Formation and first releases (1982–1985) Skinny Puppy formed in 1982 as a side project for Kevin Crompton in
Vancouver, British Columbia. Crompton was dissatisfied with the
pop direction of the band he was in,
Images in Vogue, and began Skinny Puppy with the intention of doing something more compelling and experimental. Images in Vogue had become a popular act in
Vancouver, achieving several radio hits and opening for groups such as
Duran Duran,
Depeche Mode, and
Roxy Music. Crompton had planned Skinny Puppy to be a side project while he continued his work in Images in Vogue; however, when Images in Vogue relocated to
Toronto, Crompton made Skinny Puppy his full-time project. Crompton had already created the name for the project and recorded several songs when he asked Kevin Graham Ogilvie to join. Ogilvie had been a roommate of Images in Vogue member Gary Blair Smith and had met Crompton at a party in late 1982. Using Key's apartment as a studio, the duo began recording songs This was the beginning of a long partnership between Skinny Puppy and Rave, who would serve as their producer until 1993, and again in 1995, and was occasionally listed as a member of the band in album liner notes. Though only 35 copies were ever printed, the self-released
Back & Forth drew the attention of Vancouver startup label
Nettwerk, who signed the band later that year. The first live Skinny Puppy show was held at the Unovis art gallery in Vancouver in February 1984; the British group
Alien Sex Fiend were among the 300 people in attendance. Ogre has said that Skinny Puppy acted as an escape for Key, who wished to distance himself from Images in Vogue: "He was looking for something to break out of [Images in Vogue], and maybe I was it". Key would continue to drum for Images in Vogue until the group relocated to Toronto in 1985. Key's concept behind Skinny Puppy came from the group's first song ever recorded, "K-9". The idea, according to Key, was to create music which explored "life as seen through a dog's eyes". Having scored a record deal with Nettwerk and with interest surrounding the
Back & Forth EP growing, Skinny Puppy was invited to Vancouver's
Mushroom Studios to work on new material. Skinny Puppy released their second EP,
Remission in December 1984, almost a year following
Back & Forth.
Remission marked the first time Skinny Puppy would collaborate with artist
Steven Gilmore, who created the album artwork. The EP was initially only released in
vinyl, but was later given a
cassette release in 1985. The EP was supported by music videos for the songs "Far Too Frail" and "Smothered Hope", Described by
Billboard magazine as "techno dance ... a la
Kraftwerk",
Bites yielded the underground hit "Assimilate". One of these bonus tracks, a song called "The Centre Bullet", featured lyrics by
Legendary Pink Dots founder
Edward Ka-Spel. While Skinny Puppy had become well received by underground audiences in most major urban areas, due in part to their anti-consumerist themes and
Cure-like aesthetics, not everyone was friendly to the group. Key described Skinny Puppy as the antithesis of "the
Bruce Springsteen mentality of music", rejecting "Top 40 conformity". Toronto-based music journalist and DJ Greg Clow recalled
Michael Williams, who was a
VJ for
Muchmusic, introducing him to Skinny Puppy, describing them as "Canada's answer to
Depeche Mode. Capitol manager Stephen Powers stated that signing groups such as Skinny Puppy gave the company "a real credibility" with the alternative and college music scenes. Skinny Puppy also signed to
Play It Again Sam, allowing the group's music to expand into Europe. It was this expansion into the European market that would help to make Skinny Puppy a "cash cow" for Nettwerk in the early years. Bill Leeb left Skinny Puppy in 1986 to pursue his own musical project,
Front Line Assembly. Leeb gave his reasons for leaving the group stating that his bandmates expressed different ideas from his own and that he had been interested in singing. Leeb's replacement would be quiet
Alberta native
Dwayne Goettel. Skinny Puppy's production values improved with the addition of Goettel, with Key remarking that "Dwayne brought us a whole new sense and aesthetic that we didn't have. Up to that point, we were really punk rock in our approach". Key continued on that "he [Goettel] had an incredible knowledge of equipment and at a very early stage was really the master of sampling, which had really just begun". To promote the album, the band made an appearance on
CBC Radio's
Brave New Waves program in September 1986, and released their first single, "
Dig It". A music video for "Dig It" was produced and received extensive airplay on
MTV. Further promotion for the album came from a world tour with the band
Severed Heads. The tour proved to be a vital learning experience for the group, having encounters with, according to Key, "tour managers and agents that didn't pay us". The group attracted the attention of the
Parent Music Resource Center (PMRC), which named
Mind: The Perpetual Intercourse one of several albums believed to be "violent, sexually explicit, or condoning substance abuse". The album was named by
Melody Maker magazine as one of the best releases of the year. Later in 1987 came Skinny Puppy's third full-length album,
Cleanse Fold and Manipulate. Described as "a turning point, where experimentation is just beginning to gel with innovation", the album marks the point where the group began to explore more political themes, delving into topics such as the
AIDS epidemic and the
Vietnam War. A song from the album, "
Addiction" was released as a single. The group later went on tour, with a performance at Toronto's
Concert Hall being released on
VHS in 1989 and CD in 1991 as ''
Ain't It Dead Yet?. Also released in 1987 was Bites and Remission (through Capitol Records) and Remission & Bites'' (European release, through Pay It Again Sam), both compilations of Skinny Puppy's first two Nettwerk releases.
