Ministry’s Last Stand Brings
Jourgensen 'From Beer to Eternity'
(By Jon Wiederhorn, Noisey By Vice, 27 March 2013)
There was a
time when Ministry frontman Al Jourgensen said the band’s 2012 album Relapse
was absolutely, positively going to be the final Ministry album ever.
Exclamation point! End of sentence. Done! Then again, there was also a time
when the industrial metal pioneer said 2007’s The Last Sucker would be Ministry’s
coup de grace. But cut the dude some slack.
Back in 2007, Jourgensen was leaking blood from every orifice and,
little did he know it, but he would eventually implode and almost die from a
ruptured ulcer. Then he got better (mostly, except for his 13 bleeding ulcers).
To fulfill a decade-long threat to his longtime fans that he would someday
record a country album, Jourgensen formed Buck Satan & The 666 Shooters
with his best friend and longtime Ministry guitarist Mike Scaccia, Static-X
bassist Tony Campos, Cheap Trick guitarist Rick Nielsen, and The Dusters
bassist David Barnett. Together, they wrote the riotous, rollicking
country-core album Ladies Welcome, Bikers Drink Free.
While
tracking and between—Hell, probably in the middle of—drinking bottles of cheap
red wine, Jourgensen and Scaccia started jamming with some metal riffs just for
shits and grins. Problem was, they came out so fucking well that Scaccia was
able to convince his buddy to use them on a new Ministry record. A couple more
drinkers and rockers—Prong guitarist Tommy Victor and Rigor Mortis’ bassist
Casey Orr—joined the team, and Relapse was born. The band planned to do a short U.S. tour and
a lengthy overseas run in 2012 and then return to the U.S. in 2013 for a
longer, more high profile tour of American sheds and arenas and possibly an
inclusion on a major package tour. Then, Jourgensen almost died again, and,
like every time that happens, it kinda put a crimp on things. The band was on
tour in France at the time, and Ministry’s frontman was suffering from severe
dysentery, which he came down with in Los Angeles at the beginning of the run.
By the time he got to Paris, he was so dehydrated, he was barely aware of where
he was.
Onstage,
excessively hot temperatures at the Paris venue provoked heat exhaustion. Add
that to the dysentery and you’ve got a lethal combination. Eight songs into the
set, Jourgensen stumbled over to keyboardist John Bechdel and told him he
didn’t know if he could make it through the show. Jourgensen's wife/manager
Angie Jourgensen rushed onto the stage to catch Jourgensen as he collapsed. He
was rushed to a hospital in Switzerland, which diagnosed his illness,
controlled his raging fever, pumped him full of fluids and antibiotics, and
basically saved his life. But Jourgensen
took the ordeal as a sign. No more touring. After the last show in St.
Petersburg, Russia, he returned home to El Paso and started brainstorming for a
new album. When he doesn’t create like madman, Jourgensen tends to drive
himself and those around him crazy, so he decided to break his word (again) and
do another Ministry record with Scaccia, guitarist Sin Quirin, bassist Tony
Campos and, for the first time in a decade, a live drummer—in this case, Aaron
Rossi, who had toured Relapse with the band.
During 19
days in December, Ministry wrote and recorded riffs for 18 songs. Then they
went their separate ways for Christmas. “This was one of the most creative
Ministry tracking sessions ever. The band was on fire!” Jourgensen says. “We
were having fun, we were coming up with great ideas and experimenting with
everything we’ve ever wanted to do, from Stones-y blues to dub and, of course,
heavy guitar-based rock. It was too easy. No fighting, no problems. Nothing
goes that well without the floor eventually falling out.”
Tragically,
Ministry's final creative hour with Scaccia came right before they broke for
the holidays. Three days after leaving the Ministry sessions in El Paso, in the
early hours of December 23, Scaccia suffered heart failure onstage while
performing with his other band, Rigor Mortis, and was pronounced dead on
arrival at the hospital. Scaccia’s death both devastated and motivated
Jourgensen. “Mikey was my best friend in
the world and there’s no Ministry without him,” he says. “But I know the music
we recorded together during the last weeks of his life had to be released to
honor him. So after his funeral, I locked myself in my studio and turned the
songs we had recorded into the best and last Ministry record anyone will ever here.
I can’t do it without Mikey and I don’t want to. So yes, this will be
Ministry’s last album.”
Jourgensen
tirelessly worked on From Beer to Eternity through March 2013 at 13th Planet
Records in his El Paso compound with co-producer Sammy D’Ambruoso, and
engineer/keyboard programmer Aaron Havill. In addition to producing and mixing,
Jourgensen wrote all the lyrics and took his traditional role behind the mic
and the console. “It was the most emotionally difficult project I’ve ever done,
but it was the most rewarding,” Jourgensen says. “Mikey was amazed with the
songs when he was working on them, and I know he’s looking down at us now and
he’s totally stoked with what we came up with.”
From Beer to
Eternity is scheduled for release in September, but there will be no tour.
Instead, Jourgensen will promote the album in the press along with his
authorized biography, Ministry: The Lost Gospels According to Al Jourgensen,
which comes out on DaCapo Books in August. “Maybe we’ll do one big show with
Tommy and Sin and the guys who made this band possible for the past few years.
That would be a nice tribute to Mikey. But I can’t do a whole tour without him.
Ministry was his life almost as much as mine, and I’m afraid it has to die with
him. But damn if we didn’t go out with a bang!”
Ministry
Frontman Al Jourgensen On His Sex- And Drugs-Heavy New Autobiography
(By Greg Prato, Rolling Stone, 8 July 2013)
Few
musicians have indulged in the sex, drugs and rock & roll lifestyle with
such death-defying fervor – and over such a long period of time – as longtime
Ministry leader Al Jourgensen. Now, his tale is on display for the whole world
to read in his autobiography, Ministry: The Lost Gospels According to Al
Jourgensen, out on Da Capo Press.
"Well, you might know Jon Wiederhorn – he's been interviewing me
for 17 or 18 years," Jourgensen tells Rolling Stone. "He's
always given me a fair shake. When I sit down and have a few cocktails and
start talking about the road, like, you hear about these kid bands – 'Once we
threw a TV out the window' or Hammer of the Gods or something. It's
like, 'Dude. . . really? That's it?' So I started telling the stories to
Wiederhorn."
