Ministry of decadence
Jourgensen and co. prepare to head out on a ‘global bender’
Mike Warkentin

Everyone has their favourite Al Jourgensen story.

How could you not? The Ministry frontman admittedly spent a good portion of his life higher than a satellite, and he might be the only person who could make Hunter S. Thompson’s legendary journeys look like school field trips to Lower Fort Garry.

“I have a couple of Al stories, but I guess my favourite Al story is that he’s still alive and walking around,” says Paul Raven, Ministry’s touring bassist. “That would have to be my favourite story of all.”

I call Raven’s bullshit, and he opens the vault for a real gem. This one comes from Toronto, circa 1996.

“Al was in a rather inebriated condition, drinking a lot of Bushmills and whatever else was going on at that period, and he was like, ‘Yeah, I’m going to set myself on fire tonight. Keep your eyes peeled,’” Raven recalls. “And I was like, ‘All right then, have a good gig…’

“And he came onstage wearing a 50-gallon hat, an enormous hat and a big trench coat, so he took a bottle of Bushmills and poured it all over himself and was feverishly trying to strike this Zippo…

“Fortunately there was no ignition, but at least he meant it when he said it.”

Raven shares a couple of other good ones — including a tale about him and Al commandeering a cab one drunken night in Chicago — then explains that Ministry is “in the embryonic stages of a global bender.”

That makes sense considering Jourgensen and Raven (also of Killing Joke) will be joined on tour by keyboardist John Bechdel (Killing Joke/Fear Factory), guitarist Tommy Victor (Prong), guitarist Mike Scaccia (Rigor Mortis) and drummer Joey Jordison (Slipknot). That doesn’t even include the wild beasts who’ll play in Revolting Cocks, Jourgensen’s side project.

“Whereas Killing Joke is more motivated by the common ground of the things we like collectively... I think with this lineup right now we’re motivated very clearly by what we hate — and that makes it a whole different ride.”

What these guys hate is Bushes — George Sr., Jeb, Dubya, Neil, Marvin, Dorothy — Republicans and authority in general. But mostly they hate the Bushes. In fact, abusing Dubya is the main focus of Rio Grande Blood, Ministry’s livid industrial follow-up to 2004’s Houses of the Molé.

“I’d rip his fucking eyes out. I could kill that guy with my bare hands, no problem,” Raven says when asked what he would say to Dubya if he had the chance.

I tell him Jourgensen would probably beat him to the president.

“It would be like a couple of pit bulls pulling a Cabbage Patch Doll to pieces,” he admits.

But even though Ministry has been beating the Bushes for years now, don’t try and tell Raven it’s a one-note band.

“We can’t just stand by and watch it fucking happen,” he says.

He adds: “Personally, if it was up to me, I’d put a sticker on every record saying, ‘Go downtown and burn down the fucking mayor’s office until you get some results.”