Inspired by the groundbreaking music of Chrome, Kraftwerk, Cabaret Voltaire, Throbbing Gristle, Portion Control, The Legendary Pink Dots, and others, Skinny Puppy experimented with electronic recording techniques and methods. the band composed multi-layered music generally using keyboards, synthesizers, found sounds, drum machines, live percussion, tape splices, samplers, and conventional rock music instruments. Whereas many contemporary remixes and re-edits of songs were created in order to make a song more suitable for dancing or different radio formats, Skinny Puppy approached remixing and re-editing as an artistic process of reinterpreting compositions, often using remixes to push their sound into styles of ambient, dub and techno. Skinny Puppy's often informal, improvisational approach to musical composition is indicated by use of the term brap, coined by them and defined as a verb meaning "to get together, hook up electronic instruments, get high, and record".
Skinny Puppy's first two proper releases, Bites and Remission, fall somewhere between the found-sound chaos of early Cabaret Voltaire and the abrasive, futuristic synthpop of the Units or Crash Course in Science. While the intense synth programming, abstract rhythms, and surreal samples--all Puppy trademarks--are present here, the albums owe as much to new wave as to industrial.
A subsequent EP, Chainsaw, featured a remix of Bites's "Assimilate" that earned the band some attention from club DJs. 1986's Mind: The Perpetual Intercourse earned Skinny Puppy greater attention, as "Dig It" and "Stairs and Flowers" became alternative club and college radio hits; the video for the former was played occasionally on MTV. The album is arguably less club-friendly than its predecessors, as the band continues to refine a claustrophobic, almost surreal sound that buries rhythm and melody. The follow-up, Cleanse, Fold, and Manipulate treads similar territory.
VIVIsectVI was a breakthrough for the band, with "Testure" becoming their biggest club hit to date, and the album itself was received warmly by college radio. The title of the album was a pun intended to associate vivisection with Satanism (ie. the "666 sect"). The album shows SP integrating more political and social themes: "Testure" is an animal rights song; "VX Gas Attack" concerns the use of chemical weapons; "State Aid" promotes sexual abstinence to stop the spread of AIDS/HIV.
Ogre had become very interested in Ministry and Al Jougensen's side projects, and he persuaded the rest of the band to allow Jourgensen to produce Rabies. While "Worlock" (a track Jourgensen didn't produce) remains an industrial club classic, the album was received coolly, as many thought Jourgensen's heavy metal guitar-based signatures did not compliment SP's more complex, intricate sonic sculptures. The band briefly disbanded afterward.
They reformed and returned to their electronic roots with Too Dark Park, a hallucinogenic album that owes as much to psychedelia as industrial music. Two years later, "Last Rights" covered similar territory, culminating in the epic sound sculpture "Download." Although their sound had moved away from industrial dance, these albums expanded the band's audience, and provided the template for many industrial bands of the 1990s.
Following "Last Rights", the band, poised for a major breakthrough in the wake of Nine Inch Nails' commercial success, left their longtime label Nettwerk for American Recordings. Their highly anticipated followup was unfortunately marred by personal tragedy - the death of Dwayne Goettel - and the band's inability to agree on a direction for the record. Numerous producers, including Martyn Atkins (PigFace/Invisible Records founder) and Roli Mosimann (Swans), came and went without success; finally the band regrouped with longtime collaborator Dave "Rave" Ogilvie to finish "The Process". The band expanded their range, working with gothic pop and heavy metal, alongside their familiar electronic textures. While seemingly rushed to completion following Goettel's death (it sounds half-finished in parts), it is an interesting change for the group. Unfortunately American Recordings, tired of waiting for the record, did little to promote it. Skinny Puppy broke up afterward.
With interests in filmmaking, they made a number of music videos, each attempting to further the theme and concept of the composition at hand. Most of these videos received little air play by major music video networks such as MTV (USA) and MuchMusic (Canada) and some were outright banned. For example the video for "Worlock" was universally banned because it is a "non stop gore fest" of clips from various horror movies. Because none of these clips were authorized for usage in the video it has never been commercially available.
Their concerts have been marked by their bizarre and bloody conceptual performance art, which for every concert was planned with the intention of challenging the notions of all who observed. Their music had some acceptance in dance clubs because of its danceable beats, but had little play on commercial radio. Skinny Puppy had little commercial success outside of Canada, but their influence on industrial music is immense.
The band began with the intention of doing something "raw" and "real." Ogre's vocals, one of Skinny Puppy's most recognizable features, are typically roughly growled snarls of half-sentences and fragmented stream of consciousness. Lyrical themes included animal rights, politics, religion, horror, drug abuse, disease, and environmental degradation; these themes were often lyrically and conceptually intertwined. Other core aspects of the Skinny Puppy sound include the mixture of heavy sampling and experimental noise with softer musical styles sometimes approaching synthpop.
Post-punk politics are a recurring theme utilised by Skinny Puppy. Some say the meaning of their name is that their music and lyrics give a view of the world from the eyes of a starving animal. They have long had an interest in animal rights; this is most obvious in their song Testure, which is about vivisection and other animal testing being scientific fraud. During many of their concerts Ogre would take the role of "scientist" and experiment on a stuffed animal. In 1988 they were arrested for their mocked-up vivisections, and found it ironic to be arrested for a parody of what was happening for real across the street from their concert. During their TGWOTR tour, criticism of the Bush regime was a recurring theme, particularly during their performance of VX Gas Attack, a song about atrocities perpetrated by Saddam Hussein, originally released while he was still considered an ally of the United States.