The end
result is a roller-coaster read. In addition to going behind the scenes for the
creation of such industrial-metal classics as The Mind Is a Terrible Thing
to Taste and Psalm 69, Jourgensen dishes dirt on many renowned names
whom he's crossed paths with throughout his career, including Madonna, Courtney
Love and Robert Plant. But perhaps the most colorful tale of all involves Fred
Durst. "The Limp-dickster
motherfucker, whatever his name is. I got him naked and in a cowboy hat [in a
recording studio]! I'm showing him, 'Look, you want my sound? This is my sound.
This is what I use.' And he wouldn't believe it because just by hitting the
magic button on the harmonizer that it wouldn't make him sound exactly like me.
He was that naïve. I'm like, 'Well, try the cowboy hat.' So I gave him my
cowboy hat. . . and it still sounded like shit. So I go, 'Why don't you try and
get naked? That's how I sing.' I was just bullshitting him. So he goes out and
does that, and is thoroughly embarrassed, again. And then he just left. I got
paid to just humiliate him for three songs. It was awesome."
Also,
according to Jourgensen, 'Til Tuesday's 1980s new wave/pop smash "Voices
Carry" was inspired by a brief romantic relationship he had with Aimee
Mann. "We had a very dysfunctional relationship in Boston. I love her to
death – to this day. I just saw her when I did that Sgt. Peppers/Cheap
Trick benefit at the Hollywood Bowl, and she was there. We get along great. As
a matter of fact, I get along great with all of my exes. That's really cool.
That's a good sign. That means that, 'OK, you were an asshole at times, but you
weren't a complete asshole all the time.'"
Jourgensen
doesn't shy away from the darker side of his story, too, which is fraught with
hardcore drug use, drinking and health troubles – so much so that the heavily
tattooed and pierced musician is surprised that he is alive today. "You
know, I've actually been printed up in 'medical marvels' for the AMA [American
Medical Association], where I lost my hepatitis C. That's a permanent
condition. I just had another liver scan last year, and I have no C. Which kind
of sucks, because I was working my way through the alphabet – I have A, B, and
C, and I was really hoping for D. But D didn't come around yet, and C is gone.
So now I'm just a hepatitis poser."
In addition
to the release of Ministry, the near future will see the arrival of what
Al promises will be Ministry's last-ever studio album, From Beer to Eternity,
as well as a remixed version of the album, live DVDs and his first-ever
novel. "It's a book called Mind
Fuck, which is about the power of persuasion and how a person goes around
to dive bars and talks downtrodden people into killing themselves, by the power
of persuasion. But they can't convict him, because he hasn't committed a crime,
but he has an entire room completely segregated with newspaper clippings of
obituaries of all the people that he's talked into killing themselves."
Lastly,
readers of Ministry will also learn of Al's longtime dedication to the
recently crowned 2013 Stanley Cup champions the Chicago Blackhawks. "I've
seen 48 Stanley Cups in my life. I was about six or seven when I started going
to games with my dad. I've seen nothing but futility until the last few
years," he says of the team, who have won two Cups over the past four
seasons. "Seriously, I think I'm ready to join my compatriots now, because
my life has been fulfilled. I can go with Raven and Mikey [Scaccia] and have a
band in heaven, because I'm completely fulfilled."
Ministry – The Lost Gospels According
To Al Jourgensen With Jon Wiederhorn
(By Pete Woods, Ave Noctum, July 8, 2013)
This is a
book that had to be written and one that I had to read, which made me feel
somewhat guilty when it fell through the letterbox due to the fact I knew
nothing about it. I certainly felt that I knew plenty about its subject and co
biographer Al Jourgensen having lived with his music through thick and thin,
but reading this book I realised that in fact I knew very little. Having just
read and reviewed the Cemetery Gates book which featured a host of ‘survivors’
of the “heavy metal scene” I did mention the glaring omission of Al who
certainly fits the bill, nothing quite prepared me for just what a damn
hedonistic lifestyle he has had as well as his many close calls and escapes
from the reaper though. This book charts it all unflinchingly. Despite a first
couple of meetings which did not seem to have Al and co-author, journalist Jon
Wiederhorn hitting it off the writer did gain permission to spend a lot of time
with Al and chart his life so far and boy does it make a compelling read.
Al is
amusing and wry throughout and this is a real warts and all tale that has a jaw
dropping fact or story on virtually every page. We start with his past and
upbringing in a Cuban family arriving in America in 1961 and his mother
marrying and leaving Al to be brought up by his grandmother who was certainly
one of the biggest influences in his life. We go through the normal tales one
would expect of juvenile delinquency from someone who never fitted in but found
drugs as a near saviour and then music, both of which would stay with him
pretty much for life and define everything about his character. Musically everything
is charted, in fact the book is bang up to date taking in his production work
up to DethRok ‘Us And Them (which formed part of the listening accompaniment to
my reading this book) to forthcoming album ‘From Beer To Eternity’ following
the tragic death of co-conspirator and friend Mike Scaccia.
Of course
musically Ministry were not always the band that I and many others discovered
from The Land Of Rape And Honey and The Mind Is A Terrible Thing To Taste.’ Yes
I was shocked to backtrack and discover ‘With Sympathy’ and it is incredibly
interesting to read why this work exists and the way the music industry
manipulated Al into making it, wanting him to be the next big thing in the
future pop world, which was exploding with the likes of The Thompson Twins (yes
a guilty pleasure of mine too back then). Thankfully he was turned onto the
punk and industrial scene and the music that we know and love was made.
Unfortunately heroin was also discovered and this was the muse that somehow
literally flowed through the veins of these albums bringing them into
existence. The story of the excess and abuse is amazing in itself. If you want
more insight into the drugs and drink utilised in the making of, every Ministry
album has a list of substances that were involved in one of the books
sub-sections.
The fact
that Al pretty much hated everyone around him involved in putting together
these legendary albums is quite illuminating and no holds barred reading too.
There are no kind words to be said about the likes of Paul Barker and Chris
Connelly for instance, it was the much more colourful and destructive
characters like Mike Scaccia, Phildo Owen, Paul Raven, Gibby Haynes, Tommy
Victor and El Duce of The Mentors that he affiliated with. Others such as
Barker, an emerging Trent Reznor and even Joey Jordison literally were put
through a ritual of fire, pranks and humiliation during their affiliations with
Al’s musical world. Some of the most colourful tales included are Al’s first
meeting with El Duce, Gibby’s construction of the meaningful lyrics to Jesus
Built My Hotrod and the letting off of steam and massive big fuck off fireworks
on the tour bus. Seriously though they never stop coming!
