Paul Barker - Everything
It is time, ladies and gentlemen, for a new Lead Into Gold album, an adventurous romp through
distorted and gnarly bass-driven industrial, where your greatest fears and dystopian
dys-fantasies lay waiting for just a wee bit of courage.
But first, Paul Barker.
Paul Ion Barker is a producer, a composer, and a touring musician. His extensive production
and writing work with Al Jourgensen and Ministry extended from 1985 through 2004. He has
been involved with bringing a wide range of other musical projects into fruition: Lard, Pailhead,
Revolting Cocks, Flowering Blight, USSA, and many others. Paul has toured as a member of
Puscifer, and also collaborated with Jello Biafra, Ian MacKaye, Timothy Leary, and William
Burroughs. He also produced two wonderful records for I Love You But I’ve Chosen Darkness
(Secretly Canadian). Paul’s music has also appeared in films including “River Wild”, “Robocop”,
“Hardware”, “One Bad Cop”, “Natural Born Killers,” as well as Steven Spielberg’s “A.I.”, which
included three original compositions written specifically for the movie and onscreen
performances by Ministry.
Barker is the co-owner and co-founder of Malekko Heavy Industry Corporation, a guitar effects
pedal/euro rack synthesizer module manufacturing company growing steadily since 2006.
Malekko Heavy Industry, based in Portland, is held in high esteem by professional musicians
worldwide.
With that out of the way, back to Lead Into Gold. The industrial project’s third album will be
released by Toronto-based Artoffact Records in the Spring of 2023. Its genre-defying and
incredibly well-crafted story-telling will haunt you, literally, all year. The album is smart, dark,
melodic, abrasive, and timeless. We would not expect anything less from Mr. Barker, but our
expectations have been seriously blown out of the water on this one.