Skinny Puppy is one of the Bureau's foundational Tier-I entries in this archive's post-1982 industrial cluster; the page is marked epic at the Bureau's file-num tier on account of the sprawling side-projects galaxy that extends across the Vancouver SP-cluster catalogue. Formed Vancouver, British Columbia, 1982 by cEvin Key (Kevin Crompton, born 13 February 1961) and Nivek Ogre (Kevin Graham Ogilvie); among the founders of the industrial rock and electro-industrial genres across 41 years and 13 studio albums plus an extensive side-projects catalogue. The Bureau files SP at Tier I for founding electro-industrial, the 1985–2013 catalogue of 13 studio albums and its extensive side-projects, and its influence on the post-1985 industrial-rock and electro-industrial reception.
Key was the drummer of Images in Vogue, a Vancouver new-wave / synthpop act that had become popular across the early-1980s Canadian scene; the band opened for Duran Duran, Depeche Mode and Roxy Music. Key was dissatisfied with the pop direction of Images in Vogue and began Skinny Puppy as an anti-pop side-project. When Images in Vogue relocated to Toronto, Key made Skinny Puppy his full-time project. Key had already created the project name 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 met Crompton at a party in late 1982. To avoid the confusion of having two people named Kevin in one band, the pair created stage names: Crompton becoming cEvin Key and Ogilvie becoming Nivek Ogre. Using Key's Vancouver apartment as the early-period studio, the duo began recording songs.
1983 the first cassette Back & Forth was recorded with Images in Vogue engineer Dave "Rave" Ogilvie (no relation to Nivek); the start of Dave Ogilvie's long association as sonic director across the catalogue. 1984 Skinny Puppy was picked up by Nettwerk Records who released the second EP Remission in December 1984 (and the cassette Back & Forth EP commercially earlier that year). Wilhelm Schroeder (the stage name of Bill Leeb, later of Front Line Assembly and Delerium) joined on keyboards across 1984–1986 and anchored the band's pre-Goettel sound. The 1985 Bites the full-length début featuring the Leeb-period method.
When it became clear to Key that Leeb was uninterested in staying with Skinny Puppy, Key hired Dwayne Rudolph Goettel (born 30 January 1964). The two had met when Goettel's band Water opened for a Skinny Puppy show in 1985. Key and Goettel got on well and quickly began jamming together. Goettel was a classically trained pianist with extensive technical knowledge including deep experience of the Ensoniq Mirage sampler, which became vital to the SP catalogue's sonic method. The inclusion of Goettel helped the band escape its synth-pop roots and take on a more-industrial sound. The 1986 Mind: The Perpetual Intercourse the first SP album with Goettel established the band's recognised electro-industrial sound; then Capitol Records / EMI distribution deal across North America and Play It Again Sam across Europe widened the band's commercial reach.
The 1987–1989 catalogue anchored the classic-period SP line-up. Cleanse, Fold and Manipulate (1987) and VIVIsectVI (1988) established their political mode including the animal-rights advocacy. The VIVIsectVI North American tour drew attention to vivisection issues; key songs "Dogshit" (released under the name "Censor" due to censorship issues) and the post-album single "Testure" (which denounced vivisection of animals for research). The Testure music video featured footage of a man being tortured by monstrous-looking surgeons augmented with clips from The Plague Dogs and Unnecessary Fuss, plus a statement denouncing vivisection; Testure reached No. 19 on Billboard's Hot Dance Music/Club Play chart 1989. The 1988 Cincinnati incident: Key and Ogre were arrested for "disorderly conduct" after an audience member, believing Ogre's stuffed-animal stage-vivisection performance to be a real dog, called the police; the band found it ironic to be arrested for a parody of what was happening for real across the street from their concert.
1989 Rabies, the Al Jourgensen (Ministry) cross-band record; Jourgensen contributed vocals, guitars and production work. Jourgensen later joined Ogre in the Pigface industrial-supergroup side-project. Rabies marked an industrial-metal departure from the electro-industrial mode; Key and Goettel later expressed dissatisfaction with the album's sound. 1990 Too Dark Park the critical return to form of the catalogue; Key described as a return to the SP sound after the Jourgensen-era industrial-metal departure. 1992 Last Rights the extreme-noise record of the catalogue; the band was on the brink of dissolution due to Ogre's worsening personal circumstances.
