Very recently on the 3rd of May 2023, Beauty In Chaos released their latest track “Kiss Me (Goodbye)”. Teaming up with Julian Shah-Taylor, Beauty in Chaos has crafted a track that is filled to the brim with juicy riffs and hooky vocal lines. Completely dripping with style, this single is sure to get your groove on. This is why we reached out to the frontman and founder of Beauty In Chaos, Michael Ciravolo to have a peek behind the curtain of the hard work and talent behind one of the rising disruptors of the pop-punk scene!
Michael, Thanks for taking the time out to chat with me. Let's start earlier on in your career - what was your first band and what bands/projects are you still involved in apart from Beauty In Chaos?
Thank You! Believe me, I take none of this for granted. For good or bad, I never really played in a ‘Cover’ band … so I am horrible if asked to jam! My first real band was The Contenders ..very Clash/N.Y. Dolls/Heartbreakers … sounding. I was 17 which put me performing on stage and in the studio. Later, I started The Models, a bit more ‘New Wave’ sounding, but again, we were writing our own songs. Johnny Indovina was our singer… and after a few line-up shifts and getting progressively darker looking and sounding, we changed our name to Human Drama. I’ve been in and out of Human Drama over the last two decades, and have played guitar on their last two albums. I still join them on stage playing concerts. During the recording of the Human Drama live record, I met Michael Aston of Gene Loves Jezebel. I helped him and his twin Jay, put together a band for their ’97 reunion tour of the US. Rinse and repeat, they break up yet again, and I continued to perform with Michael, also writing two albums with him. And oh yeah, there was the short-lived Drain The Doves where I did meet my BIC cohort, Michael Rozon!
When did you ultimately decide to change things up in favour of curating a huge project like Beauty In Chaos?
My view of why I started the idea of BIC has morphed since Michael Rozon turned to me and said ‘you should just do your own record’ in late 2017. I believe everything happens for a reason, and BIC is a perfect example of exactly that. One of my best friends in the world is Johnny Indovina. He was disillusioned about where he was at in his career, just releasing his second post-Human Drama solo album. I pushed him into the idea of doing a new Human Drama record. In my head, I wanted to return to the band’s late ‘80s sound. Big anthemic guitars and powerful, loud songs. He was in a bit of a different musical mindset. Sort of a division of musical styles. At this point, Human Drama is his band. As I recorded guitars for the songs, some of the ideas where rejected or buried under the Hammond organ. I think the punk rock kid in me pushed back harder with more abstract and harsher parts and textures. My disappointment and disillusionment led to Rozon suggesting that I do my own record with my new sounds. Once that was said, I think I settled in to what Johnny was asking for in my guitars for his record. He kept referencing David Gilmour … which at this point was foreign to me. I worked harder, and in retrospective, I am really proud of not only the “Broken Songs for Broken People’ album, but also my guitar playing on it. It made me better, and some of those elements appeared on what we did on our debut album. It also led to my ‘no keyboard’ rule on that record! Johnny remains my closest friend, and really helped pull together my vision of the ‘Finding Beauty In Chaos’s’ album cover. He also sings two songs on the record, including ‘Memory Of Love’ which was my vision of what I wanted the new Human Drama to sound like. While I originally thought the band grew old … now maybe I see I didn’t grow up! Again, things happen for a reason … and in the end, Beauty In Chaos was born.
Where do you live, where are you from and would you say that either of these places have somehow shaped the music you create?
I live just outside of Los Angeles, and have for the past 30+ years, but my heart is still in my hometown of New Orleans. The LA music scene has chased trends ever since I’ve moved here, but New Orleans has stayed diverse and true. That is something I see clearly now, but not so much when I lived there.
What would you say is your favorite and least favorite thing about being a musician?
Doing BIC is a godsend for me. It's a beautiful creative outlet that I do for the right reason. The simple joy of making music that I am proud of. Michael and I have such a great time doing it. If we had a live camera on our late-night recording sessions people would be shocked at how we get work done! Seriously, we work hard and he makes me a better musician by his patience and diligence…. and we DO have fun. BIC has afforded me the opportunity to work with some amazing artists … many I call friends, in addition to them being a big part of my record collection. I have also met some amazingly creative and talented people who I also consider part of our BIC Family thru their love of what we’ve created. Sadly, being a musician also introduces you to people who are also users and full of shit. Doing this for most of my teens and adult life has given me a strong bullshit meter and now I have a ‘compass’ to do this for the right reasons … not chasing fame or that ‘mythical’ record deal. What’s behind the curtain is NOT what I thought it would be when I was a teen waiting to be Marc Bolan or Johnny Thunders.
Your new single 'Kiss Me (Goodbye)' is out now via 33.3 Music Collective. Please tell us about this release.
