AL JOURGENSEN: Why I Decided To Bring Back MINISTRY

MINISTRY mainman Al Jourgensen spoke to U.K.'s Metal Hammer magazine about his band's decision to reform for a new album and tour, including an appearance at next year's Wacken Open Air festival in Wacken, Germany.

When asked how the resurrection of MINISTRY came about, Jourgensen said, "While I was working on [the BUCK SATAN record], me and Mike Scaccia from RIGOR MORTIS fucked around to pass the time and we had like, 5,6,7 songs and I didn't really want to do anything with them but Mikey was like, 'Dude, these songs are awesome.' They weren't country, they were more like MINISTRY. So he's coming by in September and Tommy Victor's [PRONG; guitar] coming by in October with Tony Campos [SOULFLY, ex-STATIC-X; bass] and we're gonna finish up and put out another MINISTRY album by Christmas called 'Relapse'."

Regarding the sound of the new MINISTRY material, Al said, "We've only got five songs to go. I've been listening to it the last couple of weeks and I wasn't really in the mood, I was just taking it as a joke. Just to pass the time at first but [Mikey's] raving about it. It's like, dude c'mon, this is not about Bush, so that parts over. The ulcers are gone and Bush is gone so it's time for something new. I think this is actually gonna wind up being the fastest and heaviest record I've ever done. Just because we did it as anti-therapy therapy against the country music we would just take days off and thrash faster than I've done in a long time, faster than Mikey's done in a long time. He just did a RIGOR MORTIS tour and said it was easy compared to this MINISTRY stuff so it's gonna be brutal and it's gonna freak a lot of people out."

On the topic of MINISTRY's upcoming tour activities which will feature the lineup of Al Jourgensen, Mike Scaccia and Tommy Victor on guitar, Tony Campos on bass, Aaron Rossi on drums, and John Bechdel on keyboards Jourgensen said, "The doctors told me to keep it light [following Al's recent health scare], so we're doing four shows in the States next June. The Nokia Theatre in L.A., the Vic theatre in Chicago we'll add second shows if those sell out Denver at the Ogden Theatre, and one night at the Nokia Theatre in New York and that's our whole American tour. That's it. And then we go to Europe and I'm gonna do a couple of festivals and club shows. We're gona do a limited tour, it'll be like 5-6 weeks. Maybe 20, 21 shows and just see how it works."

MINISTRY's "farewell" tour, the "C-U-LaTour", started its North American leg on March 26, 2008 and concluded in Chicago on May 12, 2008. The final date on the trek took place on July 18, 2008 at the Tripod in Dublin, Ireland. During the performance, Jourgensen repeatedly reaffirmed that it would indeed be the last-ever MINISTRY show. Due to a large demand for tickets, an extra gig was added at the Tripod on July 19, 2008. "Adios... Puta Madres", a live album featuring material culled from MINISTRY's "final" tour, was released in 2009 on CD and DVD.

When asked in a 2007 interview prior to "C U LaTouR 2008" if there would ever be a big MINISTRY reunion in 15 years, Jourgensen said, "I don't think so, my friend. First of all, who am I gonna get to reunionize with? I'm the fucking band. So unless I make a reunion with myself Whatever, no. I've got a lot of other stuff going on. Literally, I'm booked solid for the next 15 months. I know exactly what I'm doing for the next 15 months, plus I've got a record label [Thirteenth Planet Records], I've got a lot of other bands I need to baby-sit for. There would be no time, need, or inclination to every get some kind of redundancy going on."