Subsequent success (1988–1989) Skinny Puppy's live performances had become increasingly elaborate, with Ogre interacting with an onstage
crucifix and other "crudely constructed" stage props. while Tom Lanham of the
San Francisco Chronicle referred to it as "grotesque". The band continued to tour in 1988 with the European
Head Trauma tour, supported by
Edward Ka-Spel. Following the tour, the group returned to the studio to record what Ogre described would be the band's most critical statement regarding
animal testing. Skinny Puppy released their fourth album,
VIVIsectVI, in 1988; the album's name is a pun intended to associate
vivisection with
Satanism (i.e. the "
666 sect"). The group's primary aim with the album was to bring attention to the topic of
vivisection and other issues regarding
animal rights. The album's subject matter also deals with subjects such as
chemical warfare, environmental waste, and disease. According to Ogre, "Testure" was intended to be accessible in the hope of spreading their "anti-vivisectionist" message. "It's the only song I think they will be able to play on the radio", he said. "I hope they do play it because it's the only way we can go beyond our ranks and our loyal fans who already understand the message". an animated adventure about two dogs who escape from a research laboratory.
Melody Maker named
VIVIsectVI one of the best albums of 1988. Skinny Puppy toured in support of the album, featuring an early incarnation of the
industrial rock band
Nine Inch Nails as their opening act. The concept for the live show revolved around a vivisectionist (played by Ogre) who is eventually transformed into a tortured animal; the idea was to portray the "inner workings of the mind under the strain of vivisection". Following a show in
Cincinnati, Ohio, Key, Ogre, and tour manager Dan McGee were arrested for "
disorderly conduct" when an audience member, believing the stuffed animal Ogre was "vivisecting" to be a real dog, called the police. Two plainclothes officers entered the group's dressing room demanding they inspect the prop. Following a heated argument, the trio spent the night in jail, but were released the following day after paying a $200 fine. During the late 1980s and early 1990s, the band members began working on
various side projects. Key and Goettel were involved with
the Tear Garden (a collaboration with
the Legendary Pink Dots) and
Doubting Thomas (an outlet for their non-Skinny Puppy instrumentals). The band
Hilt, a collaboration between Key and Goettel, and Al Nelson, also started when Nettwerk challenged the group to produce an album for as little money as possible. Ogre struck up a friendship with
Ministry's
Al Jourgensen, having first worked together during the recording of the
PTP song "Show Me Your Spine" (featured in the 1987 film
RoboCop). The album, featuring Jourgensen's electric guitar work and backing vocals, drew mixed reception from fans. Despite these reactions, the album was a commercial success, selling 150,000 copies and receiving extensive airplay on college radio. The single "
Worlock" – which featured samples of
Charles Manson singing parts of the song "
Helter Skelter" from
The Beatles'
White Album, accompanied by a fragmented portion of the songs guitar introduction – helped to bring the band "massive popularity". In spite of the album's initial mixed reception, Brad Filicky in a 2003 issue of
CMJ magazine named
Rabies as a classic album, calling it "a masterpiece of the industrial genre". This period marked the beginning of divisions within the band, Ogre had also begun working with the Ministry side project
Revolting Cocks. Key was later quoted saying of Ogre's involvement with Ministry and, later on,
Martin Atkins'
Pigface that he sometimes felt "like a wife that's been cheated on".
