frontman ’s life has been one long, wild ride. Born in Havana, Cuba in 1958, he fled the island as a toddler with his family following a revolution that saw communist insurgent Fidel Castro seize power. Things have barely calmed down for him since.
Ministry started out in 1981 as a besuited synth-pop outfit – albeit against Al’s wishes - before changing lanes and laying down the blueprint for with such landmark albums as (1988), (1989), and their big breakthrough, 1992’s . At the band’s height, Al was just as famous for his Olympic-standard pharmaceutical habits - he was a walking chemical dustbin who clinically died three times by his own count. That sort of thing is in the past now - he’s been clean for more than 20 years.
“I figured it’s time for me to finally grow up,” he says as he sits down with via Zoom. He looks different. “I took out all my dreads and piercings,” he says.
His long, dark hair partially obscures his facial tattoos, though his piercing dark eyes and the sharp, shiny fangs that show every time he laughs raucously at some crazed memory or other suggest he’s still the enfant terrible of industrial metal, even at the age of 65. Ministry have just released their 16th album, the politically charged . He says it’s their penultimate record, though the idea of Al Jourgensen swapping life on music’s frontline for a quieter existence is hard to imagine.
“I’m actually starting to appreciate some of the things in this world now,” he.
