MINISTRY
STAND UP FOR YOURSELF
By Kelley Simms
photos by Phil Parmet
H
e hinted at new music at Riot Fest
last fall. Chicago's legendary
industrial metal machine Ministry
is back. After the sudden death of longtime
guitarist and friend Mike Scaccia in 2012,
leader/vocalist Al Jourgensen decided to
put Ministry on indefinite hiatus. During
the band’s downtime, "Uncle Al" spawned
a side project, Surgical Meth Machine, and
released a self-titled debut record in 2015.
It was pretty much a two-man job, as it was
only Jourgensen and his engineer creating
tunes on a computer.
Although Jourgensen was pleased with
the album, he was still dealing with the
loss of his friend. “It wasn’t quite satisfy-
ing, and I also wasn’t ready,” Jourgensen
began. “I needed time to grieve. I mean, I
lost my best friend of 30 years - an integral
part of my life and my career - and every-
thing about him was wonderful. I was
grieving. I didn’t want to do a band struc-
ture, so I did an album of [me] expressing
[my] thoughts through computers.”
After this brief detour, and spurred on
by the outrage he felt following the 2016
presidential election, Jourgensen decided
to resurrect Ministry, returning in 2017
with a whole new lineup, a new label, and
its 14th studio album, the first in almost
five years. The aptly titled AmeriKKKant is
due out March 9 on Nuclear Blast Records.
Although guitarist Sin Quirin has been
with Jourgensen for some years, by inject-
ing new blood – including live turntablist
DJ Swamp (Beck, the Crystal Method),
guest appearances by founding N.W.A
member Arabian Prince and Fear Factory
vocalist Burton C. Bell — the recording
process felt more like a band effort.
“It was a collaborative effort of all these
crazy people,” Jourgensen explains. “It
was almost like a rebirth like you said. Or,
at least the re-energizing of Ministry. I did-
n’t even know I missed it that much until
we did this record. As it turns out, even
after Mike’s death, my old manager had
signed contracts for us to play in Europe
the next year and if I would’ve canceled
the shows, I would’ve been sued. So, I had
to put together some new people and
trudge across Europe. I wasn’t really look-
ing forward to it. But about halfway
through the European tour, I thought it
sounded pretty good. So when the tour
was over, I said when we get back to
California lets go into the studio for a week
and just try writing new shit. And it came
out really organic. The collaborative effort
was something we haven’t done [in a
while]. After we had the basic songs that
first week coming off tour, we just went to
my house and kept building on what we
had established in that first week. It was
really a crazy way to make a record.
Obviously, I wished Mikey was here, but it
was great to be surrounded by like-mind-
ed people.”
On the nine politically-charged tracks,
Jourgensen and his cynical views rage furi-
ously against President Trump’s adminis-
tration. Although not a true concept
album, AmeriKKKant is meant to be one
continuous narrative, where all nine songs
seamlessly talk to each other. To say
Jourgensen is angry about current affairs
would be an understatement. However,
he’s even more dumbfounded by why so
many Americans thought it would be a
good idea to elect him. “What the fuck is
going on in this society that would [make
people] think it was a good idea to vote-in
22 illinoisentertainer.com february 2018
an eradiated, shit gibbon, orange orang-
utan, angry Cheeto?” Jourgensen quips.
“This is not an anti-Trump record. This is a
record of inquisition, of why did we do
this? I’m holding up the mirror, and I want
some feedback as to why you all think this
happened, [why] we thought that this was
a good idea?" Jourgensen continues. “It has
nothing to do with him; he’s the figure-
head, he’s the symptom,” Jourgensen
states. “If you go to the doctor with a large
cyst on your shoulder, they can take care of
the