Tool Drummer Danny Carey Recalls Wild Events Involving Ministry’s Al Jourgensen

The authorized biography of Ministry mastermind Al Jourgensen was released on July 9 and the book features perhaps the most insane rockstar stories ever compiled. Jourgensen is in the same league as Ozzy Osbourne when it comes to wild experiences, and during our recent chat with Tool / Volto! drummer Danny Carey, we asked the percussionist to verify one of our personal favorite tales from the book.

Danny Carey shared a ton of details on his new band Volto! along with when fans can expect a new Tool album during our exclusive interview with the drumming master. When we brought up the Jourgensen story to Carey, not only did the drummer get a huge kick out of it, but he offered his own insane experience with the Ministry leader involving a drink, a chain of straws and the pierced naughty parts of a male associate.

I'm reading Ministry mastermind Al Jourgensen's new biography and in the book there are a lot of crazy stories. There's one he tells where before Tool became well-known, some members were outside his bus going, "That Ministry set was amazing!" and as a thank you he tossed a bottle of Bushmills out to them, but it ended up being a bottle he laced with LSD.

[Danny laughs]

So, he accidentally got someone to trip their balls off. Later, when Tool were starting to get big, Al said that he was delivered a bunch of LSD from the band, but was told that the acid wasn't very good. So he decides to take a ton of hits and it turned out to be some of the most potent stuff he ever had, so he was basically flying through space because of the prank. Is that anything that you were a part of or that you recall?

God, that's funny, man. That's like '91 or '92, probably. I think maybe that was Paul, our old bass player. I know it wasn't Adam and I know it wasn't Maynard and I don't remember it. Maybe it was me, that's why I don't remember. [Laughs] That does sound familiar to me, man. I think I remember Paul thinking about it as a payback or something. [Laughs] That does kind of ring a bell. That's a lot of water under the bridge.

My most memorable thing about being backstage with those guys [Ministry]; I think we were sitting at a bar the first time I saw Al. He had a straw running through someone's d--k [Prince Albert piercing]. He was taking a drink out of the straw as it was going through this other guy's d--k while he was kneeling on the bar. I was like, "What the f--- is this guy doing? It was quite a spectacle." [Laughs]

Everyone just has a great Al Jourgensen story, don't they?

Yeah, pretty amazing. [Laughs]