Skinny Puppy最早建立与80年代初期,深受当时的kraftwerk(早期为工业音乐),throbbing gristle影响.由nivek ogre,cevin key组成.最初成员为Wilhelm Schroeder(无任何乐器参与。。。),Nivek Ogre(voice, synthesizers),Cevin Key(除了voice意外一切).后因为Wilhelm的退出(Wilhelm后组建了著名的Front Line Assembly),作为skinny puppy暖场乐队的键盘手Dwayne Goettel加入了乐队,此时为86年,也是Skinny Puppy真正的开始.Dwayne是个优秀的非常专业并且近乎工作狂的键盘手,他也是几乎最早使用MIDI技术的人. ogre对他的评价是:"highly skilled."
由于dwayne的加入,乐队才真正成为一个synth-noise-industrial乐队.但是直到Too Dark Park才带有明显的EBM(electronic body music)起源.在这之前最为重要的专集为VIVIsectVI.这张呼吁保护动物权益的专集可谓是早期SP的最佳专集,因为在此资金和时间的问题一直没有使乐队的合作达到颠峰,而这张时机恰好成熟.主唱Nivek Ogre露骨的歌词使媒体对此的评论也褒贬不一,另外大家也可能见识过SP的现场.Ogre曾经因为现场以展示动物活体解剖的方式(当然是假的)反对医学上的恐怖手术:活体解剖实验而被捕.Ogre对此表示相当气愤,因为在实验室里,真正的活体解剖进行着却没有人阻止.除此之外,rape(who's laughing now)这类的歌词也让当年的人们很难接受.
到了Too Dark Park一直被公认是Skinny puppy的颠峰之作(我自己也这么认为),专集中旋律的优秀至今仍影响着大量的乐队.(特别是EBM或者power noise类),这张专集并以其在当年极其不可思议的音质体现了他们在production的能力.到了last rights则是乐队最阴暗最暴力残酷的时期,展现在人们面前的是疯狂,噩梦,杀人游戏,如同世界末日一般。而正是这张专集,SP开始了最初的分裂, Ogre由于对Ministry的着迷而加入ministry的现场并让ministry参与同rave ogilvie(sp的producer)合作,Dwayne以aDUCK的名义在自己所创建的唱片公司下出了一些split.
但是好景不长,当年Nine Inch Nails的走红虽然使像Skinny Puppy这样的乐队得以签在American Recording这样的中型厂牌, 但是唱片公司的压力以及乐队的巨大分歧使的The Process成为Dwayne生前最后一张专集. The Process专集一度难产主要因为乐队的内部分歧, 一开始由Roli Mossiman做producer, 后因一些矛盾而解雇了他, 并由Martin Atkins(NIN,Killing Joke,Ministry)来做producer的位置, 但又因Dwayne和cevin再次解雇了Martin. 所以专集被一拖再拖, 最后决定由Mark Walk担任production工作. 至此唱片公司认为乐队出专集实在太慢而减约. 唱片公司一直希望乐队可以做NIN这样赚的到钱的乐队而一直给乐队施压, 这使乐队的分歧更为明显. Dwayne此时迷上了现在称为drill n bass的以break beat节奏做采样的音乐,而Ogre则希望偏ministry的风格。Ogre之后退出了乐队从事个人事业, Dwayne不稳定的精神使他受室友影响染上海洛因, 最终他告别了Cevin Key并在家中自杀身亡. 此时Ogre正巧成功戒毒一个月. Ogre拒绝因为Dwayne的去世归队,Dave ogilvie与Cevin Key勉强创作完The Process, 之后Skinny Puppy宣布解散. 没有人知道这张专辑本来是什么样,在我们面前的the process已经由主流唱片公司挑之又挑,选之又选成为一张非常主流的工业专辑。Cevin在Dwayne死后继续当年与Dwayne的许多solo project(Download, Hilt, The Tear Garden)等事业. 而Ogre则同当年的The Process的两个制作人Mark Walk以及atkins等人开始solo project(Welt, Rx). Rave Ogilvie也出现于Nine Inch Nails, Marilyn Manson这样的乐队里做Remix以及现场混音.
