Al Jourgensen is finally making peace with the past. After the incredible reception to MINISTRY‘s “With Sympathy” and “Twitch”-heavy set at Cruel World 2024, Jourgensen decided it was time to reexamine his long-dormant synth pop hits and give them a fresh polish 40 years later. The result is the forthcoming album “The Squirrely Years Revisited”, out March 28 via Cleopatra Records.
Featuring nine tracks (three additional bonus tracks on CD),the album offers reworked versions of cult classic hits like “Everyday Is Halloween”, “Work For Love”, “I’m Not An Effigy” and “I’ll Do Anything For You”. New music videos will soon be released for several tracks as well.
To celebrate the album and the new-old era of MINISTRY, the band — also including John Bechdel (keyboards),Monte Pittman and Cesar Soto (guitars),Pepe Clarke Magaña (drums) and Paul D’Amour (bass) — will embark on “The Squirrely Years” tour beginning April 29, with a set dominated by Jourgensen‘s earliest works. Opening support will come from MINISTRY‘s old-school comrades, including NITZER EBB for the first half of the tour, MY LIFE WITH THE THRILL KILL KULT for the second half of the tour; and DIE KRUPPS on all dates.
A special BLABBERMOUTH.NET presale will begin on Thursday, February 13 at 10:00 a.m. local time and end on Thursday, February 13 at 10:00 p.m. local time. When prompted, type in the presale code “TWITCH” to access tickets before the general public. Check back here on Thursday for ticketing links to individual shows. General on-sale will be Friday, February 14 at 10 a.m. local time.
“Since I hated my early stuff for decades, I decided to take ownership of it and do it right,” says Jourgensen.
“The Squirrely Years Revisited” follows the release of MINISTRY‘s 16th studio album in 2024, “Hopiumforthemasses”, and comes ahead of the final new studio album from MINISTRY in 2026, a record that has Jourgensen teaming up with Paul Barker once again.
“The Squirrely Years Revisited” will be available in all formats including digital, CD and four different vinyl configurations. The full track list includes:
01. Work For Love
02. Here We Go
03. All Day
04. Everyday Is Halloween
05. Revenge
06. I’m Not An Effigy
07. I’m Falling
08. Same Old Madness
09. I’ll Do Anything For You
10. Just Like You [CD only]
11. We Believe [CD only]
12. Over The Shoulder [CD only]
MINISTRY “The Squirrely Years Tour” with NITZER EBB, MY LIFE WITH THE THRILL KILL KULT, DIE KRUPPS:
April 29 – Phoenix, AZ @ Van Buren*
April 30 – Albuquerque, NM @ Revel*
May 02 – Austin, TX @ Emo’s*
May 03 – Houston, TX @ House of Blues*
May 04 – Dallas, TX @ Factory*
May 06 – Atlanta, GA @ The Eastern*
May 08 – Columbus, OH @ Sonic Temple Art & Music Festival
May 09 – Chicago, IL @ Riviera*
May 10 – Detroit, MI @ Masonic Cathedral*
May 12 – Baltimore, MD @ Soundstage*
May 13 – Philadelphia, PA @ Franklin Music Hall+
May 14 – Boston, MA @ Roadrunner+
May 16 – Brooklyn, NY @ Brooklyn Paramount+
May 17 – Montreal, QC @ MTelus+
May 18 – Toronto, ON @ History+
May 20 – Minneapolis, MN @ Palace+
May 21 – Winnipeg, MB @ Burton Cummings Theatre+
May 23 – Edmonton, AB @ Midway Music Hall+
May 24 – Calgary, AB @ Palace Theatre+
May 26 – Vancouver, BC @ Commodore+
May 28 – Seattle, WA @ Showbox SoDo+
May 29 – Spokane, WA @ Spokane Live Casino+
May 31 – Denver, CO @ Mission Ballroom+
June 01 – Salt Lake City, UT @ Union+
June 3 – San Francisco, CA @ Warfield+
June 4 – Los Angeles, CA @ Palladium+
June 5 – Las Vegas, NV @ House of Blues+
* NITZER EBB appearing
+ MY LIFE WITH THE THRILL KILL KULT appearing
(DIE KRUPPS appearing on all dates except May 8)
Born in 1981 in Chicago, MINISTRY has been the lifetime passion project of founder Al Jourgensen, considered to be the pioneer of industrial music. In its early days, MINISTRY was identifiable by its heavy synth-pop material in line with the new sounds and technology that were being developed in the ’80s. MINISTRY‘s output began with four 12-inch singles on Wax Trax! Records in 1981 before the first LP, “With Sympathy”, in 1983 via Arista Records. As time progressed however, so did MINISTRY, quickly developing a harsher, and more stylized sound that the band soon became infamous for on seminal albums “Twitch” (1986),“The Land Of Rape And Honey” (1988) and “The Mind Is A Terrible Thing To Taste” (1989). With the release of “Psalm 69: The Way To Succeed And The Way To Suck Eggs” (1992),MINISTRY hit an all-time high in the mainstream musical realm and received its first Grammy nomination. In total, MINISTRY has been nominated for a Grammy Award six times. Eight more albums would follow before an indefinite break in 2013, only to be unearthed again in 2018 with “AmeriKKKant”, continuing to reflect Jourgensen‘s views on the frightening state of society and politics. The 2021 album “Moral Hygiene” marked a new creative era of Jourgensen and the band.
MINISTRY‘s 16th studio album, “Hopiumforthemasses”, was released March 1, 2024 via Nuclear Blast Records.
Photo credit: Derick Smith