Of course we
take in not just Ministry but all the side projects as well. I found the
Revolting Cocks stories just as crazy (dwarf tossing and all) having loved them
since discovering Big Sexy Land. The likes of Luc Van Acker are interviewed in
intervention sections of the book putting forward their points and memories.
The Power Of Lard is fascinatingly documented too and despite not touching
illicit substances Jello Biafra seems just as lunatic a character as any of the
users and abusers documented. It’s also amazing to read about how Al
collaborated so successfully and got on well with straight edger Ian MacKaye
recording Pailhead too.
Al never
settles down throughout this biography even when he kicks one habit it seems
that there are a host of other demons chipping away and having got through The
Bush trilogy of albums, married for the second time to Angelina and set up his
13th planet Studio one has to wonder what on earth can happen next.
He has defied the odds that’s for sure and if there is a god, one of the only
reasons he has probably kept Al alive is for his own amusement.
Even if you
are not a fan of the music this is still a compulsive read. It takes in so much
from alien encounters, to giant spiders, and memories of hooking up, turning on
and tuning in to the likes of William Burroughs and Timothy Leary. In my
opinion this really is not far off from the sort of biographical great American
novels told by the likes of them, Jack Kerouac and Charles Bukowski.
My biggest
problem with the book is that I finished it (and I forced myself to pace it),
although I have a feeling that it won’t be long before I have to pick it up for
a repeat read. If like me you read The Heroin Diaries and thought “yeah but the
music is shit” here is a book that redresses that balance, the music is great
although Christ knows how it was ever created. It even has made me think a bit
about its colourful character and regret some of the things I have said about
his shitting out of albums after supposedly retiring. Long may he and they
continue and I hope there are plenty of chapters left in his life even if the
stories calm down a little for everyone’s sakes, sanity and longevity. The book is available with a mid-section of
incriminating photos from all good blah blah in paperback, hardback and for you
techno geeks download editions. The Lost Gospels is an absolute gem and a real
treat of a book and I simply cannot recommend it enough.
Ministry’s
Al Jourgensen On Knitting, Being Haunted And Disliking R. Kelly
(By Eric Spitznagel, MTV’s Hive, 10 July 2013)
The Dead Kennedys‘
Jello Biafra once said of Al Jourgensen, “Every day he wakes in the morning he
defies science.” That’s proven repeatedly with every blood-stained,
drug-fueled, NSFW story in the just-published new memoir by industrial metal’s
patron saint, Ministry: The Lost Gospels According to Al Jourgensen.
Jourgensen may sound like an arrogant asshat when he calls Hammer of the Gods
“pussy shit,” but the supposed bad boys of Zeppelin don’t have anything on the Revolting
Cocks/Ministry
frontman/ svengali. This is a guy who had sex in mental institutions with
nymphos. Who sued Clive Davis for trying to make him famous. Who roofied Trent
Reznor so he could shave his head and eyebrows, watched dog porn with Chicago
Cubs players, shot up heroin with William S. Burroughs, beat up R. Kelly for
being pervy with his daughter, and almost gave up music for a life in the
rodeo. Just open the book and throw your finger on any given page, and you’re
liable to hit a sentence that makes you thank god you lived long enough on this
planet to read something this batshit crazy. Here, I’ll do it right now. Boom,
line at random: “I wasn’t supposed to be healthy enough to fuck yet, and I sure
as hell wasn’t gonna jeopardize my marriage for a kinky fiddle-player.” In or
out of context, it doesn’t matter. You’ll always wonder, What the fuck am I
reading?!
I called
Jourgensen after an all-night drive from northern Michigan to Chicago, with a
sleeping toddler in the back seat and Ministry’s new album, From Beer to
Eternity (out September 6th) blaring into my brain on headphones. I wasn’t
exactly well-rested and mentally alert for our interview, but it didn’t sound
like Jourgensen was either. If it was anybody else, I would’ve assumed from his
slurred speech that he was drunk or stoned. But after reading The Lost
Gospels, I’m pretty sure it’s just a little residual buzz from the
mid-’80s.
I should
start by telling you that I was at the Revolting Cocks show at the Metro in
Chicago back in 1987.
Oh my god!
That it one of the coolest shows that ever happened!
I didn’t
know that at the time. I was 18 years old and it scared the shit out of me.
We had a
girl shooting out chandeliers with a fucking shotgun.
I
remember. I peed myself a little.
We had one
girl stuck in our drum kit. The air conditioning broke down and it was like 130
degrees in there. And it was the first show we ever did. Dude, you were at a
very special place. Let me tell you.
I’m still
confused about the chickens. Why were there so many chickens?
That was the
opening band’s thing. They did a Eurythmics
thing, where they played “Sweet Dreams Are Made of This” in half time and let
out a bunch of chickens in the room with Annie Lennox masks. You remember that?
It haunts
my dreams.
The club’s
owner was not happy with us. But I thought it was the coolest opening act I
ever had.
You
definitely topped it. You came out and started cutting yourself with a razor
blade. I’d never seen anything like that.
Thank you.
We did another Cocks tour, but that was our best. Or our worst, I don’t know.
For you to tell me that we came on and were better than the opening act is just
like, it’s stellar, man. I’m freaking out just talking to you. You were at that
show!
If I
hadn’t been terrified and wanting to call my mom, I would’ve said hello.
We wouldn’t
go onstage till we were paid in cash. So the poor motherfucker that owned the
club had to drain every single cash register to pay us. Because otherwise, we
were going to walk. And that would’ve been bad news. The audience was already pissed.
We had
chandelier glass all over us. It was dark, and we knew that somebody in the
club had a loaded shotgun. There were chickens everywhere. It was not a happy
place to be.
Aw shit! You
were at the right show, dude. You were at the right one!
I think
I’m making myself sound way cooler than I actually was. I didn’t actually want
to be there. It was an accident.
You just
wandered in?
A friend
took me. He was like, “Oh, these guys know how to party. It’ll be like a Replacements
gig.” But then you start bleeding all over the stage. Which isn’t something
I’ve ever seen Paul Westerberg do.
I still have
those scars, man. I still have those scars. They’re up and down my left arm.
Was that
pre-meditated? Were you like, “Let’s see how many veins I can open?”
