The Harp is a Terrible Thing to Taste

Ministry frontman and songwriter Al Jourgensen is one of the visionaries of industrial music. The band’s albums Psalm 69, The Mind Is a Terrible Thing To Taste, Twitch and more have changed the course of heavy and electric music and influenced artists across musical genres for four decades. Anyone with more than a passing familiarity with Ministry knows Jourgensen grew up in Chicago and plays harmonica. Listen closely to Ministry’s defiant music and the humble diatonic will show up amid the rancour, most notably in a gnarly second-position solo on the song Filth Pig (the eponymous track from the 1996 Ministry album). Jourgensen again broke out the diatonic harp for the 2021 Ministry song Good Trouble, written during worldwide protests against police violence in 2020. Jourgensen says the inclusion of a harmonica in industrial music makes perfect sense if you look closely at Ministry’s songs, which he calls “blues-based with industrial noises. I just incorporate sounds from the current society, but my music is blues” Jourgensen tells Harmonica World. THE HARP IS A TERRIBLE He talked to us about his journey with the world’s most THING TO TASTE peculiar instrument and how he made the harmonica work in Ministry’s Al Jourgensen on diatonic harp and his Chicago blues roots Ministry songs. When did you first pick up a harmonica? Justin M. Norton I was in high school like 45 years ago. I was a sophomore and was friends with a kid named Phil, who Photos by dropped out of school. He sold pot and played harmonica in a Derick Smith park where kids hung out. This was in the late ’60s and early ’70s. I thought the guy was cool, so I started to drop out and smoke pot and play the harmonica (laughs). Phil showed me the basics, like using the tongue and breath and how to play the harmonica. He was like two years older than me and became a mentor. That was my introduction. Did you see any legendary Chicago players in the late ’60s or early ’70s? I saw Big Walter and Buddy Guy and all of those guys. The thing for young white dudes with long hair to do in the ’70s was going to blues clubs. The clubs were somewhat integrated by then and it was super cool. What did you love about the sound of the harmonica? How shrill it is. The instrument jumps up and down and says, “Listen to me”. There is very little subtlety unless you are someone who can play it like a built-in rhythm section. But often, the instrument screams, “Listen to me! I’m here! I’m trying to say something!”

How did you learn to bend and get bluesy sounds out of the harmonica? Phil taught me. Otherwise, I’d be playing Oh! Susanna and the like. You need to know how to use the tongue, breathe, and bend. I’d say bending is the hardest thing to do and requires some upkeep on the instrument. I started on Marine Bands. A harmonica is a personal instrument. When they started using plastic combs, I found it a tough transition. Did you ever have a hardcore practice regimen, or was it mostly learning from friends and going to shows? My life quest for a month was to learn the intro to Whammer Jammer note for note. After I did that, everything fell into place. You learn riffs by learning pieces of music. I did the same thing with the guitar, except I listened to Yes and learned how to finger-pick those chords. You can take parts (of songs) and fashion them into your voice. I didn't have much of a regimen outside of “I’m stoned, so let’s try some stuff on the harmonica” (laughs). I like fitting the harp into the scope of a band and multi-dimensional music. I was never into the solo stuff, which sounds like a car horn going off for too long. But the harp can be beautiful when it’s worked into a song. Did you ever pick up a chromatic? We did a Ministry acoustic show in front of 20,000 people at Neil Young’s Bridge School benefit. I wanted to do the Midnight Cowboy theme (the original featured chromatic legend Toots Thielemans). I could do most of it on a diatonic but there is a pitch shift. Right before we went on stage, I had to learn that part on chromatic and then go out and do Midnight Cowboy. It was hair raising because I did not know what I was doing. Somehow, we got through it. Ministry’s music is based around dark sounds and the minor pentatonic scale and I think diatonic would be a better choice. Yeah, and you throw in distortion too. I love when a harmonica is overblown and there is feedback going and it sounds like an aggressive instrument and not like something for a polka. It does fit and you can make it work. A harmonica can transcend all musical genres if you do it well. Everyone knows the solo in Filth Pig. Where did that come from? I have no idea. It was a single take. It's a slow, heavy and bluesysounding song and I tried to match that. When I did it in the studio, people looked at me and said, “Done.” There is also a harp on the new song Good Trouble, which is about police violence in the African-American community and worldwide protests about this violence.

This instrument is historically one of the few instruments AfricanAmericans could afford during sharecropping. It was important to have it in this song. I played my style over it and it seemed to fit perfectly and work. Do you get a good crowd reaction when you take out the harmonica for Filth Pig? Ministry went through a phase where I wasn’t playing harp on stage. The feedback makes it difficult to get the sound I want with our volume. Even Lemmy from Motörhead said we were the loudest band he had ever heard. When we brought the harp back into the set, I was amazed because people would clap after the harp solo. People went crazy for it and I felt vindicated. Many people can play the harmonica and get a chord or a note. For that reason, popular music has a lot of bad harmonica. How difficult is it to play the instrument meaningfully? It’s all about the situation and use. Superfluous harmonica is boring. You find the right song, tempo and player and it’s a seamless fit. Finding a place to put it is tough with some types of music. When you do find the right scenario, it can be haunting and effective. I’ve heard it compared to hot sauce. A few dabs make the meal. A meal loaded with hot sauce is ruined. In traditional blues, the harmonica can do it all and even be a rhythm instrument. It can replace a rhythm guitar and solo. In other music, the harmonica is something to be unleashed in limited quantities. I couldn’t make the harmonica a lead instrument for Ministry. But it can be the most beautiful instrument in the world if given the right support system. Website: https://ministryband.com YouTube: www.youtube.com/channel/UC6fUV-AHqV7lpvK9L4PB4yw Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/user/ministryband Instagram: www.instagram.com/weareministry