由于各方面的牵线搭桥Ogre最终同意再次与Cevin Key在在一起,两人交流许久决定抛开当初Dwayne自杀后的阴影,并由Mark Walk重新组建Skinny Puppy. 缺少两位成员(Dwayne以及Dave Ogilvie)的Skinny Puppy这次avant-garde, synth-noise味道不再成为主料,发行了The Greater Wrong of The Right和Mythmaker. 07年可能是最后一年Skinny Puppy乐队存在的一年。之后Cevin Key和Ogre继续他们俩的Solo projects.
Skinny Puppy同乐队的任何一张solo专辑都没有得到任何商业上的肯定。其带有主流dance/Techno成为工业音乐中一个风格即极端dark又的半地下工业乐队。
by Jason Ankeny
Drawing from the pioneering work of artists like Throbbing Gristle, Cabaret Voltaire, and Suicide, the dark avant-industrial group Skinny Puppy formed in 1982 in Vancouver, British Columbia. Originally a duo comprised of former Images in Vogue drummer cEvin Key (born Kevin Crompton) and Nivek Ogre (aka Kevin Ogilvie), Skinny Puppy followed their debut cassette, Back and Forth, with the EP Remission, the first of many recordings with producer David "Rave" Ogilvie, in 1984.
Keyboardist Wilhelm Schroeder joined the group for 1985's full-length debut, Bites, but was replaced the next year by Dwayne Goettel, whose sampling and synth work proved significant in the development of the Skinny Puppy aesthetic from ominous dance music into a distinct fusion of industrial, goth, and electronic sounds. Subsequent releases like 1986's Mind: The Perpetual Intercourse, 1987's Cleanse, Fold and Manipulate, and 1988's VIVIsectVI further honed the trio's style, as well as introducing the outspoken lyrical agenda that remained a thematic constant throughout much of the group's work.
In 1989, Ministry's Al Jourgensen added vocals, guitars, and production work to Rabies; later, he joined Ogre in the side project Pigface. Ultimately, the members' interest in pursuing similar outside projects began to unravel Skinny Puppy: in 1987, Key and Edward Ka-Spel of the Legendary Pink Dots recorded the album Their Eyes Slowly Burning under the name Tear Garden, and in 1990, he and friend Alan Nelson worked as Hilt. A major rift began splitting the band apart, and Key and Goettel often sided against Ogre, whom they felt was more interested in pursuing solo work than in keeping the trio intact; drugs had also become a serious problem, but Skinny Puppy nonetheless signed to American Recordings in 1993 and relocated to Los Angeles to begin production work.
The sessions for the album, titled The Process, proved disastrous; for the first time in nearly a decade, David Ogilvie did not oversee production duties, and the group went through several producers, including former Swan Roli Mosimann and Martin Atkins. Flooding and earthquakes further hampered the sessions, and Key was severely injured in a film shoot. After months of recording, Key and Goettel, dissatisfied with Atkins' work, absconded with the master tapes and returned to Vancouver in mid-1994 to finish production. Ogre remained in California, and later announced he was leaving Skinny Puppy to form W.E.L.T. A few months later, on August 23, 1995, Goettel was found dead of a heroin overdose in his parents' home; in his honor, Key and Ogilvie finally completed the album, and The Process was released in 1996. A multimedia history of the band, Brap: Back and Forth, Series 3 & 4, followed a few months later, while Key returned to his new project, Download. Released in 1998, Remix Dys Temper featured Skinny Puppy reworkings by Autechre, Neotropic, and Adrian Sherwood in addition to industrial groups like KMFDM and God Lives Underwater.
By 2000 the word was out that Key and Ogre had buried the hatchet, reactivated Skinny Puppy, and recording was underway. A 1994 jam between Skinny Puppy and Throbbing Gristle/Psychic TV member Genesis P-Orridge was released under the title Puppy Gristle in 2002 on Key's subCON label. The SPV label (which had long been the distributor of the band's albums in Europe) signed the band in late 2003. Skinny Puppy's Greater Wrong of the Right hit the streets in 2004 with members of Tool, Collide, and Static-X making guest appearances. It was followed in 2007 by Mythmaker.