Australia's Full Metal Racket recently caught up with MINISTRY founder Al Jourgensen. Click here to check out the interview.

As previously reported, Music Today pre- sales for Ministry's C U LaTour begin today (Thursday, November 15th). For more information, visit www.thirteenthplanet.com.

BW&BK; recently received the following Minsitry press release:

On the heels of their final studio release, The Last Sucker, released September 18, 2007, MINISTRY announces their final world tour, C U LaTouR, with special guests MESHUGGAH and opening act HEMLOCK Ministry kicks off the North American leg of C U LaTouR in Vancouver on March 28, 2008, stopping in a limited engagement 33 major market cities through mid-May, ending the US leg in Ministry frontman Al Jourgensen's home town of Chicago. Ministry then heads off to play the principal European festivals as well as choice club dates beginning late May stretching through to July.

Exclusive pre-sale tickets for the North American C U LaTouR, offered by Music Today, go on sale this Thursday, November 15 and can be purchased here, as of Thursday. Exclusive Special Limited Access VIP tickets will also be available for purchase via the pre-sale, offering advance doors, seating, meet & greets and souvenir 13th Planet gift bags.

The C U LaTouR touring line-up features Ministry's founder Al Jourgensen being joined onstage by guitarists Tommy Victor (PRONG) and Sin Quirin (REVOLTING COCKS), keyboardist John Bechdel (Prong, FALSE ICONS), and drummer Jimmy DeGrasso (ex-MEGADETH, SUICIDAL TENDENCIES, ALICE COOPER). STATIC X's Tony Campos has recently stepped in to fulfill bass on behalf of the recently departed Ministry/KILLING JOKE bassist Paul Raven. Joining the Ministry clan as special featured artist will be FEAR FACTORY/ASCENSION OF THE WATCHERS vocalist Burton C. Bell. Main support is Swedish experimental metal Meshuggah and opening act is the US-based Hemlock.

To coincide with C U LaTouR, Jourgensen's indie imprint is scheduled to release Ministry & Co-Conspirators Cover Up, a 12-track covers release featuring artists from the 13th Planet Records family, as well as other special guests. Cover Up is scheduled for a late March/early April 2008 release.

For its spectacular two-and-a-half-hour C U LaTouR set, Ministry will perform tracks from The Last Sucker as well as songs that revisit the band's rich and provocative 30-year musical history. Archival Ministry videos plus other visual elements of alchemy, Christianity, politics and other topics aligned with Ministry will be incorporated into a special video presentation, produced by Wicked Lake director Zach Passero (with whom Jourgensen is collaborating on the soundtrack for the feature film) that will change night to night. And, as is expected from a Ministry show, you just never know what surprise guests will jump on stage for a song or two.

"A Ministry tour is a traveling circus," states Jourgensen. "When we roll into town, everyone hides their daughters, but the freaks roll out the red carpet and a friend or two pops up on stage to add some spice and mayhem to the show. We never know who's gonna walk through the dressing room door at sound check. We rehearse a bunch of 'extra' songs just in case so-and-so shows up..."

With more dates to be added, confirmed dates for Ministry's 2008 C U LaTouR are as follows:

March

28 - Commodore Ballroom - Vancouver, BC
29 - Showbox SoDo - Seattle, WA
30 - Roseland Theatre - Portland, OR

April

1 - Fillmore - San Francisco, CA
2 - Fillmore - San Francisco, CA
5 - House of Blues - Los Angeles, CA
6 - House of Blues - Los Angeles, CA
7 - House of Blues - San Diego, CA
8 - Marquee Theatre - Tempe, AZ
9 - House of Blues - Las Vegas, NV
11 - The Great Salt Air - Salt Lake City, UT
12 - Ogden Theatre - Denver, CO
15 - La Zona Rosa - Austin, TX
17 - Palladium - Dallas, TX
18 - Verizon Wireless Theatre - Houston, TX
19 - House of Blues - New Orleans, LA
22 - Jannus Landing - St. Petersburg, FL
23 - House of Blues - Orlando, FL
24 - Tremont Music Hall - Charlotte, NC
25 - Masquerade - Atlanta, GA
26 - Rams Head Live - Baltimore, MD
27 - Palladium - Worcester, MA
29 - Fillmore at the TLA - Philadelphia, PA

May

1 - Irving Plaza - New York, NY
2 - Irving Plaza - New York, NY
3 - Metropolis, Montreal - QC
4 - Koolhaus - Toronto, ON
6 - Agora Theatre - Cleveland, OH
7 - Emerald Theatre - Detroit, MI
8 - House of Blues - Chicago, IL