Los Angeles, CA - "We don't just bitch about Bush and global oligarchies. We're still a rock band and 'Cover Up' is THE Ministry party album," said Ministry's Al Jourgensen about "Cover Up," recorded by Ministry & Co-Conspirators and set for an April Fools Day (April 1) release.

"Cover Up" simply is one of the hottest, nastiest rock'n'roll albums ever recorded and sees Jourgensen and Co-Conspirators paying tribute to some of the most memorable PAR-TEE rock songs, mostly from the 8-track era, and to those artists who first laid them down - Deep Purple, T-Rex, ZZ Top, The Doors, Mountain, Bob Dylan, The Rolling Stones and more.

Playing on the "Cover Up" title, Jourgensen has injected himself into various conspiracy theory photographs throughout the release's artwork.

In addition to fellow Ministry guitarist Sin Quirin (Revolting Cocks), Jourgensen enlisted an impressive group of Co-Conspirators for "Cover Up" - Fear Factory front man Burton C. Bell (also Ascension of The Watchers) sings on the Rolling Stones’ “Under My Thumb,” Revolting Cocks' Josh Bradford provides vocals for Golden Earring's "Radar Love," and Prong vocalist Thomas Victor lends his pipes to Deep Purple's "Space Truckin'" and Ran Jam's "Black Betty," which also features the Hell Paso Mosh Choir. Additional Co-Conspirators include the late Paul Raven (Ministry/Killing Joke), Tony Campos and Wayne Static (Static X), Edu Mussi (Echoes and Shadows) and Plastilina Mosh.

"Cover Up" will also include Ministry’s cover of The Doors’ “Roadhouse Blues” (the version can also be found on Ministry's September 2007 release, "The Last Sucker"), and Deep Purple’s “Space Truckin,” all tracks culminating in Jourgensen's personal punk rock rendition of Louis Armstrong’s “Wonderful World.”

"'Under My Thumb,' like The Doors' cover 'Roadhouse Blues,' was about my not understanding the dichotomies involved," says Jourgensen. "If you listen to the lyrics to 'Under My Thumb,' it's the most misogynistic song ever made. I never understood that dichotomy so I always wanted to tackle it. Same with 'Roadhouse,' it's a blues-based song, yet the lyrics are about driving your car into a wall at full speed, drunk, and not giving a f**k. It's so much an Anarchist anthem, it should've been a Sex Pistols song. So, I wanted to approach both tracks with the spirit of the original lyrical intent."

The April Fools Day release of "Cover Up" coincides with the launch of Ministry's final world tour - C U LaTouR - which kicks off March 25 in Spokane, WA. The 36-plus market limited engagement C U LaTouR features Special Guests Meshuggah and opening act Hemlock, ending the North American leg mid-May with multiple-nights in Ministry front man Al Jourgensen's home town of Chicago. Ministry then heads off to play the principal European festivals as well as choice club dates, kicking off in London at the end of May, stretching through to July to end the tour in Dublin, Ireland - that itinerary will be announced shortly.

Since announcing the C U LaTouR in late October, additional shows in Spokane, Calgary, Vancouver, Tulsa and Chicago have been added to the routing, with more dates to be announced in the coming weeks.

The "C U LaTouR" touring line-up features Ministry's founder Al Jourgensen (vocals, guitars) being joined onstage by guitarists Tommy Victor (Prong) and Sin Quirin (Revolting Cocks), keyboardist John Bechdel (Fear Factory, False Icons), and drummer AAron Rossi (Prong/John 5). 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.

After 10 albums and 28 years (including a 2006 Grammy nomination for “Lieslieslies” from the "Rio Grande Blood" album), and a Grammy nod in 2005 for “The Great Satan,” from "Rantology," Jourgensen has decided that the Ministry garage is ready to close its doors, but the revolving 13th Planet Studio doors remain open for Jourgensen's collaborations and also for upcoming 2008 releases on his 13th Planet imprint, including Ascension of The Watchers, False Icons, The Revolting Cocks, and the "Wicked Lake" soundtrack, as well as remixes of Ministry's "The Last Sucker" and Prong's "Power of The Damager."