Too Dark Park (1990–1991) Following the production of
Rabies, a divide grew between the group members, with Key and Goettel often siding against Ogre, feeling he was more interested in solo work. Jourgensen offered Ogre the chance to tour with the Revolting Cocks, having provided vocals on their previous tour. Ogre refused the offer, citing some occurrences during his time with Ministry which led him to question his friendship with Jourgensen. This reevaluation included hiring Jim Cummins (I, Braineater) to design the cover artwork, feeling that their longtime designer Steven Gilmore had lost his creative spark. Described as "forceful and consistently abrasive",
Too Dark Park was what Key referred to as the true successor to "the last pure" Skinny Puppy album,
VIVIsectVI. Critics such as Staci Bonner of
Spin magazine applauded the use of sampling and stated that the album was a "return to the bloodbath" for the group. The album yielded the singles "
Tormentor" and "
Spasmolytic", the latter of which spawned a music video directed by
Jim Van Bebber.
Billboard called "Spasmolytic" a "delicious mind-altering affair", a sentiment shared by Wil Lewellyn of Treblezine who included the song in a list of the best underground songs of the 1990s. Environmental degradation was a major theme on both the album and the North American
Too Dark Park tour. Ogre being hoisted from the stage by cables, and a backing film featuring scenes of graphic violence, Following the tour, Ogre became involved with Martin Atkins' project Pigface in 1991, for a short time becoming the group's lead vocalist. Pigface included talent from several other industrial groups such as
William Rieflin of Ministry and
Trent Reznor of Nine Inch Nails, Ogre and Reznor performed the song together in the live album
Welcome to Mexico... Asshole. Also on the album was a cover of the song "T.F.W.O." from
Too Dark Park, led by Ogre. In 2003, Alexander Chow of
Spin magazine named
Too Dark Park an essential industrial album, stating that "schizophrenic beats, manic-depressive mumblings, and just the right dose of fist-raising choruses" made for a dance floor favorite.
Last Rights (1992) Following
Too Dark Park, Skinny Puppy was commissioned by the dance group
La La La Human Steps to compose several songs for their 1991 production ''Infante C'est Destroy'', a duty shared alongside the likes of
Einstürzende Neubauten. During this time Ogre made a concerted effort to kick his drug addictions. In an interview with
CITR-FM, Ogre discussed his ordeals with
hepatitis A and subsequent hospilization; he also thanked Pigface for looking after him during his "hour of need". : Nivek Ogre (center) with
Chris Connelly (left) and
Martin Atkins Skinny Puppy released their seventh studio album,
Last Rights, in 1992. It was the last album the band released under Nettwerk/Capitol. Relationships between the band members during the album's production were "tense and unhealthy", with Ogre, under the supervision of Rave, coming into the studio at night to perform vocals for the music Key and Goettel composed earlier in the day. Ogre said that the production of
Last Rights acted as a form of therapy which he used to help him come to terms with his addictions. "It's painful for me to be reminded of certain things, but for me to say it never happened is wrong. I'll be glad to put it behind me, but I had to do this".
Last Rights became the first Skinny Puppy record to chart on the
Billboard 200, peaking at No. 193. The album remained on ''Billboard's
Heatseekers album chart for several weeks, peaking at No. 10. The track "Inquisition" was released as a single and included several alternative cuts of the song, as well as the b-side "LaHuman8" (one of the tracks produced for La La La Human Steps). A second single, "Love in Vein", was never released, although an unfinished remix intended for it later appeared on Brap: Back and Forth Series 3 & 4'' in 1996. The song, in which Ogre provides commentary to Leary's instructions for avoiding a "
bad trip", was eventually released on the initial European edition of
Brap: Back and Forth Series 3 & 4 in 1996, and on a limited edition single called "
Track 10" sold at the Skinny Puppy reunion concert in 2000 at Dresden. The stage show for the
Last Rights tour in North America, much like the album itself, was built around a detailed narrative inspired by Ogre's past ordeals with drug abuse. For this tour, Key once more focused exclusively on live drumming, leaving Goettel on keyboard duty. One incident that occurred at a show in
Boston involved several concert goers climbing on stage and grabbing at Ogre's various masks and props, several of which were stolen. The band's manager, Tim Gore, pursued the thieves but was punched by a security guard. Following the punch, Gore began having issues breathing and was taken to a hospital; the guard was fired as a result of the incident.
The Process, Goettel's death and breakup (1993–1999) In 1993, Skinny Puppy contributed the song "Ode to Groovy" to the compilation album
In Defense of Animals, released through
Restless Records. The album was named after the animal rights group of the
same name. Though the track is credited to Skinny Puppy, Ogre and Rave were the only people to work on it. Ogre, Key and Goettel, landed a three-album deal with
American Recordings, and moved to
Malibu to record
The Process, a concept album inspired by 1960s cult
The Process Church of The Final Judgment, with
Roli Mosimann producing. The recording sessions were beset by everything from fires and floods, to the
Northridge earthquake. Mosimann was eventually replaced with Martin Atkins. Atkins' presence exacerbated the rift that was forming between Ogre and the rest of the band. The band's bickering and excessive drug use made the recording process so long and costly, that American reduced Skinny Puppy's contract to one album. In 1994, Key and Goettel returned to Vancouver with the master tapes, but Ogre remained in Los Angeles and quit Skinny Puppy in June 1995.
