The ’70s begat disco and by the end of the disco decade the pendulum swung back towards rock ’n’ roll, hence punk. The ’80s then birthed new wave, a mixture of dance and punk palatable to all parties.
But there is always a faction that wants to pervert and distort the pop culture embraced by the masses. From Chicago came Wax Trax! and every piercing, screeching, pulverizing sound that Al Jourgenson and Ministry could fashion into brutal electric-electronic music. Farther away, in nice-people Canada, Vancouver birthed a dance floor scourge known as Skinny Puppy.
Supposedly conceived as a side hustle, Skinny Puppy have instead kept a grip on like-minded souls for four decades, pushing boundaries with industrial beats and profane live shows for generations of self-styled reprobates. Led since day one by Nivek Ogre and cEvin Key (Kevin Ogilvie and Kevin Crompton, respectively), they’re progenitors to Nine Inch Nails and Marilyn Manson, proving that even when you’re deliberately repelling the masses you’re often moving the needle on what listeners will like. (Upon learning that their songs were used at Guantanamo Bay to torture inmates, Skinny Puppy sent the U.S. government a bill.)
Every good story ends, however, and 40 years is a nice round number, so it makes sense that this tour could be Skinny Puppy’s last. “It’s been eight long years since we’ve toured and there is no better way to end our run as a group than with a tour celebrating our 40th anniversary,” the band said in a statement accompanying the tour announcement.
Still, if it’s going well, they might conceivably add dates and extend the tour. It might be harder than they realize now for a collective like Skinny Puppy to give up being a raucous and artistic commune of craziness. The lifestyle of intentional insanity is what is supposed to happen for a rock band. For Skinny Puppy it did. Adding in the spiciness of industrial music and that’s a Molotov cocktail of a party.
Skinny Puppy with Lead Into Gold play 7pm Monday, April 10 at Revolution LIVE in Fort Lauderdale. skinnypuppy.com ~ Tim Moffatt
