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Interview conducted
in May 2004
LATEST RELEASE:
"House of the Molé" |
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| |  | |    | | By Stéphane Leguay | | Photos all rights reserved |
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One year and a few months were needed for Al Jourgensen and his Ministry to re-appear with a ninth album, "House of the Molé", which might leave you stunned as the violence and the force coming from the nine new tracks sadistically dig in the opulent sonic arsenal of the Southern sextet. A cagey brutality which contrasts with the good-natured appearance of a relaxed and always as likable Al Jourgensen. With his woolly hat, his rocker's sunglasses and the long tights around his arms that hide the old stigmatas of a defunct past, he tells us about his new-look Ministry, his album, about America and his friend W.
"He was a bit fed up with tours, he wanted to see more of his kids, in short, he wanted a calmer life, a family life". The person Al Jourgensen is talking about with some fondness in his voice is Paul Barker, the Ministry's bassist and his alter ego since 1988 and the album "The Land of Rape and Honey". His departure from the duo at the end of the "Animositisomina" tour could have worried us as his presence in the main master pieces, "The Mind Is a Terrible Thing to Taste" (89) and "Psalm 69" (92), was palpable. Yet, this void doesn't seem to worry the band's leader: "You know, Ministry has been existing for more than six years before Paul joined me; I know what it's like to compose without him, so I don't feel too destabilized by his absence. And his departure gave me the occasion to change the band's line-up with the arrival of John Monte (ex-M.O.D., MindFunk -editorial note) on bass and Mark Baker's (ex-Fear -editorial note) on drum. It brings novelty and something fresh to Ministry". An obviously successful relay because far from increasing the long albums' gestations to which Jourgensen and his accomplices got us used to, this mini revolution in the Texan band already offers us a new opus, one year only after "Animositisomina". But, this isn't the only reason to this brutal creative awakening: "Actually, I'm not a heroin addict anymore. Before, I only thought about getting high, I was totally useless, while now I feel much better, I can do tours, recordings, promotion etc. This weaning completely refreshed me and so, I started to compose much quicker again". The result of what seems to be a new start is called "House of the Molé" and it sounds brutal and intense like in the best hours of "Psalm 69". "It's a very guitar album. That's another reason why Paul left the band. As he was more and more interested in programmation and in electronic music, and as I was always doing more guitars, our parting was inevitable. But it's true that "House of the Molé" can be considered as the logical consequence of "Psalm 69". For instance, the opening song, No W, is somewhat the following of N.W.O.. On the latter, we sampled a speech of Bush Sr. and on the other one, we sampled the son... There's a link between the two. There's also the track WTV which follows TVII and TVIII (the latter is on the EP "Just One Fix" -editorial note). Actually, we could also have called it TVIV…". As for the symbolic of the "W" present in each title of the nine tracks, don't look too far for an explanation. "Obviously, it's a reference to our beloved president George W. Bush. But it's also the initials of World War, or World Wide Web, all that make our world in the beginning of this millennium".
George W. Bush, that's it, that's unleashed. If there's a subject on which Al Jourgensen has become inexhaustible, it's the one on the American president, "Double-U" as he calls him, and his administration. "This guy stole the elections, declared war against Iraq and now, he's managed to divide the United States in two. That's a shame. Unfortunately, I think he might win a second mandate. If that's the case, I'll go to Canada, I swear I'll do it!". A paradoxical situation for the Ministry leader who lives in Texas, the State of Bush Jr., "Frankly, I sometimes feel I'm a soldier who sleeps far beyond his frontlines in the enemy camp! It's weird, especially since I've got plenty of friends there who support Bush and they don't realise what's happening. It brings about long discussions during which I try to convince them that he's a dumb-ass, that he cheated at the elections, that he's looking for his own profit in all this shit and that he shouldn't get re-elected, but to no avail. But I think a change could come from this country's youth". A change? Then it would be necessary that this youth, in which Jourgensen believes so, get interested in politics. "You know, we've got an organisation called PunkVoter.com. Its aim is to wake up the political consciences of numerous young people who prefer listening to music and going to concerts than going to vote. I think it's a good way to draw these kids' attention toward the political consequences W. Bush's reelection would cause. That's why I support PunkVoter.com. And during our next tour in the States, there will be information and discussion stands where I'll take part myself as often as I'll be able to. I'll be ready to sign any autograph if the kids promise me they'll go and vote".
