Alternative Press described the electronic music of Skinny Puppy as being "as unforgiving as a collapsing building," whilst the much loved, much hated Mondo 2000 described them as "one of cyberpunkdom's favourite musical aggregates." Hailing from Vancouver, British Columbia, they reached international cult status and helped define the emerging industrial music scene, before their career was cut short by the tragic and untimely death of programmer Dwayne Goettel.
Disillusioned with the world of pop music, late 1982 sees Kevin Crompton wishing to leave synth band Images in Vogue in search of something new. Going under the moniker of cEvin Key, he teams up with Kevin Ogilvie (a.k.a. Nivek Ogre), to form the initial line-up of Skinny Puppy, a complete anti-thesis of his previous group. Musically, visually and psychologically challenging, Puppy were to become a mirror that reflected the horrors of today's society.
The first release is the cassette, Back & Forth (1983). Distributed around Vancouver, it includes the track 'K-9' which looks at the world from the viewpoint of a maltreated dog. The mysterious, unknown group is swiftly signed by local label, Nettwerk.
Hooking up with Images in Vogue producer Dave Ogilvie (later to be nicknamed Rave), their first Nettwerk release is the six track E.P. Remission, recorded at Mushroom Studios. Disturbing, atmospheric keyboards overlay bleak drum patterns, mixed with Ogre's distorted vocals and an unusual use of samples. The cover shows the dark, distorted image of a human skeleton.
In addition to cEvin Key (synths, percussion, programming, vocals) and Ogre (vocals, lyrics, synth, spooky horn) is Mr. D. Plevin playing fretless bass on 'Glass Houses'. The extended, eleven track version of Remission also features live Puppy member Wilhelm Schroeder playing bass synth on the tracks 'Incision', 'Manwhole' and 'Ice Breaker'. (Schroeder is better known as Bill Leeb, front man for industrial techno gurus Front Line Assembly.)
As the world's eyes crack open to glimpse at what Puppy represent, so the cult following begins. Bites continues the dark portrait painted by Remission, but does so with a harder edge and a stronger sense of urgency. During the opening track, 'Assimilate', Ogre screams, "so hot to assimilate: we'll rot or annihilate". Again, the cover art shows the distorted image of a skeleton. In addition to Key, Ogre, Schroeder and Plevin, Tom Ellard is credited with tapes, treatments and digital sampling.
The Bites tour across North America and Europe features Key, Ogre and Schroeder. A stage littered with skulls and televisions provides an arena for Ogre to practice his own form of stage art, whilst Key and Schroeder are raised up to play from giant platforms.
(Bites is later combined with their debut album, to create the 1987 Bites and Remission and Remission and Bites compilations. Neither, however, contain all tracks off both albums.)
Tapping into a newfound energy, this is Skinny Puppy's strongest release to date. Mind is the first Puppy album to feature prominent guitar work, rutting amongst the by now trademark samples, keyboards and distortion. The album is preceded by the Dig It single and video, and also spawns the Chainsaw E.P. (released in the US as the Stairs and Flowers single). The cover of Mind: The Perpetual Intercourse shows a topless woman framed within a TV screen.
Wilhelm Schroeder's only contribution to the album is backing vocals on 'Stairs and Flowers'; not prepared for the long imminent tour, he leaves Puppy to form Front Line Assembly. His replacement is Dwayne Rudolph Goettel, with whom Key is able to work to startling effect.
The Tear Garden project is formed by cEvin Key and Edward Ka-Spel (of the Legendary Pink Dots) during a visit by Ka-Spel to Vancouver. They release their self-titled E.P. (On subsequent releases they are joined by Dwayne Goettel, members of the Pink Dots and others.)
A resounding boom kicks off the start of Cleanse Fold and Manipulate. A brighter album, almost all the music is now handled by Key and Goettel, whilst Ogre concentrates on the lyrics that put the face on the band. Additional guitars are contributed by producer Rave, whilst his wife Mowse adds backing vocals on one track, 'Tear Or Beat'. The cover of this album shows an emotionless, starring face. There is one single release, Addiction.
Live, Skinny Puppy's shows now feature new band member Chud. Chud is actually a stuffed dog, used on stage alongside Ogre to demonstrate the horror of vivisection. After experimenting on Chud, Ogre continues the work on himself, finally being strapped into a chair and flipped to simulate animal head trauma experimentation.
Their harshest, most confrontational release, VIVIsectVI is an incredibly aggressive sonic assault. Ogre's lyrics are less personal, instead tackling issues such as animal rights ('Testure') and chemical warfare ('VX Gas Attack'). Testure is a single release, as is Censor (known on the album as the track 'Dogshit'). The album cover shows a series of over-lapping X-ray photographs.
During their live show in Cincinnati, Ohio, an audience member mistakes Chud for a real animal and calls the police. Plain-clothed officers enter the dressing rooms, and after a harsh exchange of words, Ogre, Key and tour manager Dan McGee are arrested for disorderly conduct. After a night in jail they are fined $200.
Ogre later comments in a statement, "I find it paradoxical that the police can justify arresting us on the assumption that we mutilate and experiment on live animals for a theatrical performance when the inhuman reality is that it occurs in over 300 laboratories a day."
After the release of a live video, Ain't It Dead Yet? (also available on CD and cassette in 1991), Puppy team up with Al Jourgensen of Ministry. The contributions of Jourgensen, the infamous figure who infected heavy metal with industrial disco, is to give Rabies a distinctly rocky sound, and also ensures steady sales (it initially sells over 150,000 copies). The cover of Rabies is made up of a patchwork of television images.
There are two singles, Tin Omen and Worlock. The Worlock video, a gore-collage of scenes cut from horror films, is banned immediately.
Unfortunately, the Puppy/Ministry combination somehow doesn't work for all the tracks on Rabies, leaving the album quite unsatisfying in places. Several years later Key comments that it wasn't finished how he would have liked. Rather than concentrating on production methods, they concentrated more on just having a party. He later re-masters the CD version, which is re-released in 1993.
Additionally, 1989 sees the release of Twelve Inch Anthology, containing most of the tracks and mixes available on the earlier Puppy singles. Ogre contributes to the Ministry album The Mind Is A Terrible Thing To Taste, whilst Key and Goettel form the Hilt project with Al Nelson. It is also during The Mind Is A Terrible Thing To Taste tour that Ogre meets Martin Atkins. Atkins later invites Ogre to become part of Pigface, a 'supergroup' with rotating membership.
Entering a new decade, Goettel describes the next album, the chilling Too Dark Park, as a re-evaluation of what Puppy stands for. A churning, nightmarish projection of ecological collapse, track titles include 'Nature's Revenge' and 'Shore Lined Poison'.
The cover, part of a gigantic painting by Jim Cummins, depicts the end of the world. Twisted, barren trees point to the skies accusingly, whilst mutants and disembodied faces are sucked out into space. After the release of the Tormentor single comes the 1991 Spasmolytic E.P., a chaotic journey in which Ogre hints about his traumatic experiences with drug addiction.
The Spasmolytic video is a descent into Puppy's world of dark performance art. Strapped into the Chair of No Cares, Ogre is slowly transformed into a hideous, bionic creature. As Stilt-Man, he attempts to walk, until he is sent crashing through a top floor window. There is a couple getting married; romantically they start to rip up and feed on each other's faces, until they are nothing more than corpses. Goettel is also seen in the video playing the part of a mad Minister, whilst Key demonstrates his bicycle riding talents as a postman.
cEvin and Dwayne are reunited with Wilhelm Schroeder in 1990 for the Cyberaktif side-project; this also features Blixa Bargeld of Einstürzende Neubauten. 1991 sees the birth cEvin and Dwayne's Doubting Thomas project.
After Too Dark Park, with its terrible vision of a struggling environment, Last Rights continues by taking us into the moody, discomforting, burnt out soundscape of a dead world. Many believe it to be the final, penultimate swansong of Puppy, which the band neither confirm nor deny. Jim Cummins is brought in again for the cover painting, which depicts the remains of buildings, surrounded by twisted statues, bodies, skulls and assorted junk. Hidden amongst the ruins is Ogre's dirt-encrusted face. Barren mountains in the background sit beneath a dark grey sky.
