Minister of Information

In the badass good old days of industrial music’s initial thud, two American acts had the balls to innovate and explode: Jim Thirwell’s dozen or so Foetus projects and Al Jourgensen’s Ministry.

Originally known, unfortunately, for 1983's electronic and overly romantic With Sympathy, Jourgensen just one year later discovered Belgium's crisply dark Front 242, Britain's wack white dub king Adrian Sherwood and some like-minded Chicagoans at his own Wax Trax label. The rest is history: the '80s/'90s electro-reprocessed psycho-billy and tape-looped major-label metal morass on albums like The Land of Rape and Honey, The Mind Is a Terrible Thing to Taste, Psalm 69 and 1999's aptly titled Dark Side of the Spoon. Somewhere, Marilyn Manson was watching and taking notes.

No wonder Jourgensen and primary Ministry partner, drummer Paul Barker, wandered famously to drugs and Texas. Luckily Ministry waited four years after being dropped by Warner Bros. to release the savage, electro-metal Animositisomina on Sanctuary. This nuanced and viciously fuzz-toned epic, with its socially disgusted lyrics you can finally hear (the usual vocal processing is very much toned down), also has a soft hint of the Mancunian new wave (Joy Division, Magazine) Jourgensen's always loved. So yes, the record Animositisomina, though grinding, has its softer tones and textures that never lose the edge.

"Whatever," says Jourgensen about that, on the phone at a Detroit tour stop. He is not into this interview. While some in his publicity camp say he's stressed and over-toured (all his side projects -- Buck Satan, Revolting Cocks and Lard -- are also currently recording and working), you'd have to expect vinegary aggression from Jourgensen anyway. Matches the music.

He delivers a "whatever" on the following topics: The irksome industrial revolution that over-glutted the market in the late '90s, the famously distanced first Ministry album, the initial need for speed that saw Ministry tour with Front 242 in the early '80s (actually that last one inspired him a bit: "I wanted it harder. Whatever").

"I don't know who I've influenced or care," says Jourgensen. "I mean, it's flattering if that's the case. But it's not something I dwell on."

Despite his general vibe, he insists he's happy. Happy to be off drugs ("Don't touch them, been clean for a year"), happy about recording "Jesus Built My Hot Rod" with Butthole Surfer Gibby Haynes, happy to mention that Kubrick (and not Spielberg) "requested" specifically that Ministry be used in A.I.: Artificial Intelligence.

With Animositisomina dedicated to animosity spelled backwards and forwards, he's quick to focus his loathing on the Bush family and his intolerance for intolerance itself on tunes like "Animosity."

The last time Ministry made an antiwar/anti-Bush statement was 1992's "N.W.O." and its MTV-banned video. "It's pretty obvious that I loathe the Bush administration: their policies, the cronies of the father, the entire Republican arrogance," says Jourgensen. "You can bet if Jeb runs, we'll probably have to release another album."

Sadly, Jourgensen does not have the same fervor when talking about the raw, pulpy sound of Animositisomina or the gnarly road it took to get there. Any analysis of past works, like the witty and morose Dark Side, tech-metal's roots or any connection to categorization leads to blankness from the irritable one. "That's for you geniuses to figure out. We just make music." If you ever get the chance, just for fun, ask Jourgensen what inspired Ministry's decision to finally print their lyrics and ease up on the vocal distortion.

"Oh sorry. I didn't know I wasn't supposed to try different approaches," he says. "We'll make sure we try and keep it nice and samey for you in the future."

Ministry plays Tue., May 6, 8 p.m., $22.50-$25, with Anthrax, Motograter and Lollipop Lust Kill, Electric Factory, Seventh and Willow sts., 215-336-2000.

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December 9, 2004
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