Yeah, maybe, it’s definitely slower and sludgier than previous Ministry, but for me it’s more interesting than Godflesh. Maybe it’s just that i like the madness of Ministry whereas Godflesh has never seemed to have any personality, for me anyway, and is kinda inward-looking. I think i just prefer a bit of fury and theatrics rather than 2 guys in jeans and t-shirts with a drum machine. Ministry was exciting, Al was a crazy character and Paul was the solid, technical genius who reigned him in enough to make magic. Godflesh was faceless and there was nothing in the music that appealed to me anywhere near as much as Ministry’s stuff.
Oh, I agree. I’m on that side of the fence. Still though, in my book - and I love Filth Pig - it’s Ministry’s “Godflesh” album, as a point of reference.
[reply]Also, what’s the deal with the lineup? Is the Pissing Razors dude doing OZ, South America, etc? When does Monte Pittman get in the mix? North America?
I wondered the same thing, i thought there were 3 guitars, although i thought that was Monte in the pics. Is it the Pissing Razors guy?[/reply]
Too many beards in the band. They’re all hipster-rockers except Al and Sin. keyboard dude looks like the guy who plays iMac in NIN.
The video of hail to the thief at the festival was pretty deceptive from that angle. Ministry had the biggest crowd of the day on that stage, it’s a bit of a weird set up, but there’s a shitload of space from the other side where there’s a better view. it was totally packed out.
keyboard dude looks like the guy who plays iMac in NIN.
Yeah, that’s John Bechdel, he played for Prong, Murder, Inc., Killing Joke, Fear Factory, and probably a good few others.
I met Tommy Victor in a pub in Glasgow after the Ministry show there a few years ago, spent quite a while talking to him, walked outside and there was the rest of Ministry (minus Al), so i spoke to them too. I recognised Bechdel straight away and said, “Ah, you’re John!” and he went “Hello, yes, i’m John Bechdel, i’m the keyboard player in Ministry and …”, i started laughing because i’ve known who he is for years, he’s played for some of my favourite bands and he was so humble that he felt he had to introduce himself with his full name and profession in case people didn’t know who he was.
The whole band on that tour, Tommy, John, Sin, Aaron Rossi, and Tony Campos were all very friendly, nice guys. I met Al after one of the Dublin shows, he was drunk as fuck, but it was cool to meet him after so many years listening to his music. I ended up running into Tommy, Sin and Tony a few times at those shows.
The video of hail to the thief at the festival was pretty deceptive from that angle. Ministry had the biggest crowd of the day on that stage, it’s a bit of a weird set up, but there’s a shitload of space from the other side where there’s a better view. it was totally packed out.
That’s good news, i knew there were lots of Australian fans who wanted to see them, but in that video it looked like they hadn’t shown up. Glad they got a decent turn out.
[reply][reply]Also, what’s the deal with the lineup? Is the Pissing Razors dude doing OZ, South America, etc? When does Monte Pittman get in the mix? North America?
I wondered the same thing, i thought there were 3 guitars, although i thought that was Monte in the pics. Is it the Pissing Razors guy?[/reply]
Too many beards in the band. They’re all hipster-rockers except Al and Sin. keyboard dude looks like the guy who plays iMac in NIN.[/reply]
I thought he looked like the static-x guy whatever his name is.
Also is it just me or does that dude from Godflesh look eerily similar to Sleazy?
i hung out with benny from godflesh a fair bit- he did remind me a bit of sleazy, now that you mention it. the godflesh fellas are two absolute kings of men. really chilled out and fun to hang out with.
HAHAHAHAHA!!! They put you in a burqa.
Sorry, but that’s pretty funny. Green Day (sorry, I’m not comparing you, it’s just for a similar example) used extra guitars and such for some of their songs and I had heard that they made the musicians stand behind some curtain. It all just seems so petty to me.
Please share some stories about any times/ experiences you got to share with the Mayhem guys.
i did not want to stand there in front of everyone, all my friends were there, i would’ve been more nervous. and to top it off, it would not have looked cult! everyone was like ‘it looked like this detached set of hands playing, it looked fucked up’- like this phantom pianist… would’ve not been KVLT with some dork standing there in shorts playing and waving and blowing kisses to the audience!!!
as for stories with mayhem…
look, not much that’s going to excite you… other than the fact we spent a lot of time at the beach. they loved that shit.
heading to the coast at 5am to go penguin watching was quite memorable also…
some of those mayhem fans are fucked up. we would try to go for a piss or smoke a j, and they’d follow us around the corner and be asking stupid shit. when we left the club, we got followed half way across the city. like true gentlemen, the mayhem dudes took it in their stride. very principled and honourable men, not the crazy disrespectful maniacs their ‘hardcore fans’ probably wish they were.
look, not much that’s going to excite you… other than the fact we spent a lot of time at the beach. they loved that shit.
heading to the coast at 5am to go penguin watching was quite memorable also…
That’s awesome! Glad to hear you actually got to hang with them and were treated well and weren’t just banished to “be here at 6pm to put on your burqa, piano-boy!!!”
some of those mayhem fans are fucked up. we would try to go for a piss or smoke a j, and they’d follow us around the corner and be asking stupid shit. when we left the club, we got followed half way across the city. like true gentlemen, the mayhem dudes took it in their stride. very principled and honourable men, not the crazy disrespectful maniacs their ‘hardcore fans’ probably wish they were.
