coming back home and doing it this
year. Yeah, I’m stoked. We’re going to
have some fun that night.
AL
Chicago industrial metal progenitors,
Ministry, led by the charismatic Alain
Jourgensen, is a musical institution in
these parts. Jourgensen and crew will be
performing a special live show at Concord
Music Hall on Thursday, Dec. 31st. Their
first New Year’s Eve show in 27 years.
IE: What can fans expect? Is there anything special planned with the set list?
Al Jourgensen: We’re doing a couple off
of The Land of Rape and Honey that we
haven’t done in 20 years. We’re doing a
couple off of The Mind is a Terrible Thing
to Taste, one of them we haven’t done in
20 years. We’re doing a couple off
Psalm 69. We’re breaking out some
oldies and then we’re playing some of
the newer stuff. But we’re also going to
break out the Blackhawks song (“Keys
to the City”), which we’ve never
played live before in any capacity.
01•2016
Ministry disbanded after the death of Al’s
friend and longstanding guitarist Mike
Scaccia in 2012. So this is a special one-off
party in Al’s hometown. IEs Kelley Simms
spoke to Mr. Jourgensen about the show
and other interesting topics.
IE: How psyched are you for your New
Year’s Eve show at the Concord Music
Hall?
Al Jourgensen: It’s been a little over a
year since I’ve played Chicago, but we
haven’t played a New Year’s Eve show
since 1988, which oddly enough was in
Chicago at the Vic Theater. So we’re
Al Jourgenesen
IE: I can imagine the death of your guitarist Mike Scaccia must have been a
huge blow to you and it led you to disband Ministry.
Al Jourgensen: We’re not doing any
more Ministry albums without Mikey. I
have a new project called Surgical Meth
Machine, that I do all the guitars and
bass on and that’s coming out in eight
weeks, we just signed to Nuclear Blast
Records. So I’m moving on musically,
but as far as a blow, yeah, big time.
Because without Mikey there is no
more Ministry albums. That would be
as dumb as Led Zeppelin doing anoth-
8 illinoisentertainer.com january 2016
er Zeppelin album with John Bonham’s
kid playing drums or the Doors doing
yet another album without Jim
Morrison. It just doesn’t interest me,
there’s other stuff to be doing. But as
far as a live show, back in your hometown on New Year’s Eve? I mean
c’mon, that’s just a party.
IE: So this special one-off show is a
nod toward Chicago?
Al Jourgensen: It will be very Chicagocentric. It’s like a tip of my cap to a
place that spawned the whole thing. I
lived there for 35 years and the first 25
years of Ministry was in Chicago. I’m
even flying there a week ahead of the
band and I’m doing a documentary
called Al’s Kind of Town. I’m going back
to all the old haunts and showing how
Ministry got started, and it will be
available on our site in late January.
This was a no-brainer when the
Concord Music Hall asked if I’d be
interested in this. We’re not currently
on tour or anything, it’s just a one-off. I
get to go home a