Senior journalist Anabel DFlux had the continued pleasure of interviewing Michael Ciravolo once more, from a safe distance amidst the Covid-19 pandemic. Curious as to what the founder of Beauty in Chaos had been up to during the lockdowns, the two had the opportunity to catch up on all of this year’s happenings. The most important of which is the Tower of Strength 2020 release, one of The Mission’s classic songs re-envisioned to raise money for essential workers.
A bit of a refresher for those who may be unaware, Michael Ciravolo happens to be no stranger to the world of music- he has played guitar in Human Drama for the past 30 years. Perhaps best known as President of Schecter Guitar Research, he has also played live and recorded with Michael Ashton’s Gene Loves Jezebel since 1998. Michael has stepped deep into a musical endeavor known as Beauty in Chaos, Beauty in Chaos is a collaborative project featuring the talents of musicians such as Curse Mackey, Ashton Nyte, Wayne Hussey, Al Jourgensen, Johnny Indovina, Curse Mackey, Ice T, Evi Vine, Tish Ciravolo, and so, so, so many more across several albums and remix releases.
Listen to the Full Interview Below
The interview begins with jumping directly into the Tower of Strength project. “That is another one of those surreal moments that seem to just happen with me and Beauty in chaos and all those around it, but the credit totally goes to Wayne Hussey [of The Mission]. As Covid started happening I kind of got an idea and wanted to maybe do something with [the song] Storm because I thought Ashton’s [Nyte] lyrics set up this real positive message. I reached out to Wayne [Hussey] first to see if he’d be up for doing a verse or some lines, to which he said he had been thinking about doing something as well. Wayne said that maybe we should go look at a song that has greater appeal, you know, a song that people gravitate towards and the idea of doing it for the charities. So the money goes to the charity. We kicked around some ideas to see if we could come up with something that had the sentiment. The Tower of Strength was a pretty big song for The Mission in the mid-to-late eighties and it turned out that it was getting some renewed air play in the UK. It became line an unofficial anthem to the front line and healthcare workers. The lyrics are perfect.” Michael tells us. The Tower of Strenth 2020 features a slew of absolutely incredible artists, some familiar faces in the Beauty in Chaos history and others major players in music history itself. Some of the collaborators include Andy Rourke, Billy Duffy, Budgie, Evi Vine, Gary Numan, James Alexander Graham, Jay Aston, Julianne Regan, Kevin Haskins, Kirk Brandon, Lol Tolhurst, Martin Gore, Michael Aston, Midge Ure, Miles Hunt, Rachel Goswell, Richard Fortus, Robin Finck, Steve Clarke, Tim Palmer, and Trentemøller.
But prior to this aid to the incredible front line workers, Beauty in Chaos managed to release a brand new album titled “The Storm Before the Calm”. The album was originally set to release in February, but was ultimately delayed due to a technical issue that caused the production programs to cease working. Amidst this struggle, Michael Ciravolo and producer Michael Rozon (Ministry) were able to save the record and continue forth with an upcoming release. Finally presented to the world on World Goth Day (unintentionally), the album was first heard right in the thick of the pandemic. “Beauty in Chaos was never about the money. People are isolated and stuck in their homes, not working, we just felt that having the record come out was our way of doing something and giving people some new music to enjoy. Hopefully it made the day a little better or something. A bad business decision but a great personal decision. The thing that is so special about Beauty in Chaos is that the singers that come on board are just fantastic lyricists that are sort of open ended in that you can read multiple ways into it. They don’t write in a literal sense. It’s very open.”
Music videos are a major part of Beauty in Chaos, as the project itself is not a ‘live’ band setup in any capacity. Beauty in Chaos is made up of a tremendous amount of incredibly talented musicians and producers, with each song featuring a different collaboration. As such, music videos become a very important part of the project, it’s the only visual aspect to the band itself. “A Kind Cruelty” with Curse Mackey [Pigface, My Life with the Thrill Kill Kult] released on the original album’s release date, but after the album’s thrust into the public world, one more video was filmed and released: “Stranger” featuring Kat Leon [Holy Wars]. “Strangers was the last song we wrote for the record. The video is a bit different, which was done purposely as I think it sort of leads into what I see as the evolution of Beauty in Chaos. I love the way [Kat] writes from the heart and it just seemed like the perfect song to end the album. I wanted to do a video for that really bad. It kind of got delayed with covid-19, but as soon as Tiger Lab opened we were able to jump in! I can’t say it was a conceptual video, but the phrase that kept running through my head, in telling Kat and also Leslie the director, was ‘cinematic’. I just wanted it to be slow-moving just have this vibe. On the complete opposite side of the spectrum from “A Kind Cruelty”. I really love the pendulum to swing completely to the opposite side after we do one, so probably the next one after this will go back to being something dark.”
In Beauty in Chaos tradition, fans can anticipate a remix album to come on Halloween of 2020, with details featured in the above audio interview.
PRE ORDER TOWER OF STRENGTH HERE
The digital release is August 28th, CD & Vinyl release is October 2nd
The Tower of Strength 2020 nominated charities currently include:
NHS UK
St. Jude’s Children’s Hospital, Memphis
Music Venue Trust UK
Covenant House, New Orleans
Disasters Emergency Committee
MusiCares
Plan International
Direct Relief
Alzheimer’s Scotland
Liberty Hill Foundation
The Shrewsbury Ark
Memorial Sloan Kettering Center, NYC
Prostate Cancer UK
The Teddy Bear Clinic
Red Rover
Help Musicians UK
Crew Nation
Venice Family Clinic
The Anthony Walker Foundation
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