Skinny Puppy

Drawing from the groundbreaking efforts of Throbbing Gristle, Cabaret Voltaire, and Suicide, Vancouver, British Columbia, saw the 1982 emergence of the dark avant-industrial outfit Skinny Puppy. What began as a duo pairing former Images in Vogue drummer cEvin Key (born Kevin Crompton) with Nivek Ogre (aka Kevin Ogilvie) yielded the cassette Back and Forth before the 1984 EP Remission appeared as the initial entry in a long series of projects involving producer David "Rave" Ogilvie.

The 1985 full-length debut Bites brought keyboardist Wilhelm Schroeder into the fold, yet Dwayne Goettel supplanted him the following year; Goettel’s sampling and synthesizer contributions proved decisive in steering Skinny Puppy from ominous dance music toward a singular blend of industrial, goth, and electronic elements. Releases such as 1986’s Mind: The Perpetual Intercourse, 1987’s Cleanse, Fold and Manipulate, and 1988’s VIVIsectVI sharpened the trio’s sonic identity while unveiling an outspoken lyrical stance that would persist as a thematic thread across much of the band’s catalog.

Ministry’s Al Jourgensen supplied vocals, guitars, and production to the 1989 album Rabies and later collaborated with Ogre in the side project Pigface. Parallel ventures gradually loosened internal ties: Key and Edward Ka-Spel of the Legendary Pink Dots issued the 1987 album Their Eyes Slowly Burning as Tear Garden, while Key joined Alan Nelson for Hilt in 1990. Growing divisions found Key and Goettel frequently aligned against Ogre, whose focus on solo pursuits appeared to eclipse commitment to the trio; substance issues had also escalated, yet the group still inked a deal with American Recordings in 1993 and moved to Los Angeles to commence work on new material.

Sessions for the resulting album The Process unfolded chaotically; David Ogilvie, who had guided nearly every prior recording, sat out production for the first time in roughly a decade, and the band cycled through several replacements including former Swan Roli Mosimann and Martin Atkins. Flooding and earthquakes compounded setbacks, and Key sustained serious injury during a film shoot. After extended tracking, dissatisfaction with Atkins prompted Key and Goettel to abscond with the masters and return to Vancouver in mid-1994 to complete the record. Ogre stayed behind in California and soon declared his departure to launch W.E.L.T. Several months afterward, on August 23, 1995, Goettel died of a heroin overdose at his parents’ residence; in tribute, Key and Ogre finalized the album, which surfaced in 1996. The multimedia overview Brap: Back and Forth, Series 3 & 4 appeared shortly thereafter, while Key turned to his new endeavor Download. The 1998 collection Remix Dys Temper presented Skinny Puppy reinterpretations by Autechre, Neotropic, and Adrian Sherwood alongside industrial acts such as KMFDM and God Lives Underwater.

By 2000 reports circulated that Key and Ogre had reconciled, revived Skinny Puppy, and begun recording anew. A 1994 improvisation involving Skinny Puppy and Throbbing Gristle/Psychic TV member Genesis P-Orridge surfaced in 2002 as Puppy Gristle on Key’s subCON imprint. Late in 2003 the SPV label, long the band’s European distributor, signed the group. Skinny Puppy’s Greater Wrong of the Right reached stores in 2004, featuring guest contributions from members of Tool, Collide, and Static-X. Two further studio efforts, 2007’s Mythmaker and 2011’s Handover, preceded the 2012 live release Bootlegged, Broke and in Solvent Seas.