Leslie Gladney, and produced by Industrialism Films.
Slated for release in early 2020 via Los Angeles label 33.3 Music Collective, this album was recorded at Ciravolo’s own SAINTinLA Studio and produced by Grammy nominee Michael Rozon, best known for his work with Ministry.
Beauty in Chaos is the brainchild of guitarist Michael Ciravolo. Originally from New Orleans and now based in Los Angeles, he is perhaps best known as President of Schecter Guitar Research. Before launching Beauty in Chaos, Ciravolo had played guitar in Human Drama for the past 30 years, as well as playing live and recording with Michael Aston’s Gene Loves Jezebel since 1998.
@MichaelCiravolo [rotatingtweets screen_name=’MichaelCiravolo’]Wayne Hussey and Beauty in Chaos (Michael Ciravolo) have been enjoying a fruitful collaboration since the inception of BIC’s acclaimed debut album ‘Finding Beauty in Chaos’. This followed by the subsequent ‘Beauty Re-Envisioned’ album, which, in addition to various remixes of tracks involving Hussey, also featured the original track ‘The Long Goodbye (Au Revoir)’, as well as ’20th Century Boy’ ft. Rolan Bolan and Wayne Hussey.
“I was adamant about releasing something new… I wanted the new record to be a bit darker and brooding. I sat down with a drum machine and blasted out several ideas that seemed to convey the overall ‘tone’ I wanted for the record. I knew Wayne was busy preparing for his solo European tour, but he said to send the tracks over and he would see if anything struck him,” says Michael Ciravolo.
“In typical Hussey fashion … he said he was ’empty on words’, understandable since he did just finish his ‘Salad Daze’ book. To my surprise, he sent back all of the vocal tracks a few days later, saying he had the title of ‘the delicate balance of all things’ that he thought about using for a future Mission record… and the lyrics basically poured out. Sonically and lyrically, I think this song perfectly sets the ‘feel’ I want ‘The Storm Before The Calm’ to have.”
Beauty in Chaos’ also involves many music luminaries, including Simon Gallup (The Cure), Al Jourgensen (Ministry), Robin Zander (Cheap Trick), Pete Parada (The Offspring), dUg Pinnick (Kings X), ICE-T (Body Count), producer Tim Palmer, guitar icon Zakk Wylde, Ashton Nyte (The Awakening), Rolan Bolan, Kevin Haskins (Bauhaus, Love & Rockets), Michael Anthony (Van Halen), Michael Aston (Gene Loves Jezebel), Paul Wiley (Marilyn Manson), Michael Aston and Dirk Doucette (Gene Loves Jezebel), Pando (A Flock of Seagulls), Evi Vine, Johnny Indovina (Human Drama), Danny Lohner (Nine Inch Nails, Marilyn Manson), Betsy Martin (Caterwaul / Purr Machine), Kevin Kipnis (Purr Machine / Kommunity FK), Ummagma and Kitty Lectro, among others.
CREDITS
Wayne Hussey – vocals
Michael Ciravolo – guitars, bass, textures
Michael Rozon – bass, synth
Dirk Doucette – drums
Written by Wayne Hussey and Michael Ciravolo
Recorded, mixed and produced by Michael Rozon
Additional recording by Wayne Hussey
Video produced by Industrialism Films
Video filmed by Vicente Cordero
Video edited by Leslie Gladney
VIDEO BAND
Wayne Hussey – vocals
Michael Ciravolo – guitar
Tish Ciravolo – bass, justice lady
Dirk Doucette – drums
horsehead guy – ???
LINKS:
https://www.beautyinchaosmusic.com
https://www.facebook.com/beautyinchaosmusic
https://www.instagram.com/beauty.inchaos
https://twitter.com/MichaelCiravolo
https://www.beautyinchaosmusic.com/music-store
https://www.beautyinchaosmusic.com/bic-blog
https://soundcloud.com/33-3-music-collective
https://beautyinchaos.bandcamp.com
https://itunes.apple.com/us/album/finding-beauty-in-chaos/1436694940
https://open.spotify.com/album/7cmbwIpDm9aAXS4vVjcq4U?si=LZ_9_Bi1SzaZyN7wOIRCvw
