Stone Sour drummer Roy Mayorga will be rejoining Ministry on drums for their upcoming Fall 2021 tour with Helmet and Front Line Assembly. He had played with them in 2016-2017 after the industrial metal band’s previous drummer Aaron Rossi left and before their next drummer Derek Abrams took over.
He’s definitely free to go on tour, since his two recent bands are both on somewhat of a hiatus right now. Stone Sour’s Corey Taylor said they’d be on hiatus indefinitely, and Mayorga is also the current drummer for Hellyeah, who said they have no plans on making any more new music. Having filled in following the death of their original drummer Vinnie Paul in 2018, he joined as live drummer in 2019 following their last album with Paul, Welcome Home, which may be the groove metal group’s last album altogether, according to guitarist Tom Maxwell. Mayorga has played with several other notable bands as well. He was the original drummer for former Sepultura frontman Max Cavalera’s current project Soulfly, played on all of iconic punk band Nausea’s recordings from 1989-1992, drummed for short-lived metal band Medication, joined UK punk group Amebix for their reunion in 2008-2012 and even had a brief stint in hardcore band Shelter.
Ministry is calling the tour the Industrial Strength Tour, and will kick it off on October 3 in Albuquerque, NM and wrap it up on November 3 in Seattle, WA. Other notable locations include The Paramount in Huntington, NY, the House of Blues in Houston, TX, the House of Blues in Anaheim, CA and The Warfield Theatre in San Francisco, CA.
The tour was originally scheduled for Summer 2020 and rescheduled for Spring 2021 before landing in Fall 2021. The band tried to retain most of the same locations, but some had to be switched along the way. KMFDM was going to play as a support act, but had to be replaced by Helmet.
On the tour, Ministry will be celebrating their 1989 classic album The Mind Is a Terrible Thing to Taste. It was their heaviest album to date when it came out, and showed them moving into the metal direction the rest of their career would take. They chose to celebrate it because it featured contributions from the late Bill Rieflin, although he was never officially credited as member of the band. Ministry also announced plans for a new album that has yet to surface.
Photo credit: Raymond Flotat
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