Al Faiths Ministry

Sometime in 1989, I was listening to 91.3 FM WBNY, the cool college radio station from my hometown that transmitted in mono, when I heard a promo for one of the student DJ’d shows.  “Duh-nuh-nuh-nuh-neee, Duh-nuh-nuh-nuh-neee” voices mimicked snyth/ guitar sounds and the DJ, taking up a robot like voice, began doing a promo for his hour (or two) long radio show.  I didn’t know it at the time, but this, technically, was my first introduction to Ministry, and their song “Stigmata.”

A few weeks later, when I actually heard The Land of Rape and Honey, I was blown away, plus hearing THE ACTUAL version of Stigmata gave me a little chuckle; but after the song “Golden Dawn,” interest in the album waned, as I was much more Slayer than I was Depeche Mode, or whatever electronic stuff, at the time. Thankfully, that was pretty much side one of the cassette, my preferred format at the time. When the album A Mind is a Terrible Thing to Taste came out in 1989, there wasn’t a single person I hung out with that didn’t absolutely love it. Hell, I even had a Chain of Strength show on video where my friend Ryan is wearing a “Taste” shirt. Everyone, and I mean EVERYONE, loved that record. Ministry shirts were abound, though I’m pretty sure most were bootlegs.  I loved playing the riff to “Burning Inside” on my guitar and dreamt of having a band that punks, metallers and hardcores alike all dug- how could anyone write a record so loved? I never cracked that code, but Ministry did it again with their next release.

My old roomate wearing a Ministry shirt, early 90's

Around Thanksgiving 1991, I had saved up enough money to buy my first CD player, which, at the time, were incredibly expensive.  CDs, also, were pretty expensive, but CD singles were generally under $10. The first two CDs I ever bought were NIN “Head like a Hole” and Ministry’s “Jesus Built My Hotrod.” A year later, Psalm 69 came out a pushed Ministry into the stratosphere garnering a platinum certification and mainstream attention, thanks to an appearance of videos for the songs “N.W.O. and “Just One Fix” on Beavis and Butthead.

Shortly after, I was pretty much only listening to (and buying) new Death Metal and Hardcore records; records by bands outside that realm just didn’t register. I’ll tell you though, I never stopped listening to In Case You Didn’t Feel Like Showing Up- all the heavy hitters from Land and Taste featured live- but not really sounding live, and maybe it really isn’t, but top shelf from start to finish- and features Jello Biafra and the guy from Rigor Mortis in the home video release- so cool.

In 2005, Dead Hearts played a REALLY weird show with Rigor Mortis on tour in Atlanta, and I had every intention of asking Mike Scaccia about Ministry and The Revolting Cocks, but with the vibe being very much theirs and 0% ours, I figured punishing the guy with a million questions about Al Jourgensen was probably a bad call, so I refrained.  Now that he’s passed, I kind of wish I had, but at least those guys were chill when we did briefly chat.

Ephemera from the collection of the author

In the past 5-6 years, I’ve found myself listening to more and more Ministry. I think collectively, people are becoming more interested in industrial music again, with the Industrial Accidents documentary and with the overall “buzz” I see online, I think the genre is having mini-resurgence.  When I saw that the aforementioned doc about Wax Trax records was screening in SF and that tickets were available for free on record store day with purchase of the sound track, I tried my best to get to the city to get a pair, but failed, as I live north of the city and traffic was GARBAGE all the way down. I then forged a plan, and emailed Ministry’s PR direct. After a couple emails I got to the right person and the following was in my inbox, “Hi Jeremy, thanks for reaching out! I currently have you on the guaranteed entry list - do you need a +1 or a photo pass?” and with that, I was in!

 The movie was informative, I liked that it was more a story about the owners of Wax Trax than the bands on the label, per se, though the bands were featured prominently. There were some really tear jerker moments, considering both owners passed away from AIDS- related complications. After a Q&A where Jello Biafara (go figure) talked for too long, we were lead out of the venue to line up for the show. After coming back in, Cold Cave played a set, but really lost me after 3 songs- it’s not that it was bad, it just became terribly uninteresting and once they lost me, they were never able to get me back. A guy standing behind me expressed the same to his friends after their set concluded.  Then the evening’s real treat took the stage- Ministry performing an all “Wax Trax Era” set, exclusive to these screenings.

Jello joins the band on stage for The Land Of Rape and Honey, much like the "In Case You..." VHS

From the onset, my friend Mat (my plus one) and I could tell this was going to be a set for the history books- Al was clearly in a good mood and the band sounded better than any expectations held. The Missing/ Deity/ Stigmata/ Jesus Built My Hotrod/ Just One Fix/ N.W.O./ Burning Inside/ Thieves/ So What/ No Devotion/ Supernaut/ The Land of Rape and Honey/  (Everyday Is) Halloween. I mean, look at that setlist- Incredible. I cannot stress how good of a performance it was, and I don’t throw this around lightly, after seeing thousands of bands and thousands of shows in my 30 years of attending gigs and touring, it was undoubtedly a top ten showing.

