Ministry to perform at Hard Rock Live
If the themes in Ministry’s 14th studio album “AmeriKKKant” seem dark, keyboardist John Bechdel says maybe we should look in a mirror.
“We’re just a reflection of the world we live in,” said the musician of the record released in March. Even with songs about war and Antifa, Bechdel says it’s not exactly a political album. “It’s not about Trump; it’s about why is this guy our president.”
Ministry has been taking swings at society since their debut in 1983. Handling the keys for such industrial and gothic rock staples as Killing Joke and Prong, Bechdel first joined Ministry’s lineup in 2006. The band will be swinging Thursday into Hard Rock Live in Universal CityWalk (7 p.m., $33-$38, ticketmaster.com).
Part of Bechdel’s job is to add what he calls the industrial “atmospherics” to the soundscape of the band. “I would make my own sounds by dragging pieces of metal around in a room or outside or banging on things,” he said.
Hailing from Pennsylvania, the instrumentalist was introduced to music in a more traditional avenue than one might expect. “My parents both played piano,” he said. “My siblings and I learned the piano. I grew up listening to classical.”
Bechdel’s path soon diverged from that of his parents. “I quickly realized that music theory wasn’t what I was into. I was into making music, producing music and composing music.”
Bechdel, 53, focused on music engineering in college, which led to finding his niche in bands later. “Using computers to edit sounds and create sounds, I was on the cutting edge of all of that technology,” he said. “There was a movement in the early ’90s when industrial got popular that everybody wanted to be industrial. Everybody wanted somebody in the band making sounds.”
But what influenced the darker themes in his music? “Maybe it’s that mentality that people in small towns have, that desperation that we’ve got to get out of here,” he said. “We had to find our own voice and our own sound.”
Bechdel’s sister is Alison Bechdel, who wrote the graphic memoir “Fun Home.” The story details their early life together and their family’s funeral home business. The book was adapted into a musical that made its Broadway debut in 2015. Did Bechdel find it interesting to see himself portrayed as a character on stage? “I wouldn’t say interesting; I would say surreal,” he said. “I always had this feeling as a child that I was being watched. Even in the bathroom that everything was being documented. I just felt like there were eyes on me. And now I know it was my sister.”
“Killing the Joke: The John Bechdel Story,” a documentary by director Darryl Hell, is slated to be released in May. “It wasn’t my idea to make the documentary,” Bechdel said, though he does see a story in his life. “People used to say things like, ‘Maybe you should write a memoir.’ But my sister beat me to it.”