I don’t know
what got into me. I just decided to cut myself. Dude, seriously, you went to
the best show ever!
Let’s
talk about your book. It’s hands down the most entertaining rock memoir I’ve
ever read.
You read the
book? And you’re still talking to me? You don’t think I’m a complete asshole?
I
wouldn’t want you babysitting my toddler. But as rock legends go, you make
Keith Richards look like a pussy.
No! No, no,
excuse me! I know Keith! I’m up there with him, but there’s only one Keith
Richards and that’s it and shut the fuck up! Don’t ever compare me to him
again. He’s the real deal. I’m kinda like the Walmart version of Keith
Richards, alright?
All due
respect to Richards, but his blood transfusion was just an urban legend. You
actually had your blood replaced.
That’s true,
man.
You write
in the book that the doctors replaced “every ounce of the poisoned blood in my
system with new fresh blood.”
It changed
my entire body thing. And apparently my new blood came from a lady in Kansas.
No it
didn’t.
Now I’m into
knitting!
Is that
true? That sounds like a joke.
I swear to
god! They told me! The doctors told me! The next day I woke up with this real
hankering for knitting. And they told me the blood came from Kansas, from this
old lady.
You’ve
had a few near death experiences, right?
Not near
death. I’ve died, man. I’ve been dead.
Mötley Crüe‘s
Nikki
Sixx claims he was clinically dead for two minutes. Do you have more
time on the death clock?
I’ve got way
more minutes on him, man. Fuck him. Two minutes, really? Fuck you, Nikki Sixx.
I’ve got at least eleven minutes of full-on dead.
That’s a
lot. That’s not all at once, right?
Fuck no.
So how
many times have you technically died?
Three times.
Three times. And every time the doctors are like, “You’re really lucky.” And
I’m like, “Yeah, whatever. Where can I get a drink?”
It really
feels like you’ve lived every rock urban legend. The stuff they pretended to
do, you actually did.
These are
urban legends! I don’t lie! Everything in this book, it’s been fact-checked.
The guy who wrote it with me, he did his due diligence.
I don’t
mean you. I mean all the other stories about rock stars. Like, for instance,
that story about Stevie Nicks having such a high tolerance for coke that she
hired a roadie to blow it up her ass.
Wait a
second, wait a second! This is true! This is true!
Come on.
No it isn’t.
I was
managed by Fleetwood
Mac‘s manager for awhile. We’d sit down and he’d tell me all about Stevie
Nick’s cocaine anal thing. They had a roadie just to do that! That’s not an
urban legend.
You’re
fucking with me.
I am not
fucking with you. I had the same manager. That girl likes coke up her ass,
that’s all there is to it.
Have you
tried this? Is cocaine more effective if it’s shoved up your rectum?
I have no
idea. I’d just shoot the shit. There was never any anal shit going on there.
Jesus. No, I was just a regular junkie.
You told
Jello Biafra in 1989 that you thought you were going to die. And yet here you
are, more than two decades later, still alive and kicking.
That’s
right, motherfucker.
What’s
your secret? Is it dumb luck? Do you expect the worst and therefore avoid it?
No, no, none
of that shit. I have a cockroach gene. I have it in me. All my friends are
dying around me, and I’m still kicking. It’s got to be a cockroach gene.
There’s no other way to explain it.
How long
do you plan to be around? Are you going to be one of those 100 year-old super
seniors that Willard Scott wishes a happy birthday to on a Smuckers jar?
Fuck no.
Listen, my grandfather died at 73. Timothy Leary died at 75. William Burroughs
died at 78. I want to go somewhere around there. In the 70s. That sounds nice.
Despite
all your wild behavior in the book, you don’t always tolerate it in others.
Like R. Kelly.
That
douchebag!
You’re
angry that he pissed on a piano in your Lake Geneva studio. Which is weird.
How is that
fucking weird?
Well, how
do you know it wasn’t your piss?
I didn’t
fucking do it.
But you
could have. It wouldn’t have been out of character for you. Did you have the
piss sent to a CSI lab?
It was his
piss. I’m 100% sure.
Quite a
few recognizable names get disparaged in this book. Did you give them advance
warning?
Like who? R.
Kelly? Fuck him.
What
about Madonna? You wrote that when you met her, she smelled like tuna and dog
shit. She’s probably not going to like that description.
I don’t give
a shit. But I’m telling you, that’s what she smelled like.
Her
denial alone would be amazing publicity.
Sure, I’ll
take it. I’ll send her a copy.
My favorite
story in the book, without a doubt, is when you’re dating Aimee Mann
in Boston. That’s bizarre enough right there.
Aimee is
great. I have nothing bad to say about her.
But your
sex is constantly being interrupted by ghosts.
That’s
right. And that’s why I won’t ever go there again. Ever, ever, ever. No shows,
no nothing. That place is haunted.
Your old
apartment, or Boston in general?
Boston in
general. I will not go back there. Books used to come flying off the shelf at
Aimee. You could ask her. Things would fly off the shelf!
And
you’re sure it was a ghost? It wasn’t just whatever drugs you were taking?
No, no, I
did the research! I actually went to the Boston Public Library and looked it
up. I had this elevator that came up into the house, and this girl apparently
killed herself in the elevator. She was in a bad car accident and was
disfigured, and she knew she couldn’t get laid anymore. So she threw herself
down the elevator shaft.
She
killed herself because of lack of sex?
Pretty much.
So I’m living in this building, and I’m seeing Aimee Mann. And this girl ghost,
whoever she was, she was a hottie-tottie, man. And now she was dead and she was
pissed off.
She
wasn’t getting laid as much as you were?
I guess, I
don’t know. Every time I had a girl over, she would throw books off the walls,
making us both really uncomfortable.
It wasn’t
just Aimee then? She threw books at all the girls you were sleeping with?
It was
mainly Aimee. I really liked her. She’s great. But it was a difficult
situation. What’s that song she did in the ‘80s? “Voices” something.
“Voices
Carry?”
Yeah! That
was written about me.
What? No.
Are you sure?
That’s what
I heard. That song is about me and it was about our dysfunctional relationship
in Boston and all the books that were flying off shelves when we tried to have
sex.
You’re
going to make so many people go back and listen to that song just to try and
piece together the clues.
Good. You
know what? I hope she makes a billion dollars off it. She’s a nice person, man.
That part
in the video where Aimee and her wifebeater-wearing boyfriend go to a concert
at Carnegie Hall, was that supposed to be you, too?
