Out of an abundance of caution for the health and safety of the band, fans and venue staff, MINISTRY‘s upcoming tour — most recently scheduled to kick off in October — has been moved to March and April 2022. THE MELVINS and CORROSION OF CONFORMITY will now appear on all show dates as the tour’s special guests.
Each show date will celebrate 30 years of MINISTRY‘s landmark album “The Mind Is A Terrible Thing To Taste” as well as debut new songs from the forthcoming 15th studio album “Moral Hygiene”, out October 1 via Nuclear Blast Records.
Tickets are on sale now with the exception of the St Paul, Montclair and Huntington dates that will go on sale at 10 a.m. local time on Friday, October 1.
Due to scheduling changes, some of the original show dates have regrettably been canceled as some venues are not available for this updated time period; as well, some new show dates have been added. All tickets will be transferred to the new dates. More show dates will be added to this tour and announced soon.
Tour dates:
Mar. 06 – Baltimore, MD @ Baltimore Soundstage
Mar. 08 – Huntington, NY @ The Paramount
Mar. 09 – Philadelphia, PA @ Franklin Music Hall
Mar. 12 – Montclair, NJ @ Wellmont Theater
Mar. 15 – Boston, MA @ House of Blues
Mar. 16 – Buffalo, NY @ Buffalo Riverworks
Mar. 22 – Atlanta, GA @ Tabernacle
Mar. 23 – Orlando, FL @ Hard Rock Live
Mar. 26 – Dallas, TX @ Amplified Life
Mar. 28 – San Antonio, TX @ Aztec Theater
Mar. 29 – Houston, TX @ House of Blues
Mar. 31 – Chicago, IL @ Riviera
Apr. 01 – Cleveland, OH @ The Agora
Apr. 03 – Royal Oak, MI @ Royal Oak Music Hall
Apr. 05 – St Paul, MN @ Palace*
Apr. 09 – Albuquerque, NM @ Sunshine Theater
Apr. 10 – Denver, CO @ Mission Ballroom*
Apr. 12 – Phoenix, AZ @ The Van Buren
Apr. 13 – Anaheim, CA @ House of Blues
Apr. 14 – San Diego, CA @ House of Blues
Apr. 16 – San Francisco, CA @ Warfield
Apr. 18 – Seattle, WA @ Showbox SoDo
* Moved to larger venues due to popular demand
In a recent interview with Australia’s Heavy, MINISTRY frontman Al Jourgensen stated about the new LP’s musical direction: “Same old stuff. Just a progression of the MINISTRY sound that’s been refined for the last 30 [or] 40 years. And I think we hit a good one this time. There’s a couple that I wish I could have back, and there’s a couple that I’m really gung-ho about. But this one’s in the ‘gung-ho’ category. This one makes a lot of sense for the times that we’re living in.”
As for the lyrical themes covered on “Moral Hygiene”, Jourgensen said: “We cover everything — from the actual pandemic to climate change to the political climate now. And I don’t mean so much the politicians as much as the rise of fascist tendencies all over the world and in various countries. And a lot of life topics like that.”
The album’s first single, “Good Trouble”, was released in early July. The song, inspired by the 2020 Black Lives Matter protests and the activist work of the late congressman John Lewis, was accompanied by a video that includes sampling from last year’s demonstrations in Los Angeles as captured by Jourgensen and his partner Liz Walton. “Moral Hygiene” also includes the previously released “Alert Level” that sounded the alarms about our collective dissonance towards the pandemic, climate change and the man formerly in the White House, bolstered by the song’s overarching question posed to listeners: “How concerned are you?” The new album also adds perspective to the countless lives that were tragically lost to the COVID-19 pandemic on the haunting track “Death Toll” while “Disinformation” describes the too frequent willingness to accept everything — even mistruths — as fact.
Other musical jewels on the upcoming release include a collaboration with Jello Biafra (Jourgensen‘s cohort in side project LARD) on “Sabotage Is Sex”.
“Moral Hygiene” was recorded with engineer Michael Rozon (also behind the boards on “AmeriKKKant”) at Scheisse Dog Studio, Jourgensen‘s self-built home studio and creative lab. As with all MINISTRY albums, all songs are written and performed by Jourgensen. Additional contributions come from Morrison, Cesar Soto (MAN THE MUTE), John Bechdel (KILLING JOKE, FEAR FACTORY), Roy Mayorga (STONE SOUR, SOULFLY, NAUSEA), Paul D’Amour (TOOL, FEERSUM ENNJIN), Arabian Prince (N.W.A.), Jello Biafra (DEAD KENNEDYS) and sitar player Flash.
“Moral Hygiene” will be available in CD, vinyl and digital download formats.
