For the first time ever, MINISTRY has an official music video for the eternal hit “Every Day Is Halloween”. Originally released in 1984, Al Jourgensen‘s rally cry for the goth community and misunderstood creatures of the night has remained a cult classic over the decades and is finally being given the visual treatment it deserves.
Says Jourgensen: “I’m amazed and honored that folks are still listening to this song 40 years on. Fly that freak flag proudly.”
“Every Day is Halloween” is one of the cuts on the “The Squirrely Years Revisited” album, out now via Cleopatra Records, that sees Jourgensen 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.
Featuring nine tracks (three additional bonus tracks on CD),“The Squirrely Years Revisited” offers reworked versions of not only “Every Day Is Halloween”, but also “Work For Love”, “I’m Not An Effigy” and “I’ll Do Anything For You”.
“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” is available in all formats, including digital, CD and four different vinyl configurations. The full track listing includes:
01. Work For Love
02. Here We Go
03. All Day
04. Every Day 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]
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.
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.