I don’t
know. I’ve never seen the video. I’ve actually never heard the song. [Laughs.]
But
you’ve taken her to Carnegie Hall?
Yeah. It was
a long time ago.
Was
Boston the only city where you’ve had sex interrupted by ghosts?
There was
also Austin, Texas. I had a ghost freakout there.
I’m going
to need details.
I bought the
place from Steve Martin. You know, the comedian?
I’m
familiar with his work.
He sold it
to me for cheap. Because it was haunted as fuck. While Steve Martin was living
there, a girl died in the hot tub.
Are you
sure? Did he tell you that?
It’s true! I
had this black keyboard player at the time, Duane Buford, who would crash at my
place, and he used to come out of his room looking like one of the fucking kids
from that show. You know the one I’m talking about.
I kinda
don’t.
About the
poor fucking kids in the 20s.
Little
Rascals?
Little
Rascals! He would come out of his room looking like that kid from the Little
Rascals.
Buckwheat.
Buckwheat!
Buckwheat! I was like, “What’s wrong with you?” He was freaked the fuck out.
His hair was standing straight up. We had bats flying around the room.
Tarantulas all over the walls. We had this flying armadillo with leprosy that
used to attack us. This whole place was fucked. I am so happy I’m not in Austin
anymore.
I feel
like I should ask you about this flying armadillo with leprosy, but maybe it’s
best if we just leave it at that.
That fucker
is gone.
You’re at
a point in your life when you don’t have to live anywhere that’s infested with
flying armadillos with leprosy.
Fuck that. I
live in nice houses now. I’m in a place now, the house loves me. I’ve got no
problems with it.
Ministry’s Al Jourgensen On His New
Biography
(By Graham
'Gruhamed' Hartmann, Loudwire, 11 July 2013)
The
“back-asswards” life of Ministry
mastermind Al Jourgensen
has finally been documented with incredible detail in the musician’s official
biography, ‘Ministry: The Lost Gospels According to Al Jourgensen.’ The
authorized bio, co-written with author Jon Wiederhorn, recalls Jourgensen’s
many years of drug addiction, the recording sessions for each Ministry record
and some of the most insane stories you’ve ever heard.
We recently
spoke with Uncle Al about not only various accounts from the book, but the
creation of the biography itself. In this exclusive interview, Jourgensen
reveals the exact amount of times he’s been declared legally dead, his dislike
for performing live, strange encounters with extraterrestrial beings + much
more!
I got a
copy of your new authorized biography, ‘Ministry: The Lost Gospels According to
Al Jourgensen.’ To create this book, did you just sit down with author Jon
Wiederhorn and tell him all your stories?
Yeah, well
Jon and I have known each other for 18 or 19 years. I’ve done interviews when
he had a show at MTV and things. We followed up with each other and I trusted
him. Every time he interviewed me he’d confront me with some story that he
heard through someone else and he’d ask me to confirm it. Most of the time I’d
say, “Yeah, that’s pretty much what happened.” He’d say, “Dude, this is insane.
It has to be a book.” So he came out [to my place] for about a week. We went
through multiple gallons of vodka and wine and I just told him the stories for
that week.
As a matter of fact, he’s called me – he
knows I have at least another 150 crazy ass stories that have happened. He
wants to do another one; I don’t want to do it. That was enough for me. We just
got drunk for a week, he recorded it and then he went and did his due diligence
and put a lot of research, talking to people, calling and finding witnesses to
these stories. They’re not just made up. We’ve got multiple witnesses for all
this stuff. Obviously, my personal opinions are mine, but the actual stories
and stuff; yeah he has a lot of different sources. I stand by most of the
stories even though I was kind of there.
I was there
physically, but mentally it was tough for me to re-hash some of these things.
In the state that I was in in the ‘90s, some of these things you don’t know if
it’s reality or if you’re in some weird Salvador Dali nightmare.
Ozzy
Osbourne said recently that he doesn’t remember any of the 1990s whatsoever.
Yeah, that’s
where you get a good guy like Weiderhorn that you trust and know that’s going
to follow up on it, because you know what? Half the stories in there I don’t
even know if they are bulls–t or not. I don’t know if they’re reality or not.
It’s good that he checked them all out and they all seemed to check out. I
think there are only two of them that he couldn’t get enough sources to confirm
and I’m not going to mention those now or anything, but the rest of them are,
“Yeah that’s happened I guess.” I was there, sort of.
I’m
pretty sure you’ve read all of the different excerpts in the book where a lot
of legendary musicians praise you and Ministry. Which ones mean the most to
you?
Well, the
Mikey [Scaccia] ones of course. Of course I appreciate it and all that, but I
could write a second book right now listing all the people that I want to thank
for influencing me of various different natures — everything from Stockhausen
to Buck Owens, Johnny Cash, whatever. It’s really nice but I don’t take it for
anything more than that. I’m glad they got inspired to do their own music. Some
of the music from the people that have talked is pretty good too. It’s good.
Mikey’s obviously are the most personal. We’ve spent the most time together.
He literally was like my little brother.
Losing him was very difficult, especially losing him two days after finishing
recording the record, all his parts and all my parts –everything. Then I had to
mix the record after going to his funeral. So I had to hear him every day after
the funeral. That was kind of tough. Time moves on and he makes his presence
felt around here, trust me. He likes it here. I think he switches time between
Dallas and El Paso between haunting houses. [Laughs] He moves s–t around, he
knocks things over. He’s still rowdy, he’s having a gas.
In the book
there are so many instances, even in the prologue, of you basically dying
multiple times. How many times do you think you’ve been legally dead?
Three. That
I know for sure. Jon even did research at the hospitals and got actual reports
from the emergency rooms and things. There’s been three times where I’ve been
dead. One of them I truly recognized as a life-changing kind of spiritual thing
where you know there’s an afterlife. The other two, I think I was just too f—ed
up to know I was dead. [Laughs]
I remember
reading that you really don’t enjoy playing live, touring or being onstage.
Despite that, do you enjoy being a public figure?
No.
Actually, that’s even lower on the list of scumbag things to do. That’d be the
worst part of it. I’m very shy. I’m very quiet unless I get around people that
I know, people that I trust like Mikey. Then I can become a bit of a handful.
