As reported earlier today, MINISTRY bassist Paul Raven passed away on October 20th due to an apparent heart attack. Reports indicate he died at home. Ryan Cooper at About.com has issued an interview with Raven dated October 18th, possibly one of the last interviews he did before he passed away. The following is a brief excerpt:

RC: You say everything has come full circle for you to be working with Al Jourgenson now, but if you look back, you have worked with pretty much everyone who's ever been in Ministry besides him before that.

PR: (Laughs) "Yeah, you know what, and that's funny because I'm actually about to go off to Europe and do the new record with TREPONEM PAL and Marco [Neves], who was also a touring member of Ministry at one point. We were just talking about that today. You know those guys?"

RC: Yeah, Treponem Pal is a name I haven't heard in a while.

PR: "Well, we're doing a new record. Myself and Ted Parsons [SWANS, GODFLESH, PRONG] are playing on the record with Marco and his new band the Cohorts. We're going to go record it in Geneva in October, and I'm sort of prepping for that.

I always had a lot of respect for Al and Paul [Barker], and the music and the way that Al makes great records. We always hoped at some point to have Al produce a record with Killing Joke, or at least do some sort of collaborative work. The nearest we got was with Murder Inc., having Chris Connelly involved.

It actually even more incestuous that you'll ever know, my friend, because, well it just is. There's been a few very close friends exchanged over the years."

RC: So what's next for you?

PR: "What's next for me is, like I said, in October I'm going of to do a little recording with Marco and the guys in Treponem Pal in Geneva. It's looking like MOB RESEARCH is going to be coming out on 13th Planet, I'm hoping, and just gearing up for next year with Ministry. We're gonna kick up a lot of fucking dust, I'll tell you that. It's gonna look really amazing, it's gonna sound amazing, and the lineup's looking real good, now that I'm in it (laughs)."

I think there's going to be some surprises. I'm looking forward to seeing what Al's short list of songs is looking like for the the set. I think we're gonna be surprised by some of it. I'm hoping to keep everybody satisfied with this one that'd be awesome. I mean, it's great for me because I have always been a fan of the music and now to just actually get my hands around it and do my thing with it is very satisfying. It's the most fun I've had on stage ever."

Go to this location for the complete interview.