For its spectacular two-and-a-half-hour "C U LaTouR" set, Ministry will perform tracks from both "The Last Sucker" and "Cover Up" as well as songs that revisit the band's rich and provocative 28-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 shows to be added, confirmed dates for Ministry's 2008 "C U LaTouR" are as follows:

MARCH

• 25 Big Easy, Spokane, WA
• 26 The Whiskey, Calgary, AB Canada
• 27 Croatian Cultural Center, Vancouver, BC
• 28 Commodore Ballroom, Vancouver, BC CANADA
• 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
• 14 Sunshine Theatre, Albuquerque, NM
• 15 La Zona Rosa, Austin, TX
• 16 Cain's Ballroom, Tulsa, OK
• 17 Palladium, Dallas, TX
• 18 Verizon Wireless Theatre, Houston, TX
• 19 House of Blues, New Orleans, LA
• 21 Revolution, Ft. Lauderdale, FL
• 22 House of Blues, Orlando, FL
• 23 Jannus Landing, St. Petersburg, 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 CANADA
• 4 Koolhaus, Toronto, ON CANADA
• 6 Agora Theatre, Cleveland, OH
• 7 Emerald Theatre, Detroit, MI
• 8 House of Blues, Chicago, IL
• 9 House of Blues, Chicago, IL

| 03.21.2008 |

New York, NY - Multi-platinum Island Records group Fall Out Boy announced today that they are attempting to set a Guinness World Record, for the first band to play a concert in all seven continents, in a time frame under 9 months. The band kicked off the record in Johannesburg, South Africa late last summer, then toured through Europe, Asia, Australia and North America last fall. The South American show will take place in Santiago Chile on March 23, followed up by King George, Island in Antarctica on March 25, where they hope to receive the Guinness World Record.

Fall Out Boy is working with Greenpeace for the concert in Antarctica, in hopes of raising awareness about global warming, one of the most serious crises facing the world today. Greenpeace is working to bring about an energy revolution- and move the world to replace dirty fossil fuels with clean, renewable energy sources and to hold governments accountable until they act to stop global warming. The proceeds from this concert will help Greenpeace's work to solve this urgent problem.

| 03.21.2008 |

New York, NY - With his first #1 Urban single under his belt, “Falsetto” – follow-up to his first smash “Shawty Is A 10” – both from his debut album LOVE HATE, Def Jam recording artist The-Dream is about to undertake the first major cross-country North American tour of his career. The-Dream will join Mary J. Blige and JAY-Z for their “Heart Of The City” tour, opening March 22nd at American Airlines Arena in Miami. The 22-city U.S. and Canadian tour is scheduled to end on May 7th with the last of 3 homecoming concerts at Madison Square Garden in New York City. (Please see initial tour dates below.)

“Falsetto” breaks to #1 this week on the R&R/BDS and Mediabase Urban charts at, while moving to #16 -bullet on the Billboard Hot 100 Airplay chart, with audience over 55 million and 6,300+ spins. Just prior to the December 11th release of LOVE HATE, “Shawty Is A 10” jumped inside the Top 10 on the Hot 100, Urban, and Rhythmic charts.

LOVE HATE, co-produced by The-Dream and Tricky Stewart, contains the explicit alternate remix, “Shawty Is da Shit! (10)” featuring Fabolous. The video of this version hit Top 5 rotation on BET’s #1-rated countdown show, “106 & Park.” As of this week, “Falsetto” is in rotation on BET, MTV Hits, and VH1 Soul. The song continues to build at New Media: #103 on the Digital Songs chart with nearly 15,000 scans last week, and over 113,000 total. The-Dream has 2.5+ million profile views on his MySpace site, with close to 6,600 friends, and 1.8 million total plays. Digital Mobile Sales topped 50,000 units last week, over 344,000 total in 14 weeks.