Generally, I just mistrust everyone. I think I had a quote a few years back, I
forget in what context, but it was something about my fans and I go, “I know my
fans and trust me, I don’t trust them.” [Laughs] Generally, at the end of the
day, I just say, “Stay the f— off my property and buy my merchandising and
CDs.” That’s it. [Laughs]
In the
book you equated performing as being a jukebox or a crossing guard for kids who
are fighting and throwing stuff at you…
Does that
sound fun to you? I mean, really? Would you trade your life to be stepped on,
thrown s–t and people yelling and you can never satisfy them. You can never
play the songs that they exactly want or this and that. Then they throw darts
and coins and bottles at you. How can that be an enjoyable experience? Then
literally, what comes back on the bus, the big glamour part — the groupies —
generally look like the seven that are in that net on the ‘From Beer to
Eternity’ cover. This is not glamour,
dude. This is a really horrific job. I often wonder if I would have just had a
normal job and done music as a side thing, as a cathartic thing, but a couple
of years ago I finally decided, “You know what? I don’t think I can cut it at
Best Buy or WalMart either, if I had a job.” I finally got my face tattooed
because I figured I wouldn’t have to go do another job interview. [Laughs] So,
that’s where I stand on it now.
Back to
playing live — on the other hand, do you enjoy seeing live bands?
Not really,
to be honest. I know it sounds like I’m an old curmudgeon or something, but the
point is I know how it’s done. I know what work goes on to make a set: the
visuals, song structures, set structures, the rental companies, this and that.
It becomes very tedious work. Where as I hang out with authors or actors, the
grass is always greener. I don’t understand their process as well. My process,
for me, it’s kind of boring; me up there recreating songs. The creative
process, don’t take me wrong — that’s not boring. I love being in the studio
with people like Mikey or other friends that I’ve recorded with over the years
or Billy Gibbons or Rick Neilson and doing creative music spontaneously and
having the technology to capture that and have that live either on a shelf
forever or be made available to the public. That’s fascinating to me.
Instead of a band or having a manager or
record label snooping around, we get to do what we do because I own my own recording
studio. So, I get some friends and that
process is completely invigorating, but then they go up there and re-create the
process. You will never have that moment again, especially with not the exact
same people that you might have played it with. People screaming for other
stuff and [me] being spat at and thrown at — it’s just dumb. I feel like the
worlds best-paid babysitter. Mom and Dad go away, the kids run rampant and I
got to sit there and scream at them the whole f—ing time. That’s what live playing
is to me.
Another
interesting part of the book is about your alien encounter at the age of 5.
That’s a
weird one. That one … my grandmother is dead, but Jon did call my mother who
did remember something — a triangle on my neck. A green triangle that lasted
for about three weeks. It was right around Christmas when I was 5 years old.
[Jon] did get some substantiation. I do have some recollection of that. I was
raised Catholic, so when these three beings appeared in my bedroom, I thought
they were the three wise men from Catholic lore. I wasn’t afraid of them. I
don’t remember anything bad happening to me, but the next day my grandmother
noticed this green triangle, like a tattoo, on my neck. She tried to scrub it
off she thought I was playing with markers or something, but it didn’t come off
and it went away by itself about three weeks later. I’ve had another couple of
encounters with these guys and I don’t know if they’re friendly or unfriendly,
but I’m not afraid of them and they’re not afraid of me obviously. I don’t
recall ever being anally probed or anything so I don’t think they’re sex
addicts or hostile to me. I think they just check in with me every so often and
see what the f— I’m up to.
Very
interesting. It was weird because when you were describing the green triangle
around Christmas time, I thought of a Christmas tree.
Right,
that’s what my grandmother thought. I took a green marker and tried to draw a
Christmas tree but, she couldn’t get it off. I remember that because I had to
sit there and I think she went to some kind of Teflon scrubber and tried to
scrub it off. I didn’t do it. I told her about the three wise men that came and
they just said, “Yeah, yeah, whatever. Maybe you can skip Sunday school next
week.” [Laughs] Maybe he’s a bit crazy already with this; we’ll lay off the
Catholicism for a week or two until the triangle goes away.
Ministry
Guitarist Mike Scaccia Dies After Onstage Collapse
By Greg Prato, Rolling Stone, 23 December 2012)
Mike
Scaccia, the guitarist for Ministry and Rigor Mortis, died on Saturday night at
the age of 47. Scaccia was performing onstage at the Rail Club in Fort Worth,
Texas, as part of a 50th birthday celebration for Rigor Mortis singer Bruce
Corbitt, when he collapsed. Shortly afterwards, he was taken to a hospital,
where he was pronounced dead.
Scaccia was
born in Babylon, New York, on July 14th, 1965, and formed thrash metallists
Rigor Mortis in 1983. Six years later, the guitarist was invited by Al
Jourgensen to join Ministry. The first full-length Ministry studio recording to
feature Scaccia was the group's most commercially successful release, 1992's Psalm
69: The Way to Succeed and the Way to Suck Eggs, which spawned such
industrial metal classics as "N.W.O." and "Jesus Built My
Hotrod," and was supported by an appearance on Lollapalooza that same
year. Additionally, Scaccia appeared on
recordings by a host of Ministry offshoot bands, including the Revolting Cocks,
Lard, and Buck Satan and the 666 Shooters. The most recent Ministry album that
Scaccia appeared on was this year's Relapse.
On Corbitt's
Facebook page, the singer posted the following statement shortly after
Scaccia's passing: "My brother is gone! The only reason I am who I am is
because of this man. If it wasn't for him I wouldn't even be in a band. RIP
Mike Scaccia! The greatest guitar player I ever knew!" Ministry's official Facebook page later
posted another statement: "MICHAEL RALPH SCACCIA ...Our Dearest Friend. We
love you. We miss you. God Rest Your Precious Soul. We cannot fathom this
loss."
http://www.rollingstone.com/music/news/ministry-guitarist-mike-scaccia-dies-after-onstage-collapse-20121223#ixzz2Fuobivsy
Mike
Scaccia dies at 47: Cause of death strobe light-induced seizure?
(By Bruce Baker, Examioner.com, 23 December 2012)
Scaccia,
during his music career, played with Rigor Mortis, Ministry and Revolving
Cocks. However, he was also involved with other acts like Skatenigs, Lard,
BloHole, League of Blind Women, Buck Satan and the 666 Shooters. Corbitt, the guest of honor and vocalist with
Rigor, who hosted his 50th birthday party, posted a statement of condolences
after his band mate's death. It read: "My
brother is gone! The only reason I am who I am is because of this man. If it
wasn't for him I wouldn't even be in a band. RIP Mike – the greatest guitar
player I ever knew. I'm proud to say that I was always Mike Scaccia's biggest
fan, and always will be."
