So Long, Suckers - Al Jourgensen of Ministry

Ministry releases its swan song, but frontman Al Jourgensen will not go quietly

By Julianne Gorman

Special to Metromix
September 19, 2007

(photo credit: Steffan Charazi)





A Republican in the White House always seems to equal better songwriting for Ministry, the Chicago-born band who originated a heavy industrial sound spotlighting, among other things, co-founder Al Jourgensen’s hatred of political corruption, especially on the right. The band’s latest album, “The Last Sucker,” is no different, chugging and hissing with the political disdain and rumbling machinations that have been Ministry’s trademark for the past decade. It’s also purportedly the final Ministry offering, before Jourgensen refocuses his energy on his El Paso, Texas recording studio and label—both under the 13th Planet moniker.

As he prepared to unleash “The Last Sucker” on audiences, Jourgensen discussed politics, overcoming drug addiction and plans for Ministry’s final tour.

The tour kicks off March of 2008?
Yeah. Seven weeks in North America, 10 weeks in Europe and that’s it. We’ll have one final Revolting Cocks record and tour. Then I’m a full time record exec.

Do you have a vision for 13th Planet Records?
We’ve got some pretty varied stuff…it’s not just gonna be a metal label. For instance, Burton Bell from Fear Factory. We just got done with [Bell’s] Ascension of the Watchers record, which is coming out in February. People are going to be pretty freaked out. It’s very ambient, like Nick Cave meets Jesus and Mary Chain back in the day or something. The guy is an artist. He’s willing to experiment; he’s willing to expand. I don’t have to baby-sit him. [He doesn’t] require a limo from the airport…we don’t do that shit.

I think those days are long gone. It’s a very DIY landscape now.
You’d be surprised. Ninety-nine percent of the music populace in Los Angeles is still living in the ‘90s. They really are. Their idea of success is not writing a kick-ass song or doing a kick-ass album. It’s getting on retainer for some actor’s kid who’s starting a band, who needs some good musicians. [Laughs] I think [today’s bands] are just jealous of us old drug addicts from the ‘90s—we got all the perks and accoutrements of the thing and now they want it too, but the industry has morphed into something different.

I visited the video shoot for “Lay Lady Lay” in 1994 and I have to say, I was a little concerned…
[Laughs] You have no idea. That was probably the closest to death I [ever] was, in that period between “Filth Pig” and “Dark Side of the Spoon.”

What made you realize you had to be done with that stuff?
It was the classic tale of an addict bottoming out. I had a 12-bedroom house in Austin and blah, blah, blah…I went down to literally a knapsack of underwear and t-shirts and one guitar, sleeping on a crack addict’s couch. I’d lost everything. I just woke up [one] morning feeling particularly aggravated at the whole situation and decided that either I should shoot myself through the mouth that day or do something about it. I chose the latter and that’s a good thing.

It’s been…
Five years clean.

So when you’re signing a band to your label, if someone’s got a substance problem…
They can come back when they’re serious about their art, instead of serious about the party surrounding the art. Because you know, almost 10 years of my life are a blur and a waste. I have talent and I have passion for what I do and I squandered it. So I don’t want to waste my time chasing people around who want to squander talent and passion.

Does your audience connect with the politics of Ministry?
We get some uneducated, right-wing skinheads who like the power of the music and just go to the mosh pit to beat people up. And we have other people that the politics resonate with, young and old. Last tour, we had some contest winners backstage—a meet and greet thing—and we had three generations: a grandmother, a daughter and a granddaughter. They were all into Ministry. [Laughs] I felt like Wayne Newton in Vegas. It was pretty strange, but cool.

Do you participate in any political organizations?
I sit on the board with punkvoter.com. We registered almost 30,000 people to vote in the last election at our shows—and plan on doing the same this election.

So what would be the best possible outcome, next election?
A gigantic revolution on the streets. Burn down K Street in Washington DC and hang all the lobbyists, and [do] a forced diversion of all military spending into social programs. Hang all the oil executives and the lobbyists—how’s that? Let’s throw the oil executives in there, too. [Laughs] But that’s not really going to happen.

With all this non-stop political inspiration, how will you refrain from writing Ministry songs post-retirement?
That’s where my label comes in. I don’t have to do it myself anymore. Now I can get other people who’ll yell about this shit.