The Process was eventually completed with Rave and released in 1996. It was dedicated to the memory of Goettel. The liner notes that accompanied the CD included thank-yous to "Electronic Music Lovers" and "Puppy People", followed by the words "The End" in bold type. The album charted on the
Billboard 200 at No. 102 and reached the No. 1 spot on
Billboard's Heatseekers album chart. During the
Process era, a loose-knit art/philosophy collective also known as
The Process was formed, with early contributions from Ogre and
Genesis P-Orridge, among others. P-Orridge and Larry Thrasher jammed with Skinny Puppy during this period, a recording of which was eventually released as
Puppy Gristle on a limited basis in 2002. The creation of the
Download project, which Key and Goettel formed with Mark Spybey and
Phil Western, also occurred at this time. Earlier, in 1993, Goettel and Western had issued a
breakbeat hardcore single (under the name aDuck) on their own label,
Subconscious Records. After Goettel's death, Subconscious evolved into a recording studio and record label imprint that Key used to release a number of his own and Skinny Puppy's recordings. and released his first solo album in 1998. this would not see release until 2001 under the new name,
ohGr. In the meantime, he toured with
KMFDM, and released an album with Martin Atkins under the name
Rx (also known as Ritalin). The ohGr and Rx releases included some of Ogre's most positive and forward-thinking in 1996, and
The Singles Collect and
B-Sides Collect in 1999. Nettwerk commissioned a
remix album in 1998; titled
remix dystemper, it featured various Skinny Puppy tracks re-worked by artists including
Autechre,
Deftones, and
Guru. Ogre and Walk also took part, contributing a remix of "Dig It" and an updated version of
Remissions "Smothered Hope" with new vocals by Ogre.
Reunion, The Greater Wrong of the Right and Mythmaker (2000–2008) In August 2000, Ogre and Key reunited and performed live as Skinny Puppy for the first time since 1992, at
Doomsday Festival. The show was meant to be a continuation of the
Last Rights tour, with the stage design taking influence from those performances. Rather than find a replacement for Goettel, the band simply left the keyboard station on stage empty. The performance was filmed and recorded, and a live album,
Doomsday: Back and Forth Series 5: Live in Dresden, was released in 2001; a DVD release was planned but canceled by Nettwerk. and "Worlock" was included on a
VCD compilation by German magazine
Sonic Seducer in 2002. Key joined ohGr on drums for its 2001 tour, while Ogre appeared on the track "Frozen Sky" on Key's 2001 album
The Ghost of Each Room. When asked by
Terrorizer magazine about the future of Skinny Puppy, Key responded: Our goals for the future are to combine everything, take the best of what we can do with Ogre, and the best of what we have from our past, as well as the future stuff that we can do, and put it into one touring situation which I'm sure will stroll back into bloodville.The first new Skinny Puppy track in several years, "Optimissed", appeared on the
Underworld soundtrack in 2003. in 2005 Ogre, Key, Mark Walk and various guests, including
Danny Carey of
Tool and
Wayne Static of
Static-X, recorded the band's ninth studio album,
The Greater Wrong of the Right, released in 2004 on
Synthetic Symphony, a sub-label of
SPV. The album, described by Key as being based in "pseudopop", received generally favorable reviews from critics and landed on several
Billboard charts. A music video was made for the song "Pro-Test" which featured a style unlike many of the group's previous work, so much so that some were unsure if it was an official video. Since there was no tour support for
The Process, 2004 marked the formal return of Skinny Puppy, with a full North America and Europe tour; selling out larger than usual venues. Shows in Toronto and Montreal were filmed for the live DVD
Greater Wrong of the Right Live, which was released in September 2005. The DVD included
Information Warfare, a documentary made by Morrison about the U.S.-led wars in Iraq. The anti-
Bush administration stance taken by the band at their live shows drew the ire of PABAAH (Patriotic Americans Boycotting Anti-American Hollywood), which attempted a boycott of college radio stations that played Skinny Puppy. and returned to the studio to complete their next album,
Mythmaker, which was released in January 2007. The album reached No. 4 on the Independent Albums Chart, No. 5 on the Dance/Electronic Albums Chart, and No. 17 on the Heatseekers Chart, but barely broke the
Billboard 200. The band's 2007 North American and European tour, titled
