Excellent interview! Lots of great info, thanks Wemp!
Is there a download available somewhere?
2 Likes
No download at the moment. I’m working on cobbling together an mp3 sans music for posterity. Might have it in a week or two.
3 Likes
Is there a complete recording of the 1983 Los Angeles show? Those tracks sounded great.
1 Like
This might be the last day to catch the replay of the With Sympathy 40th anniversary radio show with Rob as the guest DJ:
Click on the 80s Hades show with Dr. Incognito from May 9, 2023
1 Like
Today marks the 40th anniversary of Ministry’s live show at Comiskey Park in Chicago. Several bands opened for The Police who were kicking off their massively popular “Synchronicity Tour.”
I believe this was the lineup, but it may be out of order:
Minstry
The Fixx
A Flock of Seagulls
Joan Jett
The Police
6 Likes
I’m always hoping for recordings to surface. I think The Police show was professionally filmed (or at least parts of it).
Great line up though. I’ve been spinning the Fixx a lot lately.
3 Likes
The Fixx are a very cool band…just saw they are coming through town here pretty soon…maybe I will go see them.
2 Likes
If you see them, tell them to get their shit back up on Spotify.
1 Like
And just like that the With Sympathy tour concluded with a series of shows on the west coast in September 1983.
The final show at the Hollywood Palladium on September 12, 1983 appears to have been recorded as a few tracks have surfaced over the years. Perhaps the full show will be released one day.
Over the next several months Ministry would regroup in Chicago with the eventual departure of a few key band members. A few demos have surfaced from those post-With Sympathy sessions which were captured in the Trax Box set.
2 Likes
I’m curious to see what Al does with his new version of With Sympathy. Revenge was decent.
Hopefully there’s more material lingering in the vaults. I’d love to hear Foxhole Trot (with Shay Jones) and Oceanside Away, if recordings still exist.
2 Likes
This is about the only stuff I’d be interested in. Trax Box and rarities were pretty badass surprises a few years ago. NuMinistry releases and butt-rock WS don’t interest me in the slightest.
3 Likes
With Sympathy: Al Jourgensen at 65
Good article with some insights from former band members (Mark and Brad).
8 Likes
Cool interview, thanks for sharing! That reminds me, I recently found that my copy of the “I Wanted To Tell Her” 12" is a misprint. It credits the line up for the first version of the song, while the more common version has the correct credits, which includes Mark Pothier.
3 Likes
Oh you must be talking about the sessions paul was actually at offering input but not getting any credit at all on w/s.
Wow, not getting credit, he wasn’t an official member sure but he was there and I’ve seen the pic that al wasn’t able to corral, this particular pic.
Who does this sound like? Oh no, not the fearless leader.
Have fun with that AND your welcome.
Dude,there is a poster on this board who was in the fucking band during that era… I’ll take his account over yours any day of the week…Paul isn’t on With Sympathy and he isn’t on Twitch therefore NOT a founding member no matter how you try to spin it… but by all means keep blathering on…done with your nonsense…
5 Likes
Al first met Paul in 1983 in Boston as he produced material for Paul’s band The Blackouts. The Blackouts also opened for some shows on the With Sympathy tour.
That being said, Paul didn’t join Ministry until the Twitch tour in 1986 and didn’t contribute in the studio prior to that.
Ministry started recording in 1980. Since the two didn’t meet until 1983, Paul can’t be considered a founding member.
5 Likes
Precisely…
1 Like
Exactly, just an innocent bystander.
That’s true. But I’m not gonna argue if you think Barker was a founding member either. There are two distinct versions of Ministry maybe 3 because I sometimes view Twitch as a hybrid of WS and the abrasive industrial stuff that was on the horizon.
I would consider Barker a founding member in the version of Ministry that actually gained a following in that LORAH 1988 era that sparked the entire thing and the reason most of us post here and became fans
1 Like
You raise an interesting question in terms of who was/is an actual official member of Ministry. You have the primary songwriter (Al), band members who were actually signed to the label, and then additional session musicians hired to record and/or tour with the band. The founding members would likely be the group that first performed in Chicago on New Year’s Eve in 1981. However, I think the band members that were under the first record contract (with Arista) were Al and Stevo - hence the picture of the two of them on the record sleeve. It seems like it was a bit of trial and error with band lineups until Al landed the record deal with SIre/Warner Bros. Hypo Luxa and Hermes Pan first appeared on LORAH, so I’m guessing Paul was an official band member at that point. I think the liner notes in the records from that era define who are the official members at that moment. I guess I’ve always thought of Ministry is Al Jourgensen similar to Nine Inch Nails is Trent Reznor.
2 Likes