Wow. I can only imagine.
“Huh huh huh!!! So like, did you eat some of the brains that Euronymous made into stew, huh huh huh!!! When are you guys gonna burn some more churches??”
the thing to remember is that with the murders, it was a tragedy. these guys were all friends and they were in their twenties. i learned a lot about them, but nothing i didn’t already suspect to be the case. just a giant tragedy that was the result of people literally going mad.
It makes total sense, but it’s easy to forget about. I mean, it would totally suck to first off have to experience such tragedy (homie blowing his head off, another dude stabbing another homie, etc., etc. . . .) but to have it reduced to such comedic fodder or heroism for the dipshits, ugggh. It would indeed drive me nuts.
I mean, I don’t know if the INXS guys get asked all the time, “Hey, remember that time your singer died jacking off?” but I think they would get it a lot less. For some reason, the metal scene (especially the so-called “extreme” scene) doesn’t get granted the luxuries of emotional empathy.
A lot of metal fans seem to think Metalocalypse is a documentary. That’s why they hate it when they see Hetfield shopping at The Gap or whatever. “Sell out! He should be wearing all black and living in a torture chamber!”
the thing to remember is that with the murders, it was a tragedy. these guys were all friends and they were in their twenties. i learned a lot about them, but nothing i didn’t already suspect to be the case. just a giant tragedy that was the result of people literally going mad.
That’s amazing, friends of mine would be so jealous, you got to hang out with fucking Mayhem, that is genuinely extraordinary. I used to hear Mayhem constantly when i went to buy smoke, their records were always there at my friend’s house, i’ve read so much about them too. Wow, very very cool. Good for you, sir, how did you get into playing for them, if you don’t mind me being a nosey hooer? That is a very prestigious gig.
When I had first heard about their most recent gig in SF, I thought about going in a “I Heart Transylvania” shirt, but had second thoughts after watching Pure Fucking Mayhem. Necrobutcher seems like he’d be a cool dude, but would probably have knocked me the fuck out if I had tried talking to him after the show wearing that shirt. I hardly wear that shirt anyways. Very stoked for you, evil! I’ll get to the video tomorrow. Is it the whole set?
It makes total sense, but it’s easy to forget about. I mean, it would totally suck to first off have to experience such tragedy (homie blowing his head off, another dude stabbing another homie, etc., etc. . . .) but to have it reduced to such comedic fodder or heroism for the dipshits, ugggh. It would indeed drive me nuts.
I mean, I don’t know if the INXS guys get asked all the time, “Hey, remember that time your singer died jacking off?” but I think they would get it a lot less. For some reason, the metal scene (especially the so-called “extreme” scene) doesn’t get granted the luxuries of emotional empathy.
totally— it’s not only so much that it’s reduced to entertaining fodder for the dipshits, but these are the sort of people who will follow you around a club like a lost dog, and then halfway across the city when you’ve left the club. to attila’s credit, he took it in his stride and made not mention of it, even to me.
the thing to remember is that with the murders, it was a tragedy. these guys were all friends and they were in their twenties. i learned a lot about them, but nothing i didn’t already suspect to be the case. just a giant tragedy that was the result of people literally going mad.
That’s amazing, friends of mine would be so jealous, you got to hang out with fucking Mayhem, that is genuinely extraordinary. I used to hear Mayhem constantly when i went to buy smoke, their records were always there at my friend’s house, i’ve read so much about them too. Wow, very very cool. Good for you, sir, how did you get into playing for them, if you don’t mind me being a nosey hooer? That is a very prestigious gig.[/reply]
I’ve been to nearly every show of Attila’s since I was 19, back in 2007. I finally got to know him when Matt Skitz, from Gravetemple, King Parrot and Damaged introduced us. I sent him a message and we arranged to catch up, next thing I’m hanging with the band at the hotel and they invited me to play.
They were originally going to end with a Tom Jones song for a joke, but went cold on the idea. Attila told them I played piano and he’d heard me before, so they were down with it. A couple of the guys were a little reluctant, but weren’t too hard to convince in the end [:)]