Classic Rock Magazine noted that Scaccia helped form Rigor
Mortis with school mates, Harden Harrison and Casey Orr in 1983. They shared an
interest in heavy metal and developed speed metal, something never done before.
Mike Scaccia left Rigor Mortis in 1991
and hooked up with Ministry. But in August of this year, the original members
of Rigor Mortis hooked back up and began working on "Slaves to the
Grave," notes Culture Map. "He
once said, 'If I go out ripping on stage, what's a better way to go?' And he
did," said Chris Kelly, singer for League of Blind Women”. While Mike Scaccia died, he left an
indelible print on speed metal music.
Facebook Post From Al Jorgenson:
From Uncle
Al..... 12/23/2012
I JUST LOST MY LIL' BROTHER AND MY BEST FRIEND
- THE 13TH PLANET COMPOUND IS DEVASTATED,COMPLETELY IN SHOCK AND SHATTERED.
MIKEY WAS NOT ONLY THE BEST GUITAR PLAYER IN THE HISTORY OF MUSIC, BUT HE WAS A
CLOSE, CLOSE, CLOSE PART OF OUR FAMILY - AND I JUST LOST A HUGE CHUNK OF MY
HEART TODAY. OUR LIVES ARE FOREVER CHANGED. LIFE WITHOUT MIKEY IS LIKE ORANGE
JUICE WITHOUT PULP - KIND OF BLAND. I HAVE NO WORDS TO EXPRESS WHAT THIS GUY
MEANT TO ME, MY FAMILY, MY CAREER....EVERYTHING!
GET TO KNOW HIS LEAD PARTS - FOR THEY ARE IN
THE PANTHEON OF MUSIC! UNFORTUNATELY, MOST OF YOU DIDN'T GET TO KNOW MIKEY'S
SOUL -WHICH IS IN THE PANTHEON OF HUMANITY. HE IS MY HERO, MY FRIEND AND MY
IDOL. MIKEY WAS ALWAYS BESIDE ME - MY RIGHT HAND MAN - THROUGH THICK AND THIN,
THE GOOD, THE BAD, THE UGLY AND THE BEAUTIFUL.
REST IN PEACE MY BROTHER, MY FRIEND, MY HEART.
PLEASE PRAY FOR MIKE SCACCIA AND JENNY, HIS WIFE AND THEIR CHILDREN, AND HIS
FAMILY.....AL
Ministry’s Last Stand Brings
Jourgensen 'From Beer to Eternity'
(By Jon Wiederhorn, Noisey By Vice, 27 March 2013)
There was a
time when Ministry frontman Al Jourgensen said the band’s 2012 album Relapse
was absolutely, positively going to be the final Ministry album ever.
Exclamation point! End of sentence. Done! Then again, there was also a time
when the industrial metal pioneer said 2007’s The Last Sucker would be Ministry’s
coup de grace. But cut the dude some slack.
Back in 2007, Jourgensen was leaking blood from every orifice and,
little did he know it, but he would eventually implode and almost die from a
ruptured ulcer. Then he got better (mostly, except for his 13 bleeding ulcers).
To fulfill a decade-long threat to his longtime fans that he would someday
record a country album, Jourgensen formed Buck Satan & The 666 Shooters
with his best friend and longtime Ministry guitarist Mike Scaccia, Static-X
bassist Tony Campos, Cheap Trick guitarist Rick Nielsen, and The Dusters
bassist David Barnett. Together, they wrote the riotous, rollicking
country-core album Ladies Welcome, Bikers Drink Free.
While
tracking and between—Hell, probably in the middle of—drinking bottles of cheap
red wine, Jourgensen and Scaccia started jamming with some metal riffs just for
shits and grins. Problem was, they came out so fucking well that Scaccia was
able to convince his buddy to use them on a new Ministry record. A couple more
drinkers and rockers—Prong guitarist Tommy Victor and Rigor Mortis’ bassist
Casey Orr—joined the team, and Relapse was born. The band planned to do a short U.S. tour and
a lengthy overseas run in 2012 and then return to the U.S. in 2013 for a
longer, more high profile tour of American sheds and arenas and possibly an
inclusion on a major package tour. Then, Jourgensen almost died again, and,
like every time that happens, it kinda put a crimp on things. The band was on
tour in France at the time, and Ministry’s frontman was suffering from severe
dysentery, which he came down with in Los Angeles at the beginning of the run.
By the time he got to Paris, he was so dehydrated, he was barely aware of where
he was.
Onstage,
excessively hot temperatures at the Paris venue provoked heat exhaustion. Add
that to the dysentery and you’ve got a lethal combination. Eight songs into the
set, Jourgensen stumbled over to keyboardist John Bechdel and told him he
didn’t know if he could make it through the show. Jourgensen's wife/manager
Angie Jourgensen rushed onto the stage to catch Jourgensen as he collapsed. He
was rushed to a hospital in Switzerland, which diagnosed his illness,
controlled his raging fever, pumped him full of fluids and antibiotics, and
basically saved his life. But Jourgensen
took the ordeal as a sign. No more touring. After the last show in St.
Petersburg, Russia, he returned home to El Paso and started brainstorming for a
new album. When he doesn’t create like madman, Jourgensen tends to drive
himself and those around him crazy, so he decided to break his word (again) and
do another Ministry record with Scaccia, guitarist Sin Quirin, bassist Tony
Campos and, for the first time in a decade, a live drummer—in this case, Aaron
Rossi, who had toured Relapse with the band.
During 19
days in December, Ministry wrote and recorded riffs for 18 songs. Then they
went their separate ways for Christmas. “This was one of the most creative
Ministry tracking sessions ever. The band was on fire!” Jourgensen says. “We
were having fun, we were coming up with great ideas and experimenting with
everything we’ve ever wanted to do, from Stones-y blues to dub and, of course,
heavy guitar-based rock. It was too easy. No fighting, no problems. Nothing
goes that well without the floor eventually falling out.”
