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MINISTRY
by Max Michaels
Originators of the domestic industrial/metal scene, MINISTRY return in
2003 with ANIMOSITISOMNIA, a disc packed full of new tracks, loaded
with napalm guitar and nuclear tipped vocals, that unleashes a
preemptive strike on the bland watered-down American music industry.
Five weeks into the MINISTRY onslaught on America guitarist Paul
Barker took a few moments to talk to Max Michaels about the switch to
a new label, the current tour and the mock MINISTRY on the set of
Steven Spielberg's robo-pinochio epic A.I..
So Paul, tell me a little bit about the split with Warner Bros.
Was it just that the contract was up and you weren't happy with you
relationship? How did that fall?
"No, I guess it was just a mutual decision. Dark Side of the Spoon
didn't do what they wanted. So the label didn't like what we gave
them, bean counters took over, all that kind of shit."
So did you immediately go to Sanctuary or did you guys take a
break?
"We did not immediately go to Sanctuary. Did we take a break? Well, I
mean, to a degree yeah. We did that A.I. thing. I don't know."
How do you feel all that turned out?
"Yeah the A.I. thing, that was in between labels."
Were you happy with how that looked in the movie?
"Yeah, sure!"
That was cool, how was it working Steven Spielberg?
"Well, you know, I don't have a basis of comparison, but it was really
great. I mean, I haven't done any other movies so in that regard I
don't know what to say. The experience itself was really fantastic, it
was shot in Long Beach. We were slated to be there for five days, with
a possible maximum of 12 days, or something like that, on the set.
And, um, you know, they didn't really know what to expect. They didn't
know if we were going to be completely fucking crazy, and drugged out,
and uncontrollable or whatever. But you know, we are gracious, and I
don't know, we can endear ourselves to people if we have to. And so,
you know, that all worked out and they asked us to stay for the whole
time. They had doubles for us and everything, but we didn't want them
to use any doubles so we were on the set. Whenever they wanted the
band on the set we were there. Even on the long shots. They were like,
'Hey, you guys don't have to be on stage, we can just use the doubles.
This scene is going to be from the far end of the set, and blah blah
blah.' We were like, 'Fuck that, that's why we're here!' You know? You
don't want to sit around in a trailer. Yeah, it was cool."
I just like the thought of a whole other Ministry band walking
around with you guys on the set.
"Oh my god, that was funny! Yeah. I mean of coarse, only at a distance
did they even remotely look like us. But I mean those guys, I mean
that industry, they know exactly what they're doing. They realize that
when the camera is, I don't know, fuck, whatever, like a hundred feet
away or something if not more, it doesn't matter. You just need the
closest facsimile there and that's enough to cover it."
Definitely, that must have been fun.
"Yeah, it was so much fun, it was really cool. And it was of course
very nice that we were selected to do it, and at first in fact they
asked if we could contribute some music and that was fantastic of
course, and then a week later they wanted to know if we would be
willing to perform on the set. So that was cool, yeah."
Did you have any influence on the costuming and stuff, and all of
the crap you guys wore?
"No, not really. No. I mean, we had most of that stuff. Of course, Al
didn't have that groovy chain mail thingee that he was wearing. But
it's not that much of a stretch for us."
That is true. So after leaving Warner Bros. you guys must have had
quite a few labels courting you to sign.
"Yeah, we did some hunting around, that's right. And then Sanctuary
offered us as much money as anybody else, so you know, them being a
hard rock label we rationalized that they would do the job for us.
Because, you know, they would take whatever we would give them, they
knew the markets, we didn't have to fight with the promo department
with any budgets, you know concerning let's say a boy band. You know,
shit like that. It's all rock music. They know exactly where to market
the band and the music."
Yeah, that is a good choice then. I know you're definitely
entrenched in the Ministry stuff right now, do you plan to do any
other projects? Like I know Al has done a lot of stuff before and you
guys have done other things.
"Well, yeah, I managed to do a couple of projects with a friend of
mine, Max Brody who played on this new record and he and I performed a
Halloween show in 2001 and I think that might be out now on Ipecac
Records."
Really, what's the name of the project?
"It's called Pink Anvil."
::laughs:: That's great.
"Heh, good. I'm glad you liked it. It's like, how absurd can it get?
Yeah so this thing that's out now is, as they say, music written for
this Halloween show. It was just performed the one time, we recorded
it, did a couple of touch-ups and you know, that's it. And then Greg
Werckman (former label manager for legendary punk label, Alternative
Tentacles) and Mike Patton (former Faith No More frontman, currently
of Mr. Bungle and Fantômas) at Ipecac Records asked us, they have an
annual New Years show in San Francisco, and Greg has asked me in the
past if I would want to perform anything at this show.
"And so I talked to Max, and we decided we were going to do it, so we
drummed up some new material for that New Years show. And, you know,
hopefully that will come out as well. It was a lot of fun, I was
thinking, 'Okay, you know, we've been invited to play this show, we
don't have any material that anybody is going to know, and even if we
did we wouldn't play it.' Because our rationale is that if Pink Anvil
is going to be a live performance concept, then that's it. We'll just
play the shit one time then that's it. I mean of course we'll rehearse
it, but you know what I'm saying. And so then, that New Years show
went really well, it was really rocking, and really loud, and all of
that. The fallout from that was, 'Okay, are you guys going to go on
tour?' And so Max and I kind of look at each other and say, 'Fuck, if
we go on tour we'll have to play the same songs over and over again.'