Our previous full album release, 2022’s ‘Behind The Veil’ was a big undertaking, featuring six very talented female singers. It also spawned an accompany ‘re-envision’ release ‘Further Behind The Veil’, and a behind-the-scenes making-of documentary ‘Unveiled’. Michael Rozon was going to play pedal-steel on tour with Jerry Cantrell, so I knew a full album or even an EP prior to their tour was not going to be possible. I decided for the first time in BIC to focus on recording, mixing, mastering and video of one single song. It was a perfect time to work with Julian, as we had been wanting to collaborate. The music came together fairly quickly, and I reached out to my long time friend, drummer Pete Parada, who had the ability to record drums at his studio in Nashville. Besides doing a slamming drum track, which saved time, since Michael was also trying to finish producing a Ministry album prior to leaving for tour. I’m sure my insistence to get our song done drove him a bit nuts! Thankfully, Julian is a consummate prolific pro, and he turned our music track into “Kiss Me (Goodbye)’, which by some listeners and reviewers account is an ‘ear worm’ of a song!
This single sounds quite different from anything you're released in the past few years. How did you come to collaborate with Julian Shah-Tayler on this song?
I love that what we create with BIC has no ‘bounds’. It usually starts from what happens when I pick up my guitar and run it through effect pedals. That’s the spark, whatever happens. For what ultimately became ‘Kiss Me’, I just had pulled out an odd tuned guitar that I hadn’t played for a while … a celloblaster it’s called. I just bashed out the main riff and went from there. I think deeper listens reveals that is is really not so different from whatever our ‘norm’ is as there are some cool textures and melodies … maybe taking a bit more of a backseat to Julian’s infectious melody. As for our collaboration, I had reached out to Julian after hearing a remix he had did, maybe it was with our mutual friend, Mark Thwaite. He did a glorious remix of our ‘The Delicate Balance Of All Things’, which he added some harmonies to Wayne’s lead, as well as some great instrumentation. I also convinced him to do not one, but three remixes on our ‘Further Behind The Veil’ re-envision album. We discussed working together on a song, and I could not be happier with what he did with the music we sent him … turning it into ‘Kiss Me (Goodbye)’. He was also fantastic in the video! I certainly can see us working together again.
How do you nurture your own creativity? What makes you happy apart from making music?
My real friends know me. I am a fairly simple person at the end of the day. I love my wife and two daughters .. our small but mighty family! I love our dog and cats, they are also family. Tish and I love traveling in our motorhome, and if its not obvious by the fleur-de-lis on all of our albums .. I love my city’s football team…. The New Orleans Saints! I think Tish would also say I am obsessed with guitars and effect pedals :)
If you could collaborate with or perform together with any other living artist, who would it be? And who would it be if you could've done so with any artist who has already passed?
The latter is easy … David Bowie, with Marc Bolan being a close second. As far as current? Wow, that is a short list and to be honest, working with Wayne Hussey and Simon Gallup scratched two off that short list! I would have to say Richard Butler of The Psychedelic Furs. Always loved his voice.
The music landscape has changed so much in the past decade - it would be hard to fathom for artists living, say, 20 years ago. Do you see any rising opportunities or obstacles for new or seasoned musicians starting to appear on the horizon?
I have spoke ad naseum about my utter hatred for streaming, so I will not stand on that soapbox, as I guess I have relented it to being a necessary evil. I think the ‘advances’ in technology is a double-edged sword … an opportunity or an obstacle, depending on how it is used. If used as a ‘crutch’ … that’s not a good thing. I hate the idea of ‘fixing it later’ or ‘just copy that’. I guess that is the old school in me. We work hard to get the right sound, the right part. I do know we could not do Beauty In Chaos without technology, as we are spread out all over the globe. Affordable technology allows Michael and I to have our own SAINTinLA studio … which is where all things BIC culminates from. I do try to remind myself that some of the greatest records ever made were done on 16 or even 8 tracks … as we are looking at our Pro Tools session with 75+ tracks! DAW (digital audio workstations) is the ultimate enabler. You just have to know when to say stop. The new ‘threat’ on the horizon to further devalue the art of making music is A.I. More unnecessary bullshit … and I have seen Terminator!!!
What does the next year or so hold for Beauty In Chaos? Anything separate for Michael Ciravolo musically?
We are about halfway in to what will be our next BIC album. I am hoping we can complete it by the end of the year, but that is probably going to depend if Michael Rozon works on the next Ministry album, which would hamper our studio time. So, early 2024 for sure. I have a title and a cover already etched in my brain. I had originally planned to release a couple of ‘singles’ leading up to the album, which is what we did with ‘Kiss Me (Goodbye)’, but I feel Michael and I are in a zone right now thinking in terms of an album. We’ll see if my impatience takes over, I have been asked, and yes ‘Kiss Me (Goodbye)’ will be included on the release, which will be available on vinyl and CD. Our rendition of Concrete Blonde’s ‘Bloodletting’, which we released on Halloween might just appear on the CD too, along with our love of remix/re-envisions to fill the 78-minute appetite of the compact disc! I have been asked to add guitars to some songs by some friends, which is an honor and I will be happy to do it. One being by Wayne Hussey’s amazingly talented wife, Cynthia. I’ve already added a few guitar things, and have been privy to hear quite a few of her new songs. It is going to be a great album.
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