Mythrus, began in May 2007. While some fans longed for the sounds of their earlier days, Ogre, speaking with Electronic Musician, stated the band's intention was to move forward rather than dwell in the past. "Some people think that the stuff we do now is a pale imitation of the past. All of the older stuff had a time and place, and we decided to move forward to where we are now". but the release of this album was delayed due to insolvency issues with the SPV label (thus leading to Ogre naming the 2009 tour the "In Solvent See" tour). These issues were not expected to be resolved until the end of 2009. However, the "In Solvent See" Tour took place as planned, and began on 30 October. In October 2010, there were reports that the new Skinny Puppy album would be released in February 2011. In May 2011, Skinny Puppy announced that they finished recording a new album titled
HanDover, and that they were soliciting it to other record labels for a September 2011 release date. On 27 August 2011, HanDover was officially confirmed as having a 25 October 2011, release in the United States and a 28 October 2011, release in Europe. Steven R. Gilmore created the artwork for the album once again. The album landed on a number of
Billboard charts, including a spot at No. 168 on the
Billboard 200 and No. 9 on the Top Dance/Electronic Albums chart. Skinny Puppy were scheduled to perform at numerous European festivals in the summer of 2010, including the
Amphi Festival in Germany, the 2010 Waregem Gothic Festival in
Belgium, and the Recession Festival in Denmark. A live album, titled
Bootlegged, Broke and in Solvent Seas and recorded on the band's 2010 European tour, was released on 12 June 2012.
Weapon, subsequent tours, and Final Tour (2013–2023) Skinny Puppy announced that a new album, entitled
Weapon, would be released on 28 May 2013. The album was inspired by news brought to the band by a former guard at
Guantanamo Bay that their music had been used to torture inmates. Inspiration also came from the
Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster and from Ogre's personal views on the human species; in an interview with
Vice, Ogre stated that he "view[s] the human being primarily as a weapon, and a lot of the things that we've created have had disastrous effects on us as a species". The album was released to generally favorable reviews from critics, several noting the 1980s-esque musical style, and included a re-hashed version of the
Remission-era track "Solvent". Key told the
Phoenix New Times that the band had been dissatisfied with
HanDovers production schedule, noting that it had taken them several years to produce the album. For
Weapon, they made a return to the fast-paced, one-song-a-day style of their early years. The decision to remake the song "Solvent" helped to set the album's quickened pace; Key said that the music they were making for the album wouldn't sound correct "If it didn't sound like something we had just made quickly, like in the old days". The band released a music video for the song "Illisit" and in October 2013, announced their
Live Shapes for Arms Tour, a North American tour starting in January 2014 at The Observatory in
Santa Ana, CA. In early 2014, Ogre and Key sent an invoice of $666,000 to the US government for the use of their music at Guantanamo Bay, bringing the issue to the attention of mainstream media outlets. Later in 2014, the
Alliance of Sound tour was announced, with performances by Skinny Puppy,
VNV Nation,
Haujobb, and
Youth Code. However, in early November, Front Line Assembly replaced VNV Nation and the tour was renamed
Eye vs. Spy, which was a 17-city North American tour between 28 November to 20 December 2014. In June 2015, Skinny Puppy performed at the
Amnesia Rockfest in
Montebello, Canada, alongside acts such as Ministry and
The Dillinger Escape Plan. Following two successful tours with
Weapon, the band yet again embarked with Youth Code, this time to play shows across North America in 2015 and across Europe in 2017 under the
Down the SocioPath tour, which dropped all
Weapon tracks and instead introduced many songs from the band's 1996 album,
The Process, which had not been accompanied by any live performances due to the death of Goettel in 1995. Unlike the previous tours for
Weapon,
Down the SocioPath scaled back the theatrics and introduced
Matthew Setzer as a live guitarist. Ogre began these concerts in a white hooded robe which was removed to reveal a suit into which a
stagehand inserted oversized needles. The
Down the Sociopath Too Euro 2017 leg lasted from 30 May to 16 June 2017. The tour included stops at the
Download Festival in France,
Primavera Sound, and
Wave-Gotik-Treffen. In February 2023, the "Skinny Puppy: Final Tour" was announced. The tour coincided with the band's 40th anniversary. The initial leg ran from April 5 to May 9 and included a stop at
Sick New World on May 13. In July 2023, a second leg of The Final Tour was announced, lasting from November 8 to December 5, after which the group disbanded. ==Style==