The band's commercial turning point came 1993 when, poised for a major breakthrough in the wake of Nine Inch Nails' commercial success, SP left longtime label Nettwerk for American Recordings (Rick Rubin's label) and relocated to Malibu, California to record The Process. The Process was a concept album inspired by the 1960s cult The Process Church of the Final Judgment; producer Roli Mosimann (ex-Swans) initially. Numerous producer turnovers followed including Martin Atkins (PigFace / Invisible Records). Flooding and earthquakes badly hampered the sessions; Key was severely injured in a film shoot. After months of recording, Mid-1994 Key and Goettel absconded with the master tapes back to Vancouver to finish production; Ogre remained in California. June 1995 Ogre announced he was leaving Skinny Puppy to form W.E.L.T. (with Mark Walk of Ruby; later the post-2001 ohGr project).
The catalogue's tragic closing chapter came two months later. 23 August 1995: Dwayne Goettel was found dead at his parents' home in Edmonton. Bureau memorial register. Key and Dave Ogilvie completed The Process in Goettel's honour; the album was released 1996 with a dedication to Goettel's memory. 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 post-Process Skinny Puppy hiatus extended across the 1996–2003 period; later the band's core members continued through the side-projects already in motion: Download, the Tear Garden, platEAU, ohGr and Key's solo catalogue.
The side-projects extended from 1986 onward and sustained the cluster across the 1996–2003 hiatus. The Tear Garden (Key + Edward Ka-Spel of The Legendary Pink Dots) opened 1986 and extended across Tired Eyes Slowly Burning (1987), The Last Man to Fly (1992), To Be an Angel Blind, the Crippled Soul Divide (1996, the first post-Goettel album, a more somber tone), Crystal Mass Effect (2009), The Brown Acid Caveat (2017). Download (Key + Goettel + Phil Western + Mark Spybey) opened late 1994 with the experimental-electronic début Furnace (1995); then Microscopic (1995), The Eyes of Stanley Pain (1996), III (1997), Effector (2000) and further releases; Phil Western later continued the project alongside Key after Goettel's death until Western's own death 13 July 2019 at age 47.
Doubting Thomas (Key + Goettel) the long-running instrumental side-outlet for their more ambient and experimental material: Father Don't Cry Anymore (1991), The Infidel (1991). Hilt (Key + Al Nelson + Goettel) the experimental pop-rock-reggae side-project with appearances by Dave Ogilvie and Don Harrison (Sons of Freedom); Call the Ambulance Before I Hurt Myself (1989), Journey to the Center of the Bowl (1991), Orb of Cleavage (1993); Al Nelson died February 2000 (Bureau memorial register). platEAU (Key + Western) the long-running industrial-trance side-project: Music for Plateaux (1992), Trans Plateau (1996), Sphere (2003). Cyberaktif the 1989–1991 collaboration between Key, Goettel and ex-SP member Bill Leeb; Tenebrae Vision (1991, Wax Trax!) the main release; a guest appearance from Blixa Bargeld of Einsturzende Neubauten on the "Meltdown" track. PTP (Ogre + Leeb) the disputed pre-SP-departure Ogre + Leeb side-project (Ogre maintained the released material was incomplete and was not happy that it was released).
ohGr (Ogre + Mark Walk) opened 2001 with Welt (originally recorded pre-1995 as the W.E.L.T. project, held back by American Recordings legal issues until the post-2001 release under the new ohGr name); then SunnyPsyOp (2003), Devils in My Details (2008), unDeveloped (2011), Tricks (2018), Tank Hammer (2024). Rx / Ritalin (Ogre + Martin Atkins) the one-off collaboration; Bedside Toxicology (1998). Ogre toured extensively with Martin Atkins' industrial-supergroup Pigface from 1991 onward; extensive cross-cluster contributions across the 1990s Pigface catalogue. aDuck (Goettel + Western breakbeat-hardcore 1993, Subconscious Records first release), A Chud Convention, W.E.L.T., Lee Chubby King, The Petty Tyrants, Raw Dog, Mutual Mortuary the larger one-off SP-cluster catalogue.
The band's 2000 reunion: in August 2000 Ogre and Key reunited and performed live as Skinny Puppy for the first time since 1992 at the Doomsday Festival in Dresden, Germany; rather than find a replacement for Goettel, the band left the keyboard station on stage empty. The Doomsday: Back and Forth Series 5: Live in Dresden 2001 live album the reunion record. The 2003 reformation: Key joined ohGr on drums for its 2001 tour; then Ogre, Key and Mark Walk formally reformed Skinny Puppy for the post-2003 catalogue. The first new Skinny Puppy track in several years, "Optimissed", appeared on the Underworld soundtrack 2003. Then The Greater Wrong of the Right (2004, with guests Danny Carey of Tool and Wayne Static of Static-X), Mythmaker (2007), hanDover (2011), Weapon (2013) the post-reformation catalogue. The Final Tour concluded 5 December 2023 with the official Skinny Puppy split announcement.
Filed by Bureau editor · VAGO · c. the Early Middle Ages · last revised c. the Victorian era