http://www.nwanews.com/adg/Style/160656/
Ministry loudly voices anti-Bush message in songs
BY JACK W. HILL
Posted on Sunday, July 16, 2006
No band of musicians has been as outspoken as Ministry regarding its contempt and visceral hatred of the Bush administration. Indeed, bassist Paul Raven scoffs at The Dixie Chicks and Neil Young for their comparative measured and tentative opposition to the ruling class.
“If you have to look to a bunch of crusty folk rockers to find your rebellion, you don’t have much in the first place,” Raven cackles from a phone somewhere outdoors in North Carolina, where the sounds of planes flying overhead could be heard. When asked if the government was trying to bomb Ministry into submission, Raven laughs.
“That’s the sound of your tax dollars at work, mate,” he says. “Lots of what gets sent to Iraq and Afghanistan leaves from here.”
Not exactly newcomers to the world of loud rock ’n’ roll, whether it’s called alternative or metal, Ministry took on the first George Bush on “Psalm 69” with N. W. O. The group released its latest CD, Rio Grande Blood, May 2. The album, a follow-up to the 2004 CD, Houses of the Mole, itself another assault on Bush and war, takes some Bush quotes and re-assembles them to have the president saying “I’m a dangerous, dangerous man” on the title track; while on “Lies Lies Lies” a voice asks “Do you still think that jet fuel brought down the World Trade Center ?”
The album’s cover depicts President Bush in a pose akin to a crucified Jesus Christ, standing in an oil drum, surrounded by Stealth bombers and oil pumps in the background. Some of the other song titles on the album are “Fear Is Big Business” and “The Great Satan,” which was nominated for a Grammy Award in the Best Metal Performance category. (The group was also nominated in 1993 and won the award in 2000. )
Rankling the conventional wisdom and the powers-thatbe does not rattle Raven and the leader of Ministry, Al Jourgensen.
“We get a little bit of trouble, you could say,” Raven says. “It’s interesting to see, just the tax man. The government has bigger fish to fry and slightly larger problems these days than the likes of us. I’ve always been a little bit dodgy, as they say in England, where I’m from. I moved here in 1988, and I pay my taxes. I have the right to voice my opinion.
“ Everyone should be concerned about their civil liberties, because very soon, it will be like 1984, with cameras everywhere, and no one will be able to move around without raising suspicion, if you do anything slightly out of the ordinary.”
Raven does mention one incident that could make a person paranoid about being set up. The situation had parallels with the current plot line of the Doonesbury comic strip.
“When we played in Sacramento [May 24 ], someone we hardly knew came on the stage,” he says, “and he set a flag on fire. That goes against what we believe. We love this country, and even though I’m not a citizen, we didn’t want that going on. All that’s just another symptom of a larger problem, how we’re living in Hitler’s version of freedom, and I will not stop complaining about it.
“ I grew up in England and I’ve never been able to separate music from politics. I was in the band Killing Joke in 1977, when we had punk rock and rebellion because of that a ***** e, Thatcher. Now we get asked about Bush-bashing and making negative comments, and I say it’s just that a big part of rock and roll is to be the CNN of the street, since you won ’ t get any real news off the TV, or even from such bands as Green Day.
“ What the Bush clan has done is like in Star Wars, a battle between good and evil. As much as I dislike the French, I have to admire them for their spirit of revolution. In this country, everything is a climate of fear, where money hungry worms are in charge. I’d like there to be guillotines set up outside the White House to deal with all of them.”
The other members of Ministry are guitarists Tommy Victor and Mike Scaccia, keyboardist John Bechdel and drummer Joey Jordison, also of Slipknot. The Web site for the band is www. ministrymusic. org.
Jourgensen also is in one of the opening acts, Revolting Cocks. That band’s latest CD, Cocked and Loaded, was released March 7, and featured guest spots by Jello Biafra, Billy Gibbons of ZZ Top and Rick Nielsen and Robin Zander of Cheap Trick.
“I think the next Ministry CD, The Last Sucker, will be a double disc and we’ll put Min istry to bed after that,” Raven predicts. “We’ll have our variation of the painting of The Last Supper, and all the little Nazis up there that work for Bush, plus b *** h Ann Coulter. She’ll be on that cover.”
MUSIC Ministry Opening acts: Revolting Cocks, Pitbull Daycare Doors at 7 p. m.; show starts at 8 p. m. Wednesday, Clear Channel Metroplex Event Center, Interstate 430 and Col. Glenn Road, Little Rock Admission: $ 25 advance ticket, on sale at Seventh Street Tattoos; $ 28 day of show; open to all ages (501 ) 217-5113