There were difficulties with this release. The track 'Left Hand Shake' was left off after problems using copyrighted samples of Timothy Leary (though Leary himself approved of their use). Additionally, a pressing error on early CD versions meant each song was 39 seconds out of sync with the start of each track. (The first 39 seconds of the opening track 'Love in Vein' were cut off, whilst the final track, 'Download', had 39 seconds of silence at the end.) The single Inquisition becomes an instant dance-floor hit, whilst a Love in Vein single is prepared but never released.
Live, Ogre interacts with a backing film based on their 'Killing Game' video, and pulls off masks from a construct known as the Tree of No Cares for use in different songs. Entering a 'Virtual Reality' machine, Ogre's tortured face appears on the backing film; finally, he appears as Guilt Man, covered in chains, needles and intravenous tubes. The European leg of the tour has to be cancelled after Ogre injures his knee.
Back & Forth 2 is released, essentially a re-mastered and extended version of their original cassette.
After the Last Rights tour, cEvin, Dwayne and Ogre take a break. They are free agents, having fulfilled their contracts with Nettwerk and Capitol Records. Goettel establishes Subconscious Records, to release a limited edition 12" entitled Power under his solo name of aDuck. The flipside is by Phil Western, a.k.a. Philth.
Signing a deal with American Recordings, Puppy move to a house in California, near the filming of Baywatch. The house becomes Shangri LA Studios, where they begin work on a new album in November 1993. There are problems from the outset; Goettel argues that Ogre is turning Puppy into a rock band, whilst Ogre counters that they shouldn't sound like a techno group, either. There are arguments with American Recordings over the producer. cEvin has a accident on set, there is flooding, and their house burns down. Ogre quits.
Dwayne and cEvin form a new project, Download, named after the final track on Last Rights. Download essentially forms out of their late night jamming sessions with Mark Spybey (of Dead Voices On Air) and Phil Western. In order to release material, they revive Subconscious Records under the name of Subconscious Communications. Dwayne and cEvin make peace with Ogre again.
On the 23rd of August, 1995, Dwayne Goettel dies of a heroin overdose.
After months of delays, American Recordings finally release The Process, produced by Dave Ogilvie. The album is named after the psychotherapy cult started in the 1960s. Preceded by a promotional-only single, Candle, it is a vast departure from the previous Puppy sound. Metal-style guitars can be heard throughout tracks like 'Death,' 'Curcible' and 'Hardset Head' (which later appears on the soundtrack for An American Werewolf in Paris). 'Cult' is an interesting change of direction, being the nearest Puppy have ever come to a love song, whilst 'Blue Serge' delves into the realm of techno.
The sleeve artwork depicts the remains of a house, with the name Skinny Puppy held over the roof by scaffolding. The album is dedicated in loving memory of D. R. Goettel, while the inside sleeve thanks all those who have helped the band in the past.
Skinny Puppy is no more; this, however, does not see the end of Puppy-related releases. Back & Forth 3 & 4 (1996) offers two discs, containing unreleased mixes, outtakes and live material. It is available in a multimedia edition (released in Europe as Digital Brap) including band history, discography, photos, video clips and home video footage.
Paradigm Shift (1997) is the name of a Subconscious sampler. It is a tribute to Goettel of a sort, featuring work by both himself, Key and other members of the label. More recently, Download have released the album III, and re-released Charlie's Family, the soundtrack to an as yet unreleased film by Jim VanBebber (who directed, amongst other things, the Spasmolytic video). cEvin has also finished work on a solo project, entitled Music For Cats.
Ogre's main project is officially W.E.L.T. (When Everyone Learns the Truth) with Mark Walk. Unfortunately, complications with American Recordings mean the debut album is still awaiting release. However, Ogre also has another project, Rx. (They are named after the 'Rx' prescription medicine symbol, although they originally intended to go by the name of Ritalin). The long-awaited Bedside Toxicology, written with Martin Atkins, will be available in the UK in a matter of months. Ogre is planning a second W.E.L.T. album, and also recently toured with KMFDM, contributing to thier 1997 Symbols release.
Hymns of the Warlock is the title of an imminent Skinny Puppy tribute album featuring Dead Voices On Air, Front Line Assembly, Leæther Strip and Download. Other planned Puppy releases include Back & Forth vol. 5 & 6, a tribute remix album, and sampling CDs.
EXECUTE ECONOMIC SLAVE