My on again, off again with The Misfits Part 3

I never expected to write a part 3, but here we are... (part 1, part 2)

Maybe something bad, maybe something good

4 years ago this month, I ventured with some friends to the annual "This is Hardcore" fest in surly, yet wonderful Philadelphia, PA, I went for the camaraderie and not to really see a specific band per se. The Jerry Only fronted version of the "Misfits" were headlining Saturday night, which had the most bands playing that I was interested in (Killing Time, Cro-Mags, and after the fact, surprisingly, Biohazard were a highlight) so I was kinda looking forward to that, especially when I saw they were going to play Earth AD in it's entirety.  Alex, Milford and I had traveled to "Natefest" earlier in the year and it was a solid crew to be travelling with.

Alex, Milford and the Author.

The shows were what festivals always are: fun at times, but arduous at best. The Misfits came on late on Saturday and the Crowd was initially amped, but without a front man, the 39 song set just seemed to drag after like the 8th or 9th song. As the set steamed a long, Milford turned to me and said "I'd never thought I'd be so bored hearing these songs." I agreed. This line up was not BAD they played just fine and was certainly better than some of the late 90's and early 2000's shows I had seen, but it was unbelievably NOT captivating.  If you watch the video of the set, it seems like they lose the crowd pretty fast.

After that, I pretty much thought I was done seeing the Misfits (again), why would I want to watch songs I absolutely love be so absolutely mundane? Not to mention, but I had seen the whole "Danzig and Doyle" thing twice and they absolutely crushed the 8 or 9 Misfits songs they did for those shows, plus they were sandwiched in between absolute classic Danzig material. On that 2005 tour, Danzig had his best post-John Christ era guitarist, Joe Fraulob, on guitar. Sad that he didn't make it longer, he could actually play the leads with the skill and feel they require. On the 2006 tour he had Kenny Hickey, another totally legit stand in for John Christ. Those dudes, plus Doyle, put the 2015 Jerry trio to shame. Not to mention in 2006, they did a bunch of Samhain songs too, apparently at Kenny's behest.

Joe Fraulob and the 'Zig 2005, by Maurice Nunez

Kenny Hickey, lifted from a Myspace fan page (lol)

Listen, I love Danzig... Misfits, Samhain and the eponymous band, it just strikes a chord with me. But this love comes with conditions. Danzig's last two records, Skeletons and Black Laden Crown were bargain bin fodder and the Misfits without him is so fucking spotty, it's really not worth the effort. But two weeks ago, tickets for the June 29th "Original Misfits" show in LA practically fell in my lap and I made plans to go and I am so glad I did.

Werewolf bar mitzvah, spooky, scary 

I gave my spare ticket to Adrian, who plays guitar in Tuning on the condition that we take his car. It also worked out that we could stay at his brother's place in Ventura. The trip was planned and actualized fairly quickly and soon enough we were at the Banc of California stadium. We ran into, and then hung out with, Andy Coretex (who was responsible for the Tuning record even happening) and his family the whole day. The thing is, although we checked out where our far-away-from-the-stage seats were, we never actually sat in them, as there was a snack area, with a much closer view of the stage had a railing you could watch the show and eat at- and that's where we stayed for the whole show.

I'm having the time of my life here.

The Cro-Mags set was hit and miss, I'm not sold on this latest Harley incarnation, the Age of Quarrel songs sounded terrible, but the Best Wishes songs ruled. Anti-Nowhere League sucked, flat out and The Distillers were terribly uninteresting in this setting. Rise Against were pretty good, I really like their first few records and don't terribly mind the radio rock hits, plus Dead Hearts played with they when they were on the way up and they were really fucking cool. The crowd started to fill out 1/2 way through their set- by the time the Misfits took the stage, there were A LOT of people in that stadium.

The Misfits raged through 30 songs, all played with intensity and with 100% devastating effectiveness. I've gone over the set a hundred times in my head the past three day and it's been tough to really find the words to describe it aside from the typical- AWESOME! AMAZING! INCREDIBLE! But that's exactly what it was, awesome, amazing and incredible. I highly doubt the Misfits reunion shows that came before or that will come after will be as good. I think this is the prefect show to finally put the Danzig baby to rest, end on a high note. Especially considering there will be no higher note than the HILARIOUS $10 parking lot bootleg I got with a terribly drawn likeness of the current band on the front and the MICHAEL GRAVES era on the back! Bravo!

The Front

The Back

The Author Enojoying