Q&A with Fireball Ministry's Rev. James A. Rota II and Emily J. Burton
Fireball Ministry understands the power of worship. Like the evangelical program that inspired its name, this L.A.-based stoner rock act bows down to a higher power. Unlike its television namesake, though, the Ministry's all-powerful beings don't take the form of God or Jesus. They have names like Ozzy, Rob Halford, Alice Cooper, Gene Simmons and Lemmy, because Fireball Ministry is dedicated to the Doctrine of Metal.
Rev. James A. Rota II and holy axwoman Emily Burton formed Fireball Ministry in 1998. After anointing John Oreshnick (ex-Muzza Chunka) on drums and, most recently, bassist Janis Tanaka (L7), the Ministry was complete. The band has been busy over the last couple of years, preaching to the converted on tours with Danzig, Nebula, Atomic Bitchwax and Raging Slab, among others, and releasing two albums, 1999's Ou Est La Rock? and the more recent FMEP, which showcases new songs as well as covers of Aerosmith, Blue Cheer, the Misfits, Alice Cooper and an amazing rendition of Judas Priest's "Victim of Changes."
Although Fireball Ministry has the metal-as-religion concept down pat, there's no gimmickry to the band's music. Sounding like a heavier Fu Manchu or a warmer Black Sabbath, the Ministry combines sludgy riffs with Rota's alt-rock vocal style in a mix that could threaten the comfy crossover perch of Queens of the Stone Age. The Ministry comes to New York on July 30 to play Continental, and while they can't afford fancy pyrotechnics, Rota does promise that he and the band will "move our hair around a lot."
Emily J. Burton: He's a reverend of rock. [laughs]
Rota: The deal when we first started the whole thing was, if we're going to do this a la Kiss?who put their blood in their comic books?we should make some sacrifices ourselves. So we went to our accountant and said we have this band and we're touting ourselves as a ministry and we want to go legit with all this. Our accountant grabbed us by the shirt collars and was like, "Are you out of your mind? The minute that the IRS sees that you're trying to call yourself a religious organization and make money, they're gonna come after you!" So we had to thwart that.
Rota: Yeah, like there was never a "spandex period" for AC/DC. They never teased their hair or wore zebra-striped pants. For people who like this kind of music, if someone likes one band and you don't like that band, you're going to have some words, you know? It's almost fanatical?like that movie Trekkies, but without the conventions. In metal and in punk rock, the poser factor is something that fans always have one ear cocked for. When somebody comes into your world and they start talking about bands, you're like, all right, put up or shut up. It's like you have to test people. It's kind of the basic principle behind what we do. We don't really write songs about our problems or what's going on in our lives now. We write songs like Kiss, songs about screwing and the devil and getting drunk and stuff like that.
Rota: I saw Kiss in 1979 when I was very young, with my dad?'cause it was okay by that time for seven- and eight-year-olds to be going to a Kiss show. Basically the idea you got from that band live was, like, I can be God. Not that I've become that, but in a seven-year-old's mind, that's what it's all about.
Burton: I think hell would be a bunch of DJs and someone screaming in my ear.