It’s the Grammys, take two

Being nominated for a Grammy is just as daunting the second time around for guitarist Sinhue “Sin” Quirin of the industrial heavy metal band Ministry.

The group is nominated for the song “Señor Peligro” from the album “Adios...” in the Best Metal Performance category. The 52nd annual Grammy Awards will be broadcast on CBS at 8 p.m. Jan. 31.

Quirin was a big fan of the group while he was in high school. He graduated in 1987 from Burbank High School and also attended John Muir Middle School.

“To actually be in the band and receive two Grammy nominations with them — it’s pretty surreal for me,” he said.

Ministry’s music was the first to be coined industrial metal when it began back in the early 1980s, he said.

“It was the first band to fuse electronics into hard rock and heavy metal, and because of the band Ministry, other bands that followed — Nine Inch Nails and Marilyn Manson — they all cite Ministry as the band they all looked up to and tried to emulate.”

When he heard from a friend that the band was nominated again this year, he said he was really surprised.

“I was just as shocked the second time if not more than the first time,” he said. “I never in a million years expected to be nominated for a Grammy — at least when I was starting out I thought that.”

What was even more interesting is that Quirin first heard about the nomination from a text message sent by a friend who lives in Budapest, he said.

“All the text said was ‘Congratulations,’” Quirin said. “I texted him back and asked ‘What are you talking about?’ and he said, ‘You just got nominated for a Grammy, and we just saw the broadcast.’”

Other groups nominated in the category are Judas Priest, Lamb of God, Megadeth and Slayer.

“It’s an amazing feeling,” he said. “It’s definitely not something I thought of while I was playing saxophone in the Burbank High School marching band.”

His friends said the Grammy is well deserved.

Clayton Worbeck, a music producer, musician and sound engineer, has worked with Ministry on remixing some of its tracks, he said.

Worbeck met Quirin when they were in the band Revco, and have written songs together.

“I think his being nominated is great,” he said. “Sin is a phenomenal musician, and he’s one of the best songwriters I’ve ever worked with.”

Kevin Ashton, a partner with Sistra, a recording business in Boston, hired Quirin last March to produce eight songs with their artist Sarah Greene that they will be launching later this year, he said.

“I see it as just another sign that this is someone who is really ready to break out and go from someone who is a secret in the industry to someone who is very well known,” Ashton said.

In his younger years, Quirin spent most of his time in the band rooms at Burbank High and Muir Middle School, he said.

“At Burbank High I was in every possible music group you can think of,” he said. “I was in orchestra, concert band, jazz band and marching band.”

“Adios...” came out in June and has gotten play on hard rock stations like KROQ, and all over the satellite heavy metal stations, he said. The videos have aired on MTV’s “Head Bangers Ball.”

If Ministry wins this year, Quirin’s wants to take the Grammy back to his alma maters for show and tell.

“I want to try to set something up to talk to the kids in band classes and show them what can happen — dreams can definitely come true,” he said.