### Skinny Puppy, The White Mice, Otto von Schirach, 2007-06-16

#### 02/07/07 || Global Domination

This report was written by ex-staffer/cocksmoker Naja.

Venue: Warehouse Live Where: Houston, Texas When: June 16th, 2007 Country: U.S.A

Skinny Puppy is a band that may or may not be familiar to many metalheads, and some may be scratching their head wondering why I chose to review a gig from a band that is not metal, per se. Well, for one, Skinny Puppy have been a relatively underground band for the last 25 years, and are definitely a form of extreme music in their own right, being one of the forefathers of the industrial music genre, and greatly influencing later acts like Ministry and Nine Inch Nails. Consisting of vocalist N. Ogre (real name Kevin Ogilvie, and better known simply as Ogre) and keyboardist/percussionist/sampler/etc. cEvin Key (real name Kevin Crompton), along with live drummer Justin Bennett, the band is currently touring the U.S. in support of their 12th album, “Mythmaker”. Dubbed the “Mythrus” tour, the