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As seen in issue 52 of Closer Magazine, published on 2008-05-10 in the "NationalMusic" section.
The Final Service
Al Jourgensen and the industrial innovators of Ministry head for a shallow grave
It’s hard to take seriously any established band that says it’s their last tour/album/whatever. You want to forget about the exit and get ready for the comeback.
That’s the story with Ministry. They say this is it…their final service…the last album…the climactic tour. But since it’s premature to speculate about any return projects, the only thing to do is join the party, especially as they’ve put together such a nice parting package.
Their final studio album, The Last Sucker, was released in September 2007, their final project, Cover Up, a collection of covers, is due April 1. Their last tour, C U LaTour is a two-and-a-half hour blowout traversing North America and Europe. The show features music from throughout the band’s career, multi-media presentations and surprise guests.
“I really do think this is the end,” says Ministry guitarist Sin Quirin, speaking on the phone from Sonic Ranch Studios in Texas. “I’ve talked with Al over the last two years about it, and he’ s pretty much said everything he wants to say with Ministry. He wants to leave on what he feels is a high note and he doesn’t want to continue just for the sake of doing it.”
There’s another reason why this is Ministry’s last hoorah. The band’s most recent creative inspiration, George W. Bush, is leaving office. Ministry has made a living off of trashing the administration. The Last Sucker is the crowning jewel in a trilogy of albums--including 2006’s Rio Grande Blood (2006) and 2004’s Houses of the Molé (2004)--that raked Bush and his cronies over the coals.
“I kinda like the synchronicity of Dubya and Ministry riding off into the sunset hand in hand,” Jourgensen says in the band’s press release.
But Jourgensen lightened up for Ministry’s final vinyl, Cover Up, which is credited to Ministry and Co-Conspirators. “It’s absolutely a party album,” says Quirin. “It’s us not wanting to be all serious, political or whatever. There’s no big meaning, we just wanted to have fun with it.”
Cover Up--which includes three versions of Louis Armstrong’s “It’s a Wonderful Life,” two of them hidden--just like The Last Sucker and everything else out of the Ministry machinery, pairs Jourgensen’s lava-scorched vocals with fire-breathing instrumentals, samples and drum machines. The sound instigates bouts of teeth grinding, window smashing and over-the-top debauchery in fans and band mates alike.
It’s been that way since the mid-80s, when Jourgensen and band mates Paul Barker, Chris Connelly and a rotating cast of others came out of Chicago as prime movers of a budding industrial scene that included Skinny Puppy, Front 242, KMFDM and, later, Nine Inch Nails.
During the late 80s and 90s Ministry garnered three gold albums: The Land of Rape and Honey, The Mind is a Terrible Thing to Taste and Filth Pig and one platinum, 1992’s Psalm 69--all with no commercial radio support.
During those early years the only thing harder than their music was Jourgensen’s lifestyle.
Never one to shy away from a mind-altering time (he first enter rehab at 14), Jourgensen lived with Timothy Leary for two years and considers the acid prophet one of his biggest influences. His party bouts in that time often lasted days and turned into recording sessions that morphed backed into full-on parties. Out of the chaos came tunes like “Just One Fix,” which featured William Burroughs in the video, and the 1999 disc Dark Side of the Spoon.
Fans weren’t the only ones keeping tabs on the bands antics. In 1995, police raided the Ministry compound in Texas. Jourgensen was arrested for drug possession and was sentenced to five years probation and forced methadone treatment. He reportedly kicked his heroin, crack and methadone habits in 2002.
“I don't think Al could've made those records without being totally out of his head,”
former bandmate Chris Connelly—author of the memoir Concrete, Bulletproof, Invisible and Fried: My Life as a Revolting Cock--recently told the Chicago Tribune. “It would’ve been kind of flat sounding.”
Even though the dark side of Jourgensen’s party may be over, he still knows how to have a good time. Asked if the final tour includes a final fling, “Yes,” Quirin deadpans. “We already started. We were talking about it last night…We’re only in rehearsals and we’re already in our touring debauchery mode. It’s all part of a universal regimen.”
A Jourgensen press release concurs: “A Ministry tour is a traveling circus,” it reads. “When we roll into town, everyone hides their daughters, but the freaks roll out the red carpet.”
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