Ministry

Ministry's days are numbered, according to group leader Al Jourgensen.

Jourgensen, who has led the group and its numerous side projects since 1981, says that after Ministry finishes its current MasterBaTour, he plans to go right back into the studio for what he says will be "the last Ministry album." And, he promises, this is no cheap ploy to get attention for the band.

"I've got other things to do," Jourgensen explains. "I just started a label (13th Planet Records), and I want to sign some bands and really build it up like I did with WaxTrax in the '80s, not just a vanity label. I think it's time -- and I'll be leaving on the top of my game instead of hanging on too long and doing crappy Aerosmith and Rolling Stones albums 30 years later."

Jourgensen, who lives near Waco, Texas, says that like its two predecessors -- 2004's "Houses of the Mole" and this year's "Rio Grande Blood" -- the final Ministry album will be politically minded blast at the administration of President George W. Bush.

"It's a trilogy," Jourgensen says. "The next one's going to be called 'The Last Sucker,' and it's also about this corrupt administration. That seems to be my muse; everyone seems to think I write real shitty music when a Democrat's in office. So we'll do that one, and then me and George Bush go riding off hand-in-hand, into the sunset."

Jourgensen has plenty to do on the road these days as well. Besides fronting Ministry, he's opening the shows -- which are booked into late July -- with one of his other bands, the Revolting Cocks, whose latest album, "Cocked and Loaded," came out March 7 and features guests such as ZZ Top's Billy Gibbons, Cheap Trick's Rick Nielsen and Robin Zander, the Butthole Surfers' Gibby Haynes and former Dead Kennedys frontman Jello Biafra. Jourgensen says that playing in both bands is rewarding -- but tiring.

"It sounded good on paper when I drew it up but, yeah, I'm feeling about 90 right now," he says with a laugh. "But it's cool. I can cut loose with the Cocks and then use the brain on the kind of focused agenda of Ministry, which is pretty much the same as anyone's dichotomous life."

Source: Billboard