Al Jourgensen puts an end to Ministry after four decades: “it gets harder as you keep going”
As if right on cue, Al Jourgensen has announced that he is finally ready to step away from rock band Ministry, and this time for good.
Al Jourgensen formed the pioneering industrial rock band in 1981. The band found popularity at the latter end of the decade and early 1990s. In June 2023, after several decades in the business, Jourgensen declared the end near, and prophesied that within the “next couple of years”, he planned to end the band for good.
Now, in a reflective conversation on Full Metal Jackie, transcribed by Loudwire, he revealed that he’s simply lost his enthusiasm for making music with Ministry. “My ears are tired from music,” he said.
He continued: “The reason I say that, and that’s the reason I’m ending Ministry, it’s not so much for any health reasons or any kind of band conflicts or anything like that. It’s just that my ears are tired. I’m starting to find myself really slapping myself on the wrist, not repeating stuff that I’ve done before, and trying to keep going further. It gets harder as you keep going.”
Jourgensen stressed there is still hope for the final Ministry project. “That’s not to say the next album won’t be great, because it already is,” he commented. “We’re halfway done, and it sounds amazing. Amazing. But just saying that it’s a different kind of vibe. It’s more like a job now as opposed to having youthful enthusiasm,” the musician reflected.
During this final project, Jourgensen stressed the importance of the involvement of long-time collaborator Paul Barker. He dropped out of the picture after being formative in the first few years of the band’s career. “Paul Barker was an integral part of that, and he’s part of these recordings now as well. So, yeah, I’m just putting a nice little bow on a nice little career.”
Barker appeared on some of their most commercially and culturally influential albums, such as the platinum-certified Psalm 69: The Way To Succeed And The Way To Suck Eggs. In 2024, Jourgensen said of their re-ignited collaboration: “Turns out working with Paul is like riding a bike; you never forget how.”
Despite Jourgensen’s tired ears, he isn’t exactly leaving the industry. He’s found new enthusiasm in scoring films. He “did the whole score” for an upcoming documentary on the exploitation of Indigenous people in Oklahoma, called Long Knife.
Ministry have yet to share their seventeenth and final album, The Squirrely Years Revisited, which is set for release on March 28th. It will rework synth pop-heavy offerings from the 1983 album With Sympathy and the 1986 album Twitch, records Jourgensen famously hated.
The band will embark on The Squirrely Years Tour beginning April 29th. Their opening support will come from Ministry’s old-school pals, including Nitzer Ebb for the first half of the tour and My Life With The Thrill Kill Kult for the second half. Die Krupps will play on all dates.
Never Miss A Beat
The Far Out Music Newsletter
All the latest music news from the independent voice of culture.
Straight to your inbox.