Rid from now on of his drugs' problems, would Al feel the need of political engagement? The answer is yes if you read the inflammatory letter he wrote to Richard Hayne, the founder and boss of the very contested clothes' shops' chain, Urban Outfitters, which made a few months ago a T-Shirt proudly claiming that "voting was for old people"! Then, you could think of Jourgensen as a shepherd who would like his Jackass drawn sheeps to find the righteous way. The American alternative punk intelligentsia seems to have decided to take the bull by the horns rather than being gored a second time by the White House cow-boy. Indeed, under the aegis of PunkVoter.com, the first volume of the compilation "Rock Against Bush" was released a few weeks ago. A compilation on which you can find Ministry, of course, as well as Pennywise, D.O.A., Offspring, Social Distortion, NOFX or Sum 41, among others... If we add other organisations with the same aim like Rock the Vote or Music for America, the legendary political commitments of Jello Biafra (Dead Kennedys) with the Green Party, or the campaign of Jack Grisham of T.S.O.L. to obtain the California governor's seat, it's amazing to see that the symbolic term of "punk" kept all its meaning across the Atlantic. "I think that the American punk movement is different from the English wave of the end of the 70's. They yelled "no future" and wanted to destroy everything, while we want to build. That's the difference". Fresh and revolted like a teenager, it's a new Al Jourgensen who's about to defend on tour his new surly and revengeful album, which has an enigmatic title. "Actually, molé is a very hot Mexican sauce with an oil-like black colour. It's an allusion for our friends of the White House (laughs). As for the title "House of the Molé", it's a reference to the "House of the Holy" of Led Zeppelin, one of my favourite group". Adept of far-fetched puns (the tribute to Exploited Vex and Siolence or "Dark Side of the Spoon" for Pink Floyd), the leader of Ministry always excelled in this style's exercise, even covering improbable songs (Lay Lady Lay of Dylan), or the inconceivable (the hilarious Da Ya Think I'm Sexy of Rod Stewart with one of his side-projects, Revolting Cocks) "To be honest, the cover of Da Ya Think I'm Sexy wasn't really a tribute. But it would seem that Rod Stewart heard it and liked it, so... But, what's funny with this track, is that it has become a real hit in strip-tease clubs in the States. I remember once we all hallucinated. We were quietly having a drink when we realised "Shit! RevCo is on and there's a girl stripping on our track!" It was surreal...". Since he was talking of side-projects, unavoidable entities of the Ministry nebula, it was interesting to know to what Revolting Cocks, Lard and Co were about. "Except for RevCo and Lard, I stopped all my other projects, like 10000 Homo DJ's for instance. It takes too much of my time and today, I prefer focussing on two or three things at a time, no more. A Lard album is under way and the new Revolting Cocks is finished. It'll be obscene, dirty, shocking and misogynist. Like the others (laughs)!!!".
Always as facetious this guy is! So facetious in fact that for a laugh he decided to organise on the band's official website a chat with Al-Zawahiri, founder of the Egyptian islamic djihad, who's charged for the terrorist attacks on the American embassies in Dar Es Salaam (Tanzania) and Nairobi (Kenya). "Obviously, it was a joke... In fact I was doing the chat, and my name "Al" goes well with names likeAl-Zawahiri, Al-Qaida or Al-Zaira… Of course, it didn't make the FBI people laugh though, but fuck them. Anyway, I think they have me in their sights, so...". | | | | | | | |
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