That would blow our whole concept completely out of the water.
Anyway."
I like your initial concept.
"Yeah, that's what we're going to do. And we think we'll probably just
play one more show and leave it at that. So it's kind of a triptych or
whatever. I mean it takes a lot of… you know, Max and I devoted a
straight month, nose to the grindstone, trying to get that shit
together. And in some ways that's a lot of time to devote to something
like that, you know? That means we have to shut off everything else
and just everyday just work on this shit. So its a lot of fun, and
it's very fulfilling, and for me also it was great to be playing in a
situation live outside of Ministry. Even though, I mean I'm not,
there's absolutely nothing wrong with playing Ministry. I mean, it's
fucking awesome, it kicks ass, and I'm so happy we're on the road
right now, and everybody's healthy, and we're doing great. It's really
a lot of fun."
But it's good to escape into other things.
"Yeah, of course it is! Sure. I mean, yeah, being an artist who
performs, it was very fulfilling for me to do it outside of the normal
parameters. But, lets see. We did a few songs with Biafra in LA, and
so that kind of rekindled the possibility of doing some more live
material."
Wow. That would be welcomed for sure.
"Yeah, and Chris Connelly came on stage with us in Chicago a few days
ago."
Nice. God, I've seen him so many times over the past year.
"Oh my god, yeah right! He's a regular 'ho' isn't he?"
He did Pigface, then I booked him again with Meg Lee Chin, then
again with Voodou, and then he came again with Pigface. I've seen him
like four times.
"Yeah, all within a years time right? Yeah, you know, he's got to do
something. He's totally awesome. And it's kind of like he's mired in,
I don't know what's going on, something has to happen for him. You
know, well, I'm sure we'll do another [Revolting] Cocks record, and he
will certainly be invited."
That is good to hear too.
"Yeah!"
I will look forward to all of that. By the way the new album is
just fucking great. You guys did a phenomenal job. We're out of
Jacksonville, FL, and we're sponsoring the show here.
"Cool. Thanks. Good, yeah, I think that might be the last show of the
tour. Well, the U.S. tour because then we have ten days off, then we
go overseas."
Let me ask you, in the genre of industrial rock, do you have any
current favorites that you're listening to? Or really any favorites in
the music industry?
"Hmm. I guess I don't really pay that much attention to the genre
Industrial necessarily. Greg Workman sent me some CD's from Ipecac
Records and I really dig that one band that they have Dälek do you
know that band?"
Hmm, no haven't heard of them.
"Yeah, it's kind of a DJ kind of set up kind of rapping kind of thing.
I don't know, it's super heavy, and you know very political and I just
dig it. That's nice. And the band Isis. Those guys rock pretty hard.
You know I love Nick Cave, and that new record is pretty groovy. Yeah,
I don't know, new music? I haven't heard a whole lot today that I'm
really excited about in the past month or two. I listen to a lot of
oldies but goodies."
What's been your favorite Ministry album so far?
"I guess Land of Rape and Honey, and then Filth Pig. Um, and this one
I'm pretty satisfied with, I think that it really works very well as a
full slab. I think the song sequence is really great, and there's some
really good songs on there. Yeah. It's weird, because in contrast I
never listen to Dark Side of the Spoon, but I started listening to
that when we were working on the record and I really dig it, which was
surprising. Well, just for me because there's so much baggage that
goes along with the recordings of each record, so I can't really look
at it objectively."
True.
"And that was pretty much a black hole, that record."
Dark Side of the Spoon?
"Yeah."
There wasn't any kind of a tour for that was there?
"Yes there was. We toured in '99. We did like five weeks in Europe,
then we came back and we did I think like eight weeks in the States,
and that was it. We were like, 'Fuck, this is gross.' So, I mean, it's
funny because our attitude's changed. We want to tour as long as we
can on this record, um you know, go out for a years time, maybe
something like that. But, I think at this point we have to get picked
up on a tour of some kind. Maybe a co-headline tour with somebody, or
just an opener with a larger act. I don't know, we'll see."
Maybe like a Lollapolloza again or something?
"Yeah, I'm pretty sure that's not going to happen. Those are pretty
much set."
But something like that maybe?
"That would be cool yeah, sure."
What can we expect out of this tour? Are you doing it pretty scaled
down or scaled up?
"Well, no, it's going to be a club show so we can't do that much.
Well, you know, we have two drummers with us this time out so there
are seven guys on stage. Max Brody is our second drummer, he plays
drums and saxophone. And we're playing pretty long, we're playing like
and hour and forty five minutes, or something like that."
Very cool. What do you think you'd be doing if you never met Al? If
you had never gone into Ministry?
"That's a good question. I mean. I don't know, maybe teaching?"
Really? What subject would you have taught?
"I don't know, English I suppose."
This Saturday, May 17th, the masters of the American
industrial/metal scene MINISTRY perform live for the very first time
in Jacksonville. The show is at PLUSH (845 University Blvd. N.) and
the doors open at 6pm. The bands will start almost immediately and
MINISTRY is set to hit the stage at 9pm. After the show, grab a
discount cover flyer and head over to the FACTORY at Fat Kat. Alex
Pagan and special guest DJ Orion (from Freak Fridaze in Pensacola)
will be spinning the best in Industrial, Future Pop and Goth. This is
also the last show of MINISTRY's US tour, so it should be a blast! Do
not miss this show!
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