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."

So James, are you actually a reverend? Rev. James A. Rota II: Well...

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.

What can you tell me about your, uh, belief system? Rota: I think basically [metal] has always been a religion to us. As you probably know, metal fans are pretty diehard, and that's what we are?grown-up metalheads who have our own band. When Emily and I were starting the band, there was this crazy public access show in Cincinnati, where we were living at the time, called Fireball Ministry. It was run by this 300-pound preacher; it was insane watching her get people riled up. You know how evangelical preachers can get.

What are some of the doctrines of the metal church? Burton: That rock 'n' roll is more than just music you throw on or catch when it's on the radio. Metal is a lifestyle, with a whole set of standards for your music and your beliefs. We go by the old bands that we respect?Motörhead or Black Sabbath or Judas Priest?bands that always stayed true to their music, always stuck to their guns and did their own thing without the influence of what was popular at the time.

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.

Yeah, then there's this new metal scene where all these bands like Staind are the spokespeople for how badly parents can damage a kid. Do you feel any kind of connection with the crop of new metal? Burton: Not too much. It's weird, these new bands are kind of angry, but even though they're shouting, they come off like they're whining. I think grunge kind of started that and it's just progressed.

Getting back to the Ministry, what's your version of the Good Book? Rota: [Records by] those bands that when you hear their music, your hand immediately clenches into a fist and goes into the air?the kind of music that would make the Queen of England play air guitar.

So instead of the Book, you have different Records you follow... Rota: Yeah. I would definitely say Sad Wings of Destiny by Judas Priest. Black Sabbath Vol. 4 and Kiss?Rock and Roll Over. I can name about a hundred others too...stuff that's not pretentious and doesn't have a hip haircut. We all come from small towns. Two of us come from New Jersey and Emily's from Indiana. We come from the kinds of places where you get a sixpack and a cheap bag of weed and some Kiss tapes and you've got your weekend.

Where you went to high school, was it cool to like metal? At my school all the metal kids were in a fringe stoner pack and all the popular kids were into bands like U2 and rank classic rock like the Steve Miller Band. Rota: When I was in high school there was a large football-player contingent that was into the Grateful Dead. There was like one table for the Minor Threat fans and the punk rock fans, and then there was another table for the metalhead kids. We always had a mutual respect for the punk rock kids because their numbers were small, but it was definitely not in vogue to be into Megadeth.

What was the one experience that turned you from playing air guitar to actually learning an instrument? Burton: I remember being at a party and I was 13 or 14 and they put on Black Sabbath's Greatest Hits. I was like, where has this been all my life? That was the turning point. Before that I was into like late 60s stuff and cheese metal.

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.

Well, finally, I want to know what hell is like in the Fireball Ministry. Rota [laughing]: It ain't a bad place to be, as Bon Scott said. No, hell in our religion is full of posers. Full of people who only own the Van Halen albums with Sammy Hagar.

Burton: I think hell would be a bunch of DJs and someone screaming in my ear.

Fireball Ministry plays July 30 at Continental, 25 3rd Ave. (St. Marks Pl.), 529-6924.