April 23, 2008 Music » Music Features

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After 30 years, Ministry says C U LaTour 

One last fix

By
click to enlarge SO WHAT? Ministry's Al Jourgensen

  • SO WHAT? Ministry's Al Jourgensen

Page 2 of 4

Are you worried about any kind of disappointment from fans in that way? I understand with the old stuff, but maybe they wish you were sending it out.

Dude, I mean, I bust my ass on the other 14 songs, you know? I am singing at least on "So What" and "Roadhouse Blues." Burton sounds great on it and frankly, I don't give a fuck if you're disappointed because I know we sound great. The shows are going great and they're really well-received and they're almost all sold out.

If they want to hear the old stuff, they should have been there in the '90s.

Exactly ... exactly!

At what point ... talking of the retirement, I know your age, you've got the label and other stuff you want to do, but at what point did you decide that it's time to hang it up?

I said that before the last tour. I already announced two-and-a-half years ago that this was gonna be my last tour and we started moving towards producing other bands like Prong and Ascension of the Watchers and getting the label revved up so it's not just an outlet vanity label for Ministry and RevCo. RevCo is touring this fall and I'm not gonna be on that either. I've got three new knuckleheads to run RevCo and I'm basically the producer guy and that way I get to stay home with my two Labradors. I don't have to travel around like some drunken idiot all over the fuckin' world.

Any thoughts of one-off shows or anything like that is out the window, too?

Nothing like that. It's basically impossible anyways because we've got a rotating lineup and most of the guys are in other bands. Not most, all of them are in other bands. It's really hard to do a one-off because you have to rehearse and then you'd have to fly people in depending on schedules of the other bands and all that other shit. It's not possible. It's not like a Who reunion or a Zeppelin reunion with the son playing drums. It would be impossible for us to do that nor does that really interest me. I think bands that play past their prime ... I'm really happy that we're going out on top doing some really good music and still able to pull it off as opposed to seeing these Botox bands on the fuckin' state fair circuit. It's been 15 years since they even wrote a decent song. It's depressing. I'd rather have people see us go out while we're still relevant.

And you're still making good music.

Yeah.

Looking back, aside from personnel, how do you think the band has changed over the years?

Well, I mean, basically, everyone brings their own personality to the band. I know that the most fun that I've ever had in my career has been on Rio Grande Blood and on Cover Up and on Last Sucker because of what Tommy and Paul Raven -- who recently passed away -- brought to the table. They put their own stamp on it. I love collaborating. I've collaborated with a billion fuckin' people over the years especially if you produce stuff, you better like collaborating cause that's what you're doing. When it was Barker and me, that kind of got stale for me after a while. The drug addiction didn't help. I had a blast on the last few records and that's another good reason to stop -- let's keep it that way. That's a good memory for me, these last three records.

Are you as happy producing?

Oh, big time. Like I said, I prefer doing that than traipsing around the fuckin' country on some tour bus trying to figure out what truck stop you can take a crap in. (laughs) You know, it's not real glamorous like everyone thinks. You wake up in the morning, you have a cup of coffee on the bus and you're scrambling around trying to not touch cloth, you know ... (laughs) "Please pull over, driver, I gotta crap!" (laughs) I don't need that at 50 years old. Leave that for the kids. They can figure out where to crap. I like my own toilet.

Has it been like this the last few tours? Have you gotten over it where it's been a pain in the ass?

Touring and the press thing, too. Nobody ever interviews producers. You guys are a pain in my ass. Truck stops are a pain in my ass. I've been over it for the last five tours, almost. I saw that this is the perfect time for me to do this. Touring's a blast when you're in your twenties or maybe early-thirties at most and then, trust me, it's not so glamorous. Especially if you're married and you love your wife and you're not into the whole backstage scene with groupies. Trust me, you won't catch me backstage. There's no way. I take a car and walk directly from the car to the stage and get right back in and get the hell out of there. (laughs) I leave the mayhem for all the younger kids. They have a blast and they should. I'm a little bit too old and cranky for this stuff.

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