The last two studio albums are points of contention for old school Puppy fans. During the recording of The Process, the band broke up. Even more tragically, Dwayne Rudolph Goettel died, from an apparent heroin overdose at his parent's home, soon afterwards. Some people say that cEvin, Nivek, and Dwayne didn't connect as well on this album as they had earlier because their respective musical interests were diverging at the time, others claim it was the heroin.
Key and Ogre later reunited as Skinny Puppy for a one-off concert in Germany in 2003. Afterwards, they decided Skinny Puppy should continue as an ongoing project. The newly reconstituted Skinny Puppy released The Greater Wrong of the Right in 2004, their first studio album in 8 years, and have been continuing since, constantly evolving their sound.
There have been a number of Skinny Puppy side projects, both before, and after the breakup in 1995. The Tear Garden is a collaboration between cEvin and Edward Ka-Spel (and later most band members) of The Legendary Pink Dots. Other noteable side projects include Download, Hilt, Plateau, Cyberaktif (a collaboration between Key & Goettel and Bill Leeb, a.k.a. Wilhelm Schroeder), Rx (one-off collaboration between Ogre and Martin Atkins), ADuck (Goettel's side project), A CHUD Convention (one-off collaboration with a;GRUHM...), Ogre's contributions to Pigface, Ogre and Mark Walk's band ohGr and solo releases from cEvin Key.
Last Call
Skinny Puppy Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
In as much as what's become a sterile crashed up iceberg tomb
Mist on ash on murky shore now begin don't let it show
Last call open bar never closing reach beyond
Answers even without feeling no fulfilling close the door
Cancellation is the feel respectfully to never be
Watch the perfect dna switch pretend at last to see
Ask direction no correction map the course to end the way
Catch the stall wishful air walk among do seem to care
Symbolize simile put in words so simply
On the top of what's become a two-fold generation boomon the surface righteous air deliver on the right to share
Mesh the fine nuclear bond crawl between the chromosome
The lyrics of the Skinny Puppy's song Last Call are quite obscure and open to interpretation. The song seems to be about a journey towards an unknown destination, represented by a "long dusty road." The first lines suggest a sense of detachment and denial of emotions, with the phrase "care denounce no overload" implying a desire to disassociate from any burdens that may arise during the journey. The next lines describe the destination as a "sterile crashed up iceberg tomb," evoking a feeling of isolation and desolation.
As the journey continues, the lyrics become more enigmatic, with images of mist, ash, and murky shores. The phrase "don't let it show" suggests that the singer is trying to hide something or avoid revealing their true emotions. The chorus, with its repetition of "last call," seems to imply that the journey is coming to an end, and the time for making choices and finding answers is running out. The line "never closing reach beyond" suggests a desire to transcend limitations and boundaries.
The second verse of the song takes a more introspective turn, with the lines "answers even without feeling no fulfilling close the door" suggesting a sense of futility and a lack of satisfaction. The line "cancellation is the feel respectfully to never be" is particularly enigmatic, suggesting a desire to cancel or erase something, perhaps a memory or a feeling. The final lines of the song are particularly cryptic, with references to DNA, chromosome, and nuclear bonds, which could be interpreted as a metaphor for the complexity and interconnectedness of human relationships.
Line by Line Meaning
Trip the long dusty road care denounce no overload
Start the journey down a long, dusty road, without worrying about carrying too much weight.
In as much as what's become a sterile crashed up iceberg tomb
In a world that has become lifeless and frozen, resembling a tomb made of broken, sterile icebergs.
Mist on ash on murky shore now begin don't let it show
A foggy and uncertain future looms ahead, but one must not show any fear or hesitation in starting anew.
Last call open bar never closing reach beyond
This is the last chance to take advantage of the open bar of life, so stretch yourself beyond your perceived limits.
Answers even without feeling no fulfilling close the door
Even if the answers to life's questions don't bring fulfillment or satisfaction, one must still move forward and close the door on the past.
Cancellation is the feel respectfully to never be
It's better to cancel plans and avoid situations that could lead to negative consequences, out of respect for oneself and others.
Watch the perfect dna switch pretend at last to see
Observe the perfect code of life change and adapt, and pretend to finally understand it.
Ask direction no correction map the course to end the way
Ask for directions without being too rigid, and map out a course that will lead to the ultimate end.
Last call a shallow pond slow descending so slow to drown
This is the final chance to dive into the shallow pond of life, but be careful not to slowly drown in its depths.
Catch the stall wishful air walk among do seem to care
Seize the opportunity to catch your breath and walk among those who seem to care, and wish for a better future.
Symbolize simile put in words so simply
Use symbolism and comparison to simplify complex ideas and express yourself eloquently.
On the top of what's become a two-fold generation boomon the surface righteous air deliver on the right to share
In a world of rapid technological advancements and two generations coexisting, take advantage of the righteous air on the surface and use it to share equally.
Mesh the fine nuclear bond crawl between the chromosome
Unite in perfect harmony, like the fine nuclear bond that crawls between the chromosome, and create a powerful force for good.
Lyrics © HIPGNOSIS SONGS GROUP, BMG Rights Management, Universal Music Publishing Group, Royalty Network, Downtown Music Publishing, Warner Chappell Music, Inc.
Written by: ERIN ENDERLIN, SHANE LAMAR MCANALLY
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind