‘My Ears Are Tired’ – Al Jourgensen Explains Ministry’s Ending

Ministry’s Al Jourgensen has shared his reasons for bringing the band to its conclusion during a recent chat on Full Metal Jackie’s weekend radio show.

The musician has reimagined the works from his early synth-op days on the newly released The Squirrely Years Revisited and is currently in the process of doing one final Ministry album while bringing back ’90s-era collaborator Paul Barker to wrap things up.

“My ears are tired from music,” says Jourgensen, who shares, “The reason I say that, and that’s the reason I’m ending Ministry, it’s not so much for any health reasons or any kind of band conflicts or anything like that. It’s just that my ears are tired. I’m starting to find myself really slapping myself on the wrist, not repeating stuff that I’ve done before and trying to keep going further. It gets harder as you keep going.”

“That’s not to say the next album won’t be great, because it already is,” he adds giving an update on his current work with Barker. “We’re halfway done, and it sounds amazing. Amazing. But just saying that it’s a different kind of vibe. It’s more like a job now as opposed to having youthful enthusiasm.”

Within the chat, Al and Jackie speak extensively about how the new Squirrely Years Revisited album came about and he credits his current band who worked secretly behind his back before presenting him with updated and reworked versions of his early songs that he had long since moved on from after a frosty relationship with his first record label experience.

Jourgensen shares the story of how he burned the original tapes, but has since found love for some of the tracks again after what the band was able to do to the songs. He also names some of his favorites of the reworked material.

The musician also shares his concern for the new artists of today, explains why it’s more important than ever to be aware of what’s going on politically and offers some insight on a film score he’s worked on.

Check out more of the chat below.

It’s Full Metal Jackie and I’m super excited to welcome back to the show the legendary Al Jourgensen of Ministry. Al is back and promoting Squirrely Years Revisited, a reimagining of some of the music from your early synth rock era. And admittedly you’ve had a frosty relationship with your first Ministry album. So what was the turning point for you in deciding to revisit your early material?

The band that I have now, we were on the road last tour, I think supporting [Rob] Zombie, and the band had been talking about doing this for a while, but they knew I hated this stuff. So they reworked a bunch of stuff and then ambushed me after a show before Zombie on the tour bus and played me this stuff when they knew I was good and drunk.

They played this stuff and I was just like, “Who’s this?” And they’re like, “That’s you stupid.” I’m like, “Oh!,” cause I haven’t heard those songs in 40 years. They reworked them and I’m like, “Well, this isn’t bad.” And they’re like, “OK, so we decided to re record them.”

Ministry, “Every Day Is Halloween” (Squirrely Version)

Al, from what I gather, your distaste for the With Sympathy album had more to do with how it came together and the interference in the recording. It’s a cautionary tale of being indoctrinated into the music industry. And it certainly was a lesson for you. What did you learn from that experience and what would you try to pass on to others just getting their start in music?

I would say definitely don’t get into music. And I would say what I learned is that I should have been a Walmart greeter. I think I would had a more ….

I totally gone to that Walmart.

It would have been the cleanest parking lot. All those carts would be in the right spot lot. I promise you that. I’m a producer at heart.

But at any rate, you’re right. It wasn’t so much the material except for the material that I was forced to record that they put my name on. But they go, “No, this is what you’re going to record. This is your producer, these are your background vocals, this is who’s playing on it”. All this stuff that I submitted to this label, they, they rejected. And some of that stuff wound up later on things like Twitch and Land of Rape and Honey, but they rejected it at the start.

So they sign you because they think you unique and then they try and make you like everyone else. It was kind of like to me, what?

What currently is like boy bands or K pop bands or something, where it was just really not what I thought it was going to be when I got into music. So for that reason I just said screw it, and got off the label right away, started my own label with two other people with Wax Trax, and away we went.

Do you feel like the situations that happened for you are the same type of situations are happening today?

Oh, absolutely. Even more so because now there’s no steady income, if you will, because of streaming and all that. And now with AI coming in too, it’s just a bad time to get into this business. That is what I’m trying to say.

We’re going to have to find a different path or we’re going to have to have some kind of congressional support to make these streamers pay a decent living, a decent wage for artists. Because right now it’s impossible to make a living.

I got in at the tail end of it before Napster and all that stuff happened. But at this point, you used to tour to support a record, you know what I’m saying? And now you just tour to sell T-shirts. Right?

It’s like T-shirt and ticket business.

Yep, exactly.

Al, it was your band that eventually got you back into the music from the With Sympathy era. But I know you’ve talked about burning the original tapes. So how was it working back up some of this material from scratch with your current lineup and what conversations were had about how much variations from the originals would be made.

Well, that’s the thing. These guys had been sneakily going behind my back for months, working with each other, going, “You know what? We could do this and that with this song and this and that.” And when they played it for me, I didn’t even know it was us.

Once you listen to it, you realize, “Oh, yeah, that’s that song from With Sympathy.” But it’s just got a new kick in the pants to it. So I was actually impressed. I never thought I’d ever listen to those again.

And, yes, I did actually burn the master tapes. I had a barbecue, and, man, that was just horrible smelling. The smell of burning acetate on your grill. And it took me months to clean that grill so I could actually put something else on it. But, yeah we had to start from scratch on these things.

READ MORE: Ministry Play Rarities With Old School Set at Cruel World Festival

But these guys had it pretty much all arranged. Roy Mayorga, Monty Pittman, Cesar Soto, John Bechtel. They were all working behind my back. Oh, and Paul D’Amour as well, ex Tool member, who actually turned out to like that old stuff. So they all conspired behind me.

And then I heard it, and I was wasted, and I was like, “All right, all right, let’s do it.” So we decided to do it, and it came out okay.

