Sunday, December 23, 2012

Ministry: Mike Scaccia Dies, The Final Album & Al's Autobiography


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: The Lost Gospels According to Al Jourgensen is out now on Da Capo
 


 

 

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)

 Sadly, Mike Scaccia died at 47 Saturday while performing in Texas. The Ministry and Rigor Mortis guitarist collapsed onstage while celebrating Bruce Corbitt's birthday. He was pronounced dead a short time later at a hospital. The cause of death is presumed to be from a strobe light-induced seizure.   Initially, reports suggested he suffered a heart attack and his condition was critical.  After the incident on stage, a band member was quoted as saying, "It doesn't look good." A short time later, the versatile guitarist was pronounced dead from an apparent seizure.   Star-Telegram said sources reported Scaccia as complaining about the strobe lights moments before collapsing.

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



 

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