Fireball Ministry is an American heavy metal band from Los Angeles, California, formed in 1999.

Biography

Formed in

Cincinnati Cincinnati ( ) is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Hamilton County. Settled in 1788, the city is located at the northern side of the confluence of the Licking and Ohio rivers, the latter of which marks the state lin ...

in the late 1990s by James A. Rota II and Emily Burton, Fireball Ministry moved to New York City before settling in Los Angeles. In 2000, they performed at the two-day "November Dismember" metal-music festival in

San Bernardino, California San Bernardino (; Spanish language, Spanish for Bernardino of Siena, "Saint Bernardino") is a city and county seat of San Bernardino County, California, United States. Located in the Inland Empire region of Southern California, the city had a ...

, playing on the second day. The festival was situated at the National Orange Show fairgrounds in two hangars. After several years appearing with various big name bands in the genre such as Danzig,

Anthrax Anthrax is an infection caused by the bacterium '' Bacillus anthracis''. It can occur in four forms: skin, lungs, intestinal, and injection. Symptom onset occurs between one day and more than two months after the infection is contracted. The s ...

Motörhead Motörhead () were an English rock band formed in London in 1975 by Lemmy (lead vocals, bass), Larry Wallis (guitar) and Lucas Fox (drums). Lemmy was also the primary songwriter and only constant member. The band are often considered a prec ...

, and Slayer, but without a breakthrough in album sales, they polished their own sound to continue gaining a wider following. The tracks "King" and "Flatline" appeared in the

big wave surfing Big wave surfing is a discipline within surfing in which experienced surfers paddle into, or are towed into, waves which are at least 20 feet (6.2 m) high, on surf boards known as "guns" or towboards. Sizes of the board needed to successfully su ...

documentary ''Billabong Odyssey'' (2003). The track "King" was also selected by

Bam Margera Brandon Cole "Bam" Margera ( ; born September 28, 1979) is an American former professional skateboarder, stunt performer, television personality, and filmmaker. He rose to prominence in the early 2000s as one of the stars of the MTV realit ...

and appeared on his ''

Viva La Bands ''Viva La Bands'' is a music compilation album by professional skateboarder and television personality Bam Margera, released on June 21, 2005. It features songs from some of Margera's favorite artists. A second volume, '' Viva La Bands, Volume ...

'' compilation. The band teamed up with Margera's brother, Jess, when they toured Europe with CKY in 2004. The track "The Broken" was included in the wrestling video game '' WWE SmackDown! vs. Raw 2006'' for the PlayStation 2. The band went through four different bass players, starting with Helen Storer, who played on '' Où est la Rock?'' (1999) and was replaced by

Fu Manchu Dr. Fu Manchu () is a supervillain who was introduced in a series of novels by the English author Sax Rohmer beginning shortly before World War I and continuing for another forty years. The character featured in cinema, television, radio, comi ...

bassist Brad Davis on '' FMEP'' (2001), who was himself replaced by former L7 bass player Janis Tanaka on ''The Second Great Awakening'' (2003). Former

Systematic Systematic may refer to: Science * Short for systematic error * Systematic fault * Systematic bias, errors that are not determined by chance but are introduced by an inaccuracy (involving either the observation or measurement process) inheren ...

bassist Johny Chow then took the place of Tanaka for the ''

Their Rock Is Not Our Rock ''Their Rock Is Not Our Rock'' is the third studio album by American rock band Fireball Ministry, released via Liquor and Poker Music in 2005. The album features the song "The Broken", which is recognized for its use in the video game ''WWE Sma ...

'' album (2005), which was recorded at

Dave Grohl David Eric Grohl (born January 14, 1969) is an American musician. He is the founder of the rock band Foo Fighters, in which he is the lead singer, guitarist, and principal songwriter. Prior to forming Foo Fighters, he was the drummer of gru ...

's 606 West studio and, like the band's previous works, was produced by

Nick Raskulinecz Nick Raskulinecz () (born February 4, 1970) is an American record producer. He resides in Nashville, Tennessee. Production career Raskulinecz is from the Bearden area of Knoxville, Tennessee. He first produced and recorded bands in Knoxvil ...

. In another connection helped by Margera, they supported CKY on their 2005

Adio Adio may refer to: Business *Adio (company), the former skateboard footwear and apparel company Music Songs * "Adio" (song), a song by Montenegrin recording artist Knez that represented Montenegro at the Eurovision Song Contest 2015 *"Adio", a 19 ...

Footwear-sponsored tour, having already opened for them on their UK tour in 2004. Original drummer John Oreshnick took a leave of absence due to family issues in the fall of 2006, to be replaced by Yael during their subsequent tour. Yael and Johny Chow were former bandmates in My Ruin. Yael subsequently left the band in winter 2006, and Oreshnick rejoined. Rota considered becoming an

ordained minister In Christianity, a minister is a person authorised by a church or other religious organization to perform functions such as teaching of beliefs; leading services such as weddings, baptisms or funerals; or otherwise providing spiritual guida ...

