Fireball Ministry returns with self-titled album March 16
FIREBALL MINISTRY ain’t got a rule book. If shit rocks, it rocks. Period. And the critically acclaimed LA group FIREBALL MINISTRY will return this Spring with their self-titled fourth album due out MARCH 16 via Restricted Release.
Beloved by critics and hard rock fans across the globe (see critical soundbites listed below), FIREBALL MINISTRY’s REVEREND JAMES A. ROTA II (guitar, vocals), EMILY J. BURTON (guitar), JOHN ORESHNICK (drums) and JOHNY CHOW (bass) asked an important question with their 1999 debut album: Ou Est La Rock? (Bong Load). Four years later, the rumble rang louder from the underground, with MTV News taking notice of The Second Great Awakening (2003, Nuclear Blast). Their third album, Their Rock Is Not Our Rock, was released by Liquor and Poker (the group’s third label) in 2005. The new disc, titled simply FIREBALL MINISTRY marks the follow-up to Their Rock Is Not Our Rock and their first release without a traditional label.
After an extended break where outside projects were allowed to flourish–ROTA with members of Clutch and CKY in The Company Band and CHOW with Max and Igor from Sepultura in Cavalera Conspiracy–FIREBALL MINISTRY reconvened with their sights set on a more hands-on approach to their career via Restricted Release. “A million bands are going through this right now, but we decided to take matters into our own hands,” ROTA says. “With the new technology available to us, we’re able to get our music out in a much more hands-on kind of way.”
For their new album, the group re-teamed with renowned producer/engineer Andrew Alekel (Queens of the Stone Age, Foo Fighters)–who they’d previously tapped for production on FMEP and The Second Great Awakening. FIREBALL MINISTRY was recorded at Grandmaster in Hollywood, with additional vocals tracked at Dave Grohl’s Studio 606.
During the recording process, the foursome shrugged-off any preconceived notions. As a result, FIREBALL MINISTRY is a triumph of will from a band who knows exactly what they are… And exactly what they aren’t. “Nobody looked at each other in the practice room and said, ‘That riff doesn’t sound like Fireball,’” explains frontman JAMES A. ROTA. “If a song is great, it’s great. We wrote the songs we wanted to write and the record glows with this freedom.” The new songs flow effortlessly: the slight rustic twang that opens “Fallen Believers” is as meat and potatoes as it gets with a stomach-punch groove that drops from the speakers when it kicks in. “Butcher, Faker, Policy Maker” pulses with an anthemic verse stronger than most bands’ choruses. “Thought it Out” is the best Cheap Trick song you haven’t heard, filtered through the hard-driving Fireball engine.
ROTA’s haunting yet alternately inviting melodious voice drips warmly atop the songs rather than doing battle with the riffs, as his guitar partners with BURTON’s to remind people what they first loved about the crackle of a vintage amp. CHOW’s low-end is rhythmic and anchoring without sacrificing fluidity or dynamics, while ORESHNICK’s drumming serves the songs with the strength of vision inherent in old school pounders who resist the urge to overplay or showoff.
A clandestine and subversive cadre of true-believers from all walks of life have spread the good word about FIREBALL MINISTRY since they relocated from New York City to Hollywood. The list of legendary icons who have invited the band—who are well-known for their raucous live performances–to share their stages reads like a crucial discography of desert island riffs: Judas Priest, Alice Cooper, Dio, Blue Oyster Cult, Uriah Heap, Motorhead, Slayer and the list goes on… Folks with a radar for a righteous rock show and a low tolerance for the insincere including–Dave Grohl, Kat Von D. and Bam Margera,–to name a few, will sing FIREBALL MINISTRY’s praises without prompting.
FIREBALL MINISTRY’s songs have appeared on numerous TV shows and films including most recently three songs “Kick Back,” “End of Story,” and “Fallen Believers,” on the highly-acclaimed “Sons of Anarchy” airing on the FX Network. “Choker” was featured on the award-winning HBO series “The Sopranos” while “Daughter of the Damned” was in the Christian Slater feature film Alone In The Dark. In addition to having six songs appear on MTV’s “Viva La Bam” series, FIREBALL’s music has also appeared extensively in the world of extreme action sports and gaming, “King” and “Flatline” were featured in the Billabong “Odyssey” movie and “The Broken” in World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) video game “WWE SmackDown! vs. RAW.”
Following is the track listing for FIREBALL MINISTRY (Restricted Release):
1) Hard Lines
2) Fallen Believers
3) Thought It Out
4) Followed By a Fall
5) Kick Back
6) Butcher, Faker, Policy Maker
7) End of Story
8) Common Enemy
9) Sleeping With Angels
10) In Their Own Right
FIREBALL MINISTRY discography:
Ou Est La Rock? (Bong Load, 1999)
FMEP (Small Stone, 2001)
The Second Great Awakening (Nuclear Blast, 2003)
Their Rock Is Not Our Rock (Liquor & Poker, 2005)
Fireball Ministry (Restricted Release, 2010)
