by James Hester, Music Editor

Those who appreciate fierce, heavy, industrial music need to pay homage to synth-metal pioneer Al Jourgensen and his often imitated band, of crass nonconformists, Ministry. After 27 years of pummeling the minds and ears of listeners, the technological beast known as Ministry is saying farewell on its final world tour to support its two most recent albums "The Last Sucker" and "Cover Up".

 

The band has eleven full-length studio albums including four Grammy nominations. Three of the group’s albums have sold more than 500,000 worldwide. They are The Land of Rape and Honey (1988), The Mind is a Terrible Thing to Taste (1989), and Filth Pig (1996). Ministry’s Psalm 69 (1992) has been certified platinum with more than a million sales worldwide.

Burton C. Bell and John Bechdel graced Target Audience Magazine with a candid interview, just minutes before performing to a capacity crowd in Atlanta for the “C U LaTour.”

Readers might recall Bell’s powerful work as the guitarist for Fear Factory and Bechdel’s commanding presence with Killing Joke as a keyboardist. The two were recruited by Al Jourgensen to perform on the two latest Ministry CDs, and also to be a part of the band for its final tour. The following is some of what they said prior to their onstage circus manifesto:

TAM: Who or what are some of your primary influences?

JB: Early keys. Early synth and keyboard rock.

BCB: Early and post-punk British new wave. Obviously Ministry. We
love Al and all of his work. It’s an incredible honor to get to play
with him.

TAM: With the politically-charged nature of Ministry’s music, does the band endorse any particular parties or candidates?

JB: Al’s always rooting for a Democrat. Al tried to get things set up so so he and Ministry could perform at the Democratic National
Convention, or at least be there to support the party, but it never
materialized. He has his preference for candidates, but they are
almost always Democrats.

BCB: I don’t really care for either party, but Bush has ruined this country
(America) so far. I mean, we tried the first time Bush got voted in.

 

TAM: Or won by court decision.

BCB: Yeah, I’m not even sure who won that election. I think Al Gore
might have been a good president. We tried in the first election, but
got a raw deal and then there was the second election and neither
party had a good candidate. I mean, the Democrats didn’t have
anybody. There was no one in the second election who could beat
Bush. All they had was Kerry, and Kerry’s a dumbass. None of the
candidates in that election were worth a damn, but Bush had the
money to pull it off.

TAM: Since your band’s name is Ministry, do you consider yourselves ministers of any particular faith or philosophy?

BCB: It’s a political office in England.

JB: I think Al said the name came from a movie.

BCB: It has nothing to do with religion. It’s a title, like “Ministry of
War or Ministry of Finance.”

TAM: What advice do you have for indie artists to be successful???

BCB: Uh…Try a different career.

(laughter from everyone)

BCB: No, seriously. If you’re in this business for the money, you’re in it for the wrong reason. My advice is for people to go to college and
get their eduications. Study hard and be a doctor or a nuclear
engineer, but don’t try to become a star.

TAM: So, how do you guys make money in this business?

BCB: In general, the band makes more money off of selling merchandise than anything else. We do better from selling CDs, music online and in stores, and stuff like shirts and posters than we do from
tickets, because the money tends to be more residual and the
amounts we earn are more consistent than from ticket sales.

TAM: Is it fair that Clear Channel is buying up radio stations and clubs across America and monopolizing the popularity of only select
artists?

BCB: No. It sucks. People were so sick of them, that I think they
changed the name to Live Nation. But hey, a tird by any other
name is still a tird. It’s just the nature of corporate greed, or
anyone really to maximize profits and cut losses.

JB: Yeah, but they’re brainwashing all of the kids by programming
them to listen to their crap. It’s just something else you deal
with if you want to work in the music industry.

TAM: So, was it fair to go after Microsoft, but to not go after Clear Channel for being a monopoly?

BCB: No.

JB: No.

TAM: So what do you guys like to do with your free time?

JB: I just like to relax and get some peace and quiet alone at home.
At home mowing the grass is good for me these days. Afterwards,
just sitting back and sipping a beer. We stay busy playing loud
music and performing, so we tend to want to have some “down
time.”

BCB: I like to jam on my guitar and listen to the latest tunes.

TAM: So, who are some of the artists you’re listening to right now?

BCB: I’ve got three right now. The new one by Nick Cave, but I like all of his stuff. The soundtrack for the movie 30 Days of Night. The
Kills. Lots of stuff really, but those are some of my favorites.

TAM: Speaking of favorites, what are your favorite songs to play live?

JB: I like to play old blues. Stuff from the 60s. Stuff with keyboards.

BCB: Thieves. I absolutely love playing that song. It just flows so well and it really clicks. It’s a great song to jam on live and I’m glad Al recorded it.

TAM: What reason most influenced your wanting to work with Al
Jourgensen?

JB: We’re huge fans of Ministry and Al Jourgensen. I mean it’s
another notch under my belt. Al’s work has been such an
incredible influence on the heavy and electronic music industries.

BCB: It sucks really that Ministry is retiring, but I respect Al’s
decision. I love his music. I listened to Ministry before and after
I had joined Fear Factor and it still inspires me.

TAM: What influence do you want Ministry’s music to leave on the
world for present and for future generations?

BCB: None. No…

JCB: It’s a way to contribute politically. We want it to be a way we
can share our thoughts and dreams and provoke others to do the
same.

BCB: Yeah. Living the dream.

JCB: We do it for the music. It’s kinda what we do.

The band is calling it quits after a trilogy of CDs (2004’s Houses of the Mole’, 2006’s Rio Grande’ Blood, and 2007’s The Last Sucker) dedicated to its disapproval of President George W. Bush and his administration. Frontman Al Jourgensen has stated that he likes “the synchronicity of Dubya and Ministry riding off into the sunset hand in hand.”

 

After our interview, Target Audience Magazine also spoke briefly with guitarist Sin Quirin who had been delayed and was unable to be part of the interview. He shared that Atlanta was one of his favorite cities to perform in and was very optimistic and enthusiastic about his work with Al Jourgensen and his career with Ministry.

 

Our own Lucky Martin was on the floor center-stage in front of the band to savor the craftiness and cleverness of Ministry’s last performance in Atlanta. Read his review of one of music’s most relentless and tenacious groups on other pages in this issue.