, but was persuaded not to on account of possible legal and taxation issues. However, he did eventually become

ordained Ordination is the process by which individuals are consecrated, that is, set apart and elevated from the laity class to the clergy, who are thus then authorized (usually by the denominational hierarchy composed of other clergy) to perform var ...

and performed wedding ceremonies for Matt Deis of CKY and Erica Beckmann in November 2005, and

and Missy Rothstein in February 2007. In an interview for Blabbermouth.net in May 2007, James Rota stated that "we ireball Ministryare in the stages of writing a new album". In the same Interview, Rota also referred to what would later become

The Company Band The Company Band is an American heavy metal band. Formed in 2007, the band is a supergroup featuring vocalist Neil Fallon (of Clutch), guitarists James A. Rota (of Fireball Ministry) and Dave Bone, bassist Brad Davis (of Fu Manchu), and drumm ...

EP, ''

Sign Here, Here and Here ''Sign Here, Here and Here'' is an EP by American heavy metal band The Company Band. This is The Company Band's debut recording, it was recorded at '' Bam Margera's'' personal studio ''The Hobbit Hole'' during 2007. The CD was mixed by Andrew ...

''. On June 14, 2008, Rota stated that three tracks had been recorded for the as yet unnamed fifth Fireball Ministry album, and was also working on a full-length Company Band album and a third, unspecified project. However, Johny Chow was on tour playing bass guitar with

Cavalera Conspiracy Cavalera Conspiracy is an American heavy metal supergroup founded by Brazilian brothers Max (vocals, rhythm guitar) and Igor Cavalera (drums, percussion). The band originally formed in 2007 as Inflikted but changed its name for legal reasons. ...

and

Stone Sour Stone Sour is an American rock band formed in Des Moines, Iowa, in 1992. The band performed for five years before disbanding in 1997. They reunited in 2000 and since 2015, the group has consisted of Corey Taylor (lead vocals, guitar), Josh Ra ...

. Some tracks from the album ''Fireball Ministry'' such as "Kick Back" "End of Story" and "Fallen Believers" appeared as soundtrack on the ''

Sons of Anarchy ''Sons of Anarchy'' is an American action crime drama television series created by Kurt Sutter for FX. Originally aired from September 3, 2008 to December 9, 2014, ''Sons of Anarchy'' follows the lives of a close-knit outlaw motorcycle club o ...

'' television series The band released their fifth album, '' Remember the Story'', on October 6, 2017, via Cleopatra Records.

Inspiration

The band's imagery draws heavily from

Christianity Christianity is an Abrahamic monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth Jesus, likely from he, יֵשׁוּעַ, translit=Yēšūaʿ, label=Hebrew/Aramaic ( AD 30 or 33), also referred to as Jesu ...

, with " ministry" in their name, the albums ''The Second Great Awakening'' and ''

'', a reference to

Deuteronomy Deuteronomy ( grc, Δευτερονόμιον, Deuteronómion, second law) is the fifth and last book of the Torah (in Judaism), where it is called (Hebrew: hbo, , Dəḇārīm, hewords Moses.html" ;"title="f Moses">f Moseslabel=none) and th ...

32:31. MTV.com described the band's music as having "a musical chemistry between the members... that makes their songs buzz with warmth". The name "Fireball Ministry" comes from a public-access TV show in

that went by the same name.

Discography

Studio albums

* '' Où est la Rock?'' (1999) * ''The Second Great Awakening'' (2003) * ''

'' (2005) * ''Fireball Ministry'' (2010) * '' Remember the Story'' (2017)

EPs

* '' FMEP'' (2001)

Members

Current

James A. Rota II – vocals, guitars (1999–present)
Emily Burton – guitars (1999–present)
John Oreshnick – drums (1999–present)
Scott Reeder – bass (2014–present)

Former

Helen Storer – bass (1999–2001), touring (2018)
Brad Davis – bass (2001–2002)

Janis Tanaka Janis Tanaka (born January 9, 1963) is an American bassist who has worked as a session musician and on tour with a number of well-known artists including Pink, Fireball Ministry, Hammers of Misfortune, Stone Fox, and L7. She was also a member o ...

– bass (2002–2004)
Johny Chow – bass (2004–2014)
Yael – drums (2006)
Brad Prescott –

mandolin A mandolin ( it, mandolino ; literally "small mandola") is a stringed musical instrument in the lute family and is generally plucked with a pick. It most commonly has four courses of doubled strings tuned in unison, thus giving a total of 8 ...

(2016)

References

{{Fireball Ministry 1999 establishments in California Cleopatra Records artists Hard rock musical groups from California Heavy metal musical groups from California Musical quartets American stoner rock musical groups Liquor and Poker Music artists Nuclear Blast artists