Al, I realize that you have a certain negative association with some of this material, but with you and the band reworking it from scratch, are there songs from this album that you now appreciate or even have a newfound love for in their reworked form?

Yeah, actually, I do. There’s a couple of the early pop hits, even before With Sympathy, that are on there. One of them is called “I’ll Do Anything For You,” and that one is a good pop song. I can’t believe that that wasn’t even on the record. That was turned down by the label, and then I never used it again. And then 40 years later, we decided to re-record it. So that one sticks out.

Also things like “Revenge” and “Effigy” sound more like arena rock now than they do like some club disco hit from back in ’83. So, yeah, this album is kind of surprising.

Ministry, “I’ll Do Anything for You” (Squirrely Version)

One of the great things coming this year, of course, is this tour. Nitzer Ebb, My Life with the Thrill Kill Cult and Die Krupps joining you on tour. Obviously you evolved musically over the years, but what is your appreciation for the music some of your peers were putting out in that era and getting to play with these bands this year?

Obviously I loved it back then because I sounded like them back then. That wasn’t entirely like the label telling me you have to sound like this. I totally appreciate a band like Human League or even Gary Numan, which we recently toured with. This was good stuff for me. This was like my breakfast every morning.

As far as the bands that are with us now, of course, I signed Nitzer Ebb to Wax Trap, so they’re on my label. So I’ve known about them for many, many years and Thrill Kill Cult, I used to be in a band with their lead singer Frankie Fun before Ministry.  So it all kind of ties in.

It’s all this whole thing that I’m doing with putting a bow on a whole career because I’m doing this tour, I’m getting this cathartically out of me, this early stuff.

And then we’re going to do one final album and one final tour and it’s not going to be like KISS. I’m not going to be coming back every week or month or playing all the casinos and all this other stuff. It’s just like one final album and tour, putting a bow on it and having Paul Barker come back into the band.

That’s who I’m recording with right now from all of the ’90s years and late ’80s and ’90s. Paul Barker was an integral part of that and he’s part of these recordings now as well. So, yeah, I’m just putting a nice little bow on a nice little career.

This album comes at a very interesting time for yourself in Ministry. It’s reflective of your early years just as you’re getting ready to do one more final record that, as you mentioned, finds you reuniting with Paul Barker. With having done the Squirrely Years, is that influencing the writing you’re doing with Paul on the upcoming album?

Only in the sense that it’s making me a complete bipolar schizophrenic. Other than that, I’m fine. It’s like having to go through the emotions of doing these songs on tour again and all the stuff that I never thought I’d do again after I had my barbecue, if you will.

And then also working on the future, which is also the end of the future with Barker in this political climate for the new Ministry stuff is, yeah, it’s pretty bipolar. But this is actually kind of a nice respite from what’s going on politically and all that. This is just fun.

This is a throwback. This is like the Hot Tub Time Machine tour, you know what I’m saying?

Al, you’ve never been shy about working your activism and political leanings into your music. It’s been a while since we’ve spoken and obviously a lot is going on in the world. With a new administration. why is it now more important for everyone to be paying attention to what our government is doing and being vocal about it?

Well, because we’re going to lose what we’ve all grown up with. And me being 66, I’ve only known democracy. I think democracy is under threat and so everyone should pay attention. If you like this system or if you don’t, I would suggest maybe go living in an autocratic country for a while and voicing your opinions and see how that goes over.

As it is right now, we have students being just kidnapped by hooded people with badges and thrown into wherever, whether it’s Guantanamo or just whatever with no comment. This is scary stuff right now that we’re going through. I’m sure that the new album will have some things to say about it, but in the meanwhile, this album and tour is just like it’s okay to take a big breath and party before we really go at this.

Al, I know you’ve gotten involved with film scoring and have expressed an excitement about that as a creative outlet moving forward. Do you have a preference on what types of films or TV projects you would like to score? And is there something you get out of doing scoring work that provides a different challenge or scratches a different itch for you?

Yeah, doing scoring work means that I don’t have to do interviews. Sorry.

Beside that, no, I look for either the director, the script, or the cause of the movie or whatever. For instance, I have some new music coming out on a documentary on how the Koch brothers ripped off the indigenous people in the Osage in Oklahoma. I did the whole score and also a song or two that’s coming out from the record, so. And that should come out next year, I believe. And it’s called Long Knife.

We talked about your interest in doing film scoring. Is there anything else on the the old “to do” list that with the end of Ministry in sight that you might now like to try?

No. I might now be able to sleep a full eight hours at night and enjoy my swimming pool and just kind of chill out. I really don’t have any plans outside of just doing art, like just canvases and stuff like that. And actually, my ears are tired from music.

The reason I say that, and that’s the reason I’m ending Ministry, it’s not so much for any health reasons or any kind of band conflicts or anything like that. It’s just that my ears are tired. I’m starting to find myself really slapping myself on the wrist, not repeating stuff that I’ve done before and trying to keep going further. It gets harder as you keep going.

That’s not to say the next album won’t be great, because it already is. We’re halfway done, and it sounds amazing. Amazing. But just saying that it’s a different kind of vibe. It’s more like a job now as opposed to having youthful enthusiasm.

So I’m like, “Okay, let’s do this.” Let’s get Barker back in, which is a nice twist because both he and I have grown since we worked together in the ’90s. So it makes for an interesting twist on our combination of our taste and talents.

I just think everything is wrapping up perfectly. But at that point, when I’m done, I am done. I’m done. You can catch me by the pool.

Thanks to Ministry’s Al Jourgensen for the interview. The Squirrely Years Revisited is available now. Stay up to date with Al and Ministry through their website, Facebook, Instagram, YouTube and Spotify accounts. Find out where you can hear Full Metal Jackie’s weekend radio show here.