Hard work pays off for local band Ministry of Love

It's a bit past 10 a.m. on a recent Wednesday morning and the orange juice just got poured into the Champagne.

The five members of Vegas' pop punk cannonball Ministry of Love clink glasses in the living room of the home shared by two of them, bassist Patrick "Pulsar" Trout and drummer Matticus, surrounded by band gear and recently opened Christmas presents that they just gave one another minutes ago. (Brightly colored hair extensions, Adele songbooks, guitar repair kits and zombie T-shirts? Check.)

The band is toasting their recent deal with New York-based Negative Progression Records, which they inked a week ago, but because of the holidays, haven't had time to properly celebrate until now.

They signed the contract in a telling location, behind a Home Depot where Matticus was working, before the rest of the group headed off to jobs of their own.

As that scenario might indicate, this bunch is as blue collar as they come, touring almost nonstop for the past two years with no label support, crashing in Walmart parking lots and on the couches and floors of fans who would have them in their homes for a night.

"We'd be out for a month or two, stay home for a month, and then go back out for another couple of weeks," says pink-haired guitarist Devo Fresh of the group's near constant road work.

After 3½ years, it's paid off.

"It's always been in my head that we're going to make it," says singer Meg Vitale, arms mosaics of tattoos. "Now, it's an actual job. We always took the band very seriously, but now it's on another level."

And so are the band's tunes.

That was the knock on Ministry of Love once upon a time: They made a name for themselves with overheated live gigs, but they never had a recording that captured that energy.

But with their new EP, "Party Animals," the band's songwriting prowess has caught up with their infectious stage presence.

"To be honest, we did make a couple of mistakes in the band when it came to writing," says guitarist Rockstar Ryan, clad in smurf-colored pants. "It was looked at as just one of the other chores in the band instead of being the most important thing, because we wanted to tour so bad. I think that the music got neglected."

It's only sleep that the group is likely to neglect in the immediate future, as they prepare to hit the road for much of 2012, with Negative Progression set to release "Party Animals" in the spring .

"We're five kids who worked really hard and that got us to where we wanted to go," explains Trout, a burly, linebacker-sized dude. "And we're going to keep on going."

Contact reporter Jason Bracelin at jbracelin@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0476.