MINISTRY Mainman Explains What He Hates Most About Touring

November 24, 2008

MINISTRY mainman Al Jourgensen recently spoke to the Artisan News Service about why being in a band and playing live became torture after 27 years on the road and in the studio.

"Yeah, it's torturous, because, look… That's the whole thing I hate about live and that's the whole thing I hate about being in a band because you spend all your time obsessing and focusing on one thing and it takes up two years of your life," he said. "Every release there's months of press, a year in the studio, six months or eight months of touring and the next thing you know you're still on MINISTRY and you have to do another one, and it's two years later. God, it's so boring."

Jourgensen also spoke about settling into his role as producer for bands like REVOLTING COCKS and PRONG, both of whom are signed to Al's 13th Planet Records.

"That's why I'm so over this," Al explained. "This is done! I have so many other projects. I can't wait until I start twirling buttons on a PRONG record or twirling buttons on a COCKS record. I hate the fact that you made us come here and talk to you. I hate you for this because this is a waste of my time. I'd rather be in the studio working with people I know and love and doing really progressive stuff."

Reharding what he hated most about touring, Al said, "Because every night on stage you're like a juke box playing the old hits. You put a quarter in your mouth and turn your tongue and spit out a song, right. That's what I never liked about live playing. The whole thing is like, 'Yeah, OK there's magic moments where the crowd is really into it and they're one with you and all that. Whatever! Wank, wank, wank! You know what?! The best moment is when you know you've done a good job and you've done something that's timeless that's recorded in the studio and that last playback, with a really good bottle of brandy or wine and a good cigar, louder than piss and you and just the band. None of these knuckleheads blowing smoke up your ass. Then you know you've done something really cool. That's the moment."

Watch video footage of Al Jourgensen talking to the Artisan News Service about MINISTRY at this location.

Find more on

Prev More News Next

Comments Disclaimer And Information

BLABBERMOUTH.NET uses the Facebook Comments plugin to let people comment on content on the site using their Facebook account. The comments reside on Facebook servers and are not stored on BLABBERMOUTH.NET. To comment on a BLABBERMOUTH.NET story or review, you must be logged in to an active personal account on Facebook. Once you're logged in, you will be able to comment. User comments or postings do not reflect the viewpoint of BLABBERMOUTH.NET and BLABBERMOUTH.NET does not endorse, or guarantee the accuracy of, any user comment. To report spam or any abusive, obscene, defamatory, racist, homophobic or threatening comments, or anything that may violate any applicable laws, use the "Report to Facebook" and "Mark as spam" links that appear next to the comments themselves. To do so, click the downward arrow on the top-right corner of the Facebook comment (the arrow is invisible until you roll over it) and select the appropriate action. You can also send an e-mail to blabbermouthinbox(@)gmail.com with pertinent details. BLABBERMOUTH.NET reserves the right to "hide" comments that may be considered offensive, illegal or inappropriate and to "ban" users that violate the site's Terms Of Service. Hidden comments will still appear to the user and to the user's Facebook friends. If a new comment is published from a "banned" user or contains a blacklisted word, this comment will automatically have limited visibility (the "banned" user's comments will only be visible to the user and the user's Facebook friends).