The-Dream made everyone’s A-list in 2007 – as the songwriter behind two of the year’s biggest hits, Rihanna’s worldwide #1 smash “Umbrella” and J. Holiday’s breakout debut “Bed.” Recently, he penned Mariah Carey’s new smash single “Touch My Body.” Rolling Stone’s “Hot List” described him as “the hook master….the guy who got everybody singing ‘ella ella ay ay ay’ all summer,” and the young singer, songwriter, producer and entrepreneur has also been featured in Vibe’s “Next,” Billboard’s “Breaking & Entering,” The Fader’s “Gen F,” BET’s “Rated Next,” and MTV’s “Discover & Download.” Blender has already named LOVE HATE the #7 album of the year.

In addition to The-Dream’s unprecedented success as the writer of “Umbrella,” “Bed,” and “Touch My Body,” his name is also attached to several other current high profile releases: “You” from Chris Brown’s current album Exclusive; “Skies of L.A.,” the climactic closing track of Celine Dion’s new album Taking Chances; “Just Fine,” the first single from Mary J. Blige’s album Growing Pains; and “Moving Mountains” from the upcoming Usher album.

While The-Dream (Terius Youngdell Nash) seemed like the overnight success story of 2007, he’s been at it for the better part of a decade. After meeting and partnering with fellow-Atlantian Tricky Stewart, the two soon achieved notoriety as writer/producers on B2K’s Pandemonium! album, and “Me Against The Music,” the timely 2003 duet by Britney Spears and Madonna. Four years later, The-Dream and Tricky “are suddenly one of the most in-demand songwriting teams in urban music,” according to USA Today.

Right now, it’s all about LOVE HATE. “It’s more of what I’m giving other people,” The-Dream says of his masterwork. “All of my records are singles. The album is really visual as well, it appeals to all your senses… Artists are gonna have to do some homework to find out who they are.”

| 03.21.2008 |

On a single-minded mission to preach their message of redemption wrapped in rock n' roll, Venus' favorite export, Valient Thorr, is ready to drop their latest album with the June 17 release of IMMORTALIZER on Volcom Entertainment. The new record - their fourth in five years - is a testament to the band's hard-working existence, with a staggeringly productive tour schedule that finds them averaging close to 250 dates a year. Having just capped 2007 with a successful support slot for metal heroes Motörhead on their recent tour of Germany, Valient Thorr will be back on the European roads this spring. First up is a trek with Turbonegro and Year Long Disaster, from March 24 in London through April 8 in Finland; then it's on to Valient Thorr's own headlining club tour from April 10 in Copenhagen through April 19 in Nuneaton, England, with alternating support acts Gob Squad, Boss Martian and Intervurt.

Valient Thorr recorded IMMORTALIZER in Seattle with legendary Jack Endino, producer of seminal albums by Nirvana, Soundgarden and Mudhoney as well as younger upstarts Hot Hot Heat and High On Fire. Recording with Endino in his hometown of Seattle, Valient Thorr continued to work from the starting point of their classic 70's influences such as Black Sabbath and Thin Lizzy, as well as those groups' more obscure yet equally important contemporaries like Master's Apprentices and Sir Lord Baltimore to create a shredding yet soulful, heavy-rocking opus.

Previous albums such as the band's self-released 2003 debut Stranded on Earth, their 2005 Volcom debut Total Universe Man, and 2006 follow-up Legend of the World tackled the world's problems straight on with a blunt, in-your-face attack on the Bush Administration, war in the Middle East and capitalism run amok. With IMMORTALIZER, the band is taking a more "allegorical lyrical approach," says frontman Valient Himself. Meanwhile, new guitarist Voiden Thorr brings a sharper metal edge into the fold, joining fellow six-stringer Eidan Thorr, drummer Lucian Thorr and bassist Nitewolf.

Since hitting the road full-time, Valient Thorr has enjoyed successive, high-profile stints on the Vans Warped Tour in 2005 and 2006, and has toured incessantly with such varied acts as Joan Jett and the Black Hearts, Eagles of Death Metal, Gogol Bordello, Fu Manchu and Motörhead. Following their spring European tour with Turbonegro, look for Valient Thorr to bring their brand of heavy metal mayhem back to their adopted turf of the good ol' U.S.A. later in 2008.

| 03.21.2008 |