The Smashing Pumpkins' Billy Corgan has released an epic interview with Ministry frontman Al Jourgensen.
Recorded as part of Corgan's new podcast series The Magnificent Others - which thus far has hosted guests including Gene Simmons, Sharon Osbourne and Tom Morello - the interview clocks in at a little over 80 minutes.
In it, the pair cover everything from their shared history in Chicago to Jourgensen's decision to recently re-record the band's early synth-pop era material as "The Squirrely Years Revisited".
Corgan marvels at how Jourgensen has been able to consistently reinvent himself, stating: "Somehow you’ve reinvented yourself 800 times but you’ve always been you, which is interesting. You’re one of the only people that’s been able to do that.”
“I’m kind of like a Walmart Bowie," Jourgensen quips. "You reinvent yourself, but obviously don’t have the bona fides of Bowie. Just keep doing what floats your boat – otherwise it’s boring and you should just get some kind of consultant job or something.”
Elsewhere in the interview, Jourgensen reveals how he traded off some early Ministry songs to producer Adrian Sherwood while working on Ministry's 1986 record Twitch to learn how to work the production desk.
“At one point, I had so many songs that I basically just gave [Adrian Sherwood] the songs in a Graham Parsons/Keith Richards Wild Horses kind of thing where they traded it for a gram of coke," Jourgensen explains.
"I had five extra songs for Twitch, and they had this shit that we were doing to keep up at night and working constantly called ‘whizz’, amphetamine sulphate. I basically traded five Ministry songs for two ounces of whizz and engineering lessons from Sherwood – he literally showed me how to run the board. So he could take off for the last half of the record like, ‘You know what you’re doing.’”
Although both artists rose to prominence in the 90s, Corgan admits Ministry were seen as a huge influence in the early days of The Smashing Pumpkins, effectively scene elders. He also bemoans the lack of recognition Ministry have gotten in the press, conceding the band get "a mad level of street respect from the music world because we know what you brought to the table."
“That’s perfectly fine with me," Jourgensen responds. "Trent Reznor started out as a roadie for us, next thing I know he’s on the cover of Rolling Stone and stuff, we’re still slogging in the trenches[...] Not one minute was I bitter about all that – I was cheering them on.”
Ever the man with a million stories to tell, Jourgensen also shares an anecdote about meeting a youthful Tool - and accidentally spiking them with LSD.
"Tool were just in rehearsals and weren’t even a band yet when they came to see us at Lollapalooza in ’92," he recalls. "I accidentally dosed [Then-Tool bassist Paul D'Amour, who now plays in Ministry] with LSD."
"'Accidentally?'" Corgan jokingly asks.
"An accident because I used to always put a couple of drops of liquid LSD in my Bushmills on-stage and drank that," Jourgensen says. "I only drank half the bottle...”
"Was it microdosing or trying to get high?" Corgan responds.
"Trying to get high – I hate playing live," Jourgensen says. "Anything I can do to make it to work, this [Frederico[ Fellini meets [Alejandro] Jodorowsky film for me makes it interesting. Nowadays it’s a lot more calmed down."
"I get off-stage and there’s Maynard [James Keenan] and Paul, but they were kids!" Jourgensen continues. "Probably you’re the same age as them, there’s probably eight years of separation but you could tell they were these wide-eyed kids. I felt like that old Pepsi commercial with Shaq coming out of a basketball game, handing out the Pepsi but it was this Bushmills with LSD in. They were like, ‘Oh my god it’s Al Jourgensen!’ Then they realised this drink was full of LSD. Next thing I know, they’re huge! They’re on the cover of Rolling Stone and this and that.”
Watch the full interview below.
