The band Ministry has picked up a new member, bassist and former Tool founder, Paul D’Amour. Starting in the early 1990s, D’Amour helped start Tool and stayed with the band for much of its early career. He was one of the fundamental parts in creating Tool’s sound, embracing the grunge and alternative rock scene that was becoming popular at the time. After leaving the band in 1995, D’Amour worked on a variety of other musical projects. Now, the bassist has found himself an official part of the band Ministry, which also announced its upcoming summer tour.

Ministry was an incredibly influential metal and heavy rock band in the 1980s and 90s, embracing powerful industrial styles that would go on to change the music of a variety of bands in the rok music scene at the time. Over the past 30 years Ministry has created an incredibly extensive discography, constantly working on creating new music and bringing forward new ideas for their fans. Ministry is still incredibly active, performing much of their oldest content recently at a concert in Brooklyn. One of the members of Ministry commented on how D’Amour told them the influence their band had on how Tool would turn out sounding later on. Having D’Amour on the Ministry roster gives the band even more experience to draw upon for new releases, hopefully allowing them to make their best music yet.

D’Amour joining the band was not the only major news from Ministry today, as the group announced the dates for their upcoming summer 2019 tour. The tour will take place in Europe, taking the band all across the continent. The tour will start in June and run through the end of July, with over twenty shows in total. The full list of tour dates for Ministry can be found below.

Tour Dates:

6/16- Nickelsdorf Novarock, Austria
6/17- Lindau Club Vaudeville, Germany
6/18- Strasbourg Laiterie, France
6/20- Clisson Hellfest, France
6/22- Dessel Graspop, Belgium
6/23- Nijmegen Doornroosje, Netherlands
6/25- Oslo Vulkan Arena, Norway
6/26- Aarhus Voxhall, Denmark
6/27- Hannover Pavillon, Germany
6/30- Berlin Huxleys, Germany (w/ 3TEETH)
7/02- Bristol SWX, UK (w/ 3TEETH)
7/03- Glasgow SWG3, UK (w/ 3TEETH)
7/04- Birmingham O2 Institute, UK (w/ 3TEETH)
7/06- London O2 Shepherd’s Bush Empire, UK (w/ 3TEETH)
7/07- Paris La Machine du Moulin Rouge, France (w/ 3TEETH)
7/09- Bochum Matrix, Germany (w/ 3TEETH)
7/10- Prague Roxy, Czech Republic (w/ 3TEETH)
7/11- Budapest A38, Hungary (w/ 3TEETH)
7/12- Timisoara Rock la Mures, Romania
7/13- Kosice Collosseum Club, Slovakia
7/15- Riga Melna Piektdiena, Latvia (w/ Dying Fetus)
7/16- Tallinn Rock Cafe, Estonia (w/ Dying Fetus)
7/17- Tampere Pakkahuone, Finland (w/ Dying Fetus)
7/19- Gävle Gefle Metal Festival, Sweden

Photo Credits: Raymond Flotat