Skinny Puppy

Band from Vancouver, Canada, dissolved for a number of years between 1996 and 2003 but now back together again, with the core consisting of cEvin Key and Nivek Ogre (involved in various other projects, such as Download, Pigface, The Tear Garden etc.). Other members have been Wilhelm Schroeder and Dwayne Goettel.

Their style changed over the years, from the "industrial" electronic music in the early 80's, to the dark, chaotic, undefinable soundscapes of the 90's. There's nothing quite like the music of Skinny Puppy; mixing dialogues, synthesizers, acoustic instruments and in some cases even lumbering equipment with a liberal amount of creativity, horror and drugs.

Heavily influential for many bands who like to label themselves as "industrial" - even though the members of Skinny Puppy probably would have resented the term. Provocative (intentionally or not) on stage.

Discography

• Back and forth, series 1 (Nettwerk, 1983)
• Remission (Nettwerk, 1984)
• Bites (Nettwerk, 1985)
• Bites and Remission (Nettwerk, 1986)
• Mind: The Perpetual Intercourse (Nettwerk, 1986)
• Cleanse Fold and Manipulate (Nettwerk/Capitol, 1987)
• ViVisectVi (Nettwerk/Capitol, 1988)
• Twelve Inch Anthology (Nettwerk, 1989)
• Rabies (Nettwerk, 1989)
• Ain't It Dead Yet? (Nettwerk/Capitol, 1989)
• Too Dark Park (Nettwerk/Capitol, 1990)
• Back and Forth Series 2 (Network, 1992)
• Last Rights (Network, 1992)
• The Process (American Recordings/Subconscious, 1996)
• Brap (Nettwerk, 1996)
• ReMix Dys Temper (Nettwerk, 1998)
• Singles Collect (Nettwerk, 1999)
• B-Sides Collect (Nettwerk, 1999)
• Doomsday Back + Forth vol 5 Live in Dresden (Nettwerk, 2001)
• The Greater Wrong of the Right (Synthetic Symphony / Playground, 2004)
• Mythmaker (Synthetic Symphony, 2007)
• HanDover (SPV, 2011)
• Weapon (Metropolis, 2013)
• Plus a number of singles and videos

People involved in Skinny Puppy over the years include Al Jourgensen and David Ogilvie.

Official site: http://www.skinnypuppy.com/

The main band members, cEvin Key and Nivek Ogre, despised each other. In separate interviews with Industrial natioN (a paper medium dedicated to industrial music), Key called Ogre 'a whiney has-been destined for nothing'. Orge called Key 'a controlling freak with no talent'. The band split with cEviN Key moving on to Download and Nivek Ogre starting Ritalin (unfortunately, Orge was sued by the maker of Ritalin and had to drop the name).

Play it loud or don't play it at all -- Skinny Puppy

Ogre's project with Martin Atkins of Invisible Records and Pigface fame, originally called Ritalin, was renamed Rx. Rx has thus far released one album, Bedside Toxicology, which has at least one amazingly good song on it, K-Y Re:amin.

Ogre's current project is called OhGr; originally a collaboration with Mark Walk of Ruby, it's more upbeat than Skinny Puppy, with definite 80's synth-pop influences.

cEvin Key is a busy man. Besides releasing material under his own name, he collaborates with members of Legendary Pink Dots as The Tear Garden, and with Phil Western as Download and Plateau.

Skinny Puppy may yet be reborn. Ogre and Key have buried some of their past differences to the point where they can work together again. They did a Skinny Puppy show at Doomsday, a German goth/industrial music festival, in summer of 2000, and Key is touring with OhGr in May/June 2001.

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Yep! The new Skinny Puppy album, The Greater Wrong of the Right, with Mark Walk now a member of the band, was released at the end of May, 2004, and the band has embarked on a US tour.