Viza Première 'Carnivalia' Cutting-Edge Music Video & Announce London Live Show
Tuesday, 29 May 2012
Written by Jon Stickler
Viza premiered their cutting edge music video, 'Carnivalia' on May 17th at the House of Blues on Sunset with a special release party complete with carnival actors and theatrical imagery.
The music video features Viza’s new single from the album of the same title, 'Carnivalia', which enjoyed an online world premiere just days later on May 20th to much fanfare and critical acclaim. This most recent work represents an artistic evolution for the group, as Viza continues to stake out new compositional territory featuring soaring vocals, circus references, rock influences and near eastern flair.
"Filming Carnivalia was as fun as it looked, it definitely was one of those videos where cool took a backseat to humor," stated lead vocalist Knoup.
The video is the third installment in Viza’s growing collection of unique and provocative visual works, this time envisioned through the lens of up and coming director Shant Hamassian. The Carnivalia music video not only depicts the influences of the album, but also creates a world of characters that tell an epic and cinematic story where viewers can witness the “Strangest Show on Earth”. Shant Hamassian, an award winning director and long time Viza fan, crafted and pitched a dramatic freak show story idea to craft the video’s theme. Not only was the band enthusiastic about the concept, but they also gelled with Hamassian’s “Abbot and Costello” style humor.
“This video was an amazing exercise in doing what Viza does best – and that’s pushing the envelope more and more and more,” stated oud player Andrew Kzirian. “The experimental fusion of the album itself is very closely reflected in the video and fans are going to get a kick out of what we put together,” he added.
Viewers will experience thrills and chills with cameos from Tiny Lister (Dark Knight, Friday, The Fifth Element) and Angus Scrimm (Phantasm). The video also introduces Sean Rose who plays the horrifyingly deformed Elephant Boy. “I needed to find a way to involve the band as characters in the video,” said Hamassian, “and like any great horror film, they play the victims who get targeted one at time. But they don’t get killed, they get cursed! And the reveals of each cursed band member is grotesque and/or hilarious.”
Aside from the classic horror story, lurid imagery and incredible acting of Tiny Lister and Angus Scrimm, the music video was also no small feat of organization. The production crew of Carnivalia was able to use high-tech freak-show makeup, a Red Scarlet camera and savvy art design that makes the House of Viza look like something out of a 19th century travel log of Transylvania.
“The story of Carnivalia is fantastic. To make a music video of this caliber takes a lot of people putting in a lot of effort because they believe it will be a great project,” said producer Louis Sallerson.
“I hope people will spread this video like the plague, just like the video's main character, the Elephant Boy,” added Hamassian.
'Carnavalia' will be released in the UK on August 1st, 2012 at a special first ever London show at the Borderline in Soho.
Viza will kick off its Summer 2012 tour in London and then invade Europe for nearly a month of festivals and headliner shows. This tour will feature a special Viza appearance at the Sziget Festival, which was voted Europe’s Best Music Festival, where Viza will share the stage with acts like Korn, LMFAO, Swedish House Mafia and several others.
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The music video features Viza’s new single from the album of the same title, 'Carnivalia', which enjoyed an online world premiere just days later on May 20th to much fanfare and critical acclaim. This most recent work represents an artistic evolution for the group, as Viza continues to stake out new compositional territory featuring soaring vocals, circus references, rock influences and near eastern flair. 