Tragically,
Ministry's final creative hour with Scaccia came right before they broke for
the holidays. Three days after leaving the Ministry sessions in El Paso, in the
early hours of December 23, Scaccia suffered heart failure onstage while
performing with his other band, Rigor Mortis, and was pronounced dead on
arrival at the hospital. Scaccia’s death both devastated and motivated
Jourgensen. “Mikey was my best friend in
the world and there’s no Ministry without him,” he says. “But I know the music
we recorded together during the last weeks of his life had to be released to
honor him. So after his funeral, I locked myself in my studio and turned the
songs we had recorded into the best and last Ministry record anyone will ever here.
I can’t do it without Mikey and I don’t want to. So yes, this will be
Ministry’s last album.”
Jourgensen
tirelessly worked on From Beer to Eternity through March 2013 at 13th Planet
Records in his El Paso compound with co-producer Sammy D’Ambruoso, and
engineer/keyboard programmer Aaron Havill. In addition to producing and mixing,
Jourgensen wrote all the lyrics and took his traditional role behind the mic
and the console. “It was the most emotionally difficult project I’ve ever done,
but it was the most rewarding,” Jourgensen says. “Mikey was amazed with the
songs when he was working on them, and I know he’s looking down at us now and
he’s totally stoked with what we came up with.”
From Beer to
Eternity is scheduled for release in September, but there will be no tour.
Instead, Jourgensen will promote the album in the press along with his
authorized biography, Ministry: The Lost Gospels According to Al Jourgensen,
which comes out on DaCapo Books in August. “Maybe we’ll do one big show with
Tommy and Sin and the guys who made this band possible for the past few years.
That would be a nice tribute to Mikey. But I can’t do a whole tour without him.
Ministry was his life almost as much as mine, and I’m afraid it has to die with
him. But damn if we didn’t go out with a bang!”
http://noisey.vice.com/blog/ministrys-last-stand-brings-al-jourgensen-from-beer-to-eternity
I'm really excited about the release of this new Ministry album for a couple of reasons. First of all, their stuff has begun to regain it's power after a mid-to late 90's period of complete suckitude. Second, they have a good subject matter to examine (corporate greed and corruption). Third, and most important of all, I really like the line up they announced. Mike Scaccia has been the linchpin for all their best music and adding a Prong guitarist should take things to a new level. Of course, I'll be devasted later if the album turns out to be "Dark Side Of The Spoon" awful but at least for now I'm optimistic and excited. (Plus I love Jourgensen's quote about the upcoming election cycle.)
Ministry Reveal Cover Art for New Album and Release Date for First New Original Song in Four Years, “99 Percenters”
In support of the “occupy movement,” Ministry will release the new song “99 Percenters” on iTunes on Dec. 23 and stream the track on their Facebook site starting Christmas day. The song, which comes from the band’s upcoming album, Relapse (out March 23), is a rally cry for all of the protesters that have gathered across the country to demonstrate against corporate greed, cutthoat capitalism, and the one percent of Americans who earn millions of dollars a year, but receive substantial tax cuts on their income. Frontman Al Jourgensen said the chorus for the track, “1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 99 percent” was inspired by Country Joe and the Fish’s Vietnam protest song “I Feel Like I’m Fixin’ to Die Rag.” “Putting out this song is the least I could do,” Jourgensen told Revolver. “We wanted to fly to New York and protest and get arrested and pepper sprayed. But we can’t do it because I got a Christmas deadline on this album. But I’m with ‘em in spirit so the least I could do is give them a chant-along song. I’m going, Hey man, here’s your song. All you gotta do is chant the chorus.”
In addition to “99 Percenters,” Relapse will feature the song “Get Up, Get Out and Vote.” Jourgensen plans to actively campaign for Democrats in Texas next year and encourages his fans to put more Democrats in Congress and the Senate and keep President Obama in office, despite his seeming willingness to compromise with the one percenters. “This is going to be a brutal political season,” Jourgensen says. “The Republicans are gearing up for a fight because they got nothing. What do they got? Newt Gingrich or Mitt Romney? It’s like a fuckin’ circus of clowns, but they have money behind them and money talks. So Obama’s gotta settle down the one percenters and get his money. I don’t fault him for that. I really feel strongly in my heart that the guy is for the people. But it’s gonna be like a war, dude. Football doesn’t even compare to the violence that’s gonna be coming up this next election.”
Relapse will be the first Ministry album of original material since 2007’s The Last Sucker and features songs written and performed by Jourgensen, guitarists Tommy Victor (Prong), and Mike Scaccia (ex-Rigor Mortis, Lard), and bassists Tony Campos (Static-X) and Casey Orr (ex-GWAR). Drummer Aaron Rossi will join the band on tour. Ministry have booked five dates in the U.S. to support Relapse, starting June 17 in Denver, Colorado and ending June 29 with the second of two nights in Chicago, Jourgensen’s former hometown. Dates for the band’s European DefibrillaTour will be announced in January.
http://www.revolvermag.com/news/ministry-reveal-cover-art-for-new-album-plan-to-release-first-new-original-song-in-four-years-“99-percenters”.html
In addition to “99 Percenters,” Relapse will feature the song “Get Up, Get Out and Vote.” Jourgensen plans to actively campaign for Democrats in Texas next year and encourages his fans to put more Democrats in Congress and the Senate and keep President Obama in office, despite his seeming willingness to compromise with the one percenters. “This is going to be a brutal political season,” Jourgensen says. “The Republicans are gearing up for a fight because they got nothing. What do they got? Newt Gingrich or Mitt Romney? It’s like a fuckin’ circus of clowns, but they have money behind them and money talks. So Obama’s gotta settle down the one percenters and get his money. I don’t fault him for that. I really feel strongly in my heart that the guy is for the people. But it’s gonna be like a war, dude. Football doesn’t even compare to the violence that’s gonna be coming up this next election.”
Relapse will be the first Ministry album of original material since 2007’s The Last Sucker and features songs written and performed by Jourgensen, guitarists Tommy Victor (Prong), and Mike Scaccia (ex-Rigor Mortis, Lard), and bassists Tony Campos (Static-X) and Casey Orr (ex-GWAR). Drummer Aaron Rossi will join the band on tour. Ministry have booked five dates in the U.S. to support Relapse, starting June 17 in Denver, Colorado and ending June 29 with the second of two nights in Chicago, Jourgensen’s former hometown. Dates for the band’s European DefibrillaTour will be announced in January.
http://www.revolvermag.com/news/ministry-reveal-cover-art-for-new-album-plan-to-release-first-new-original-song-in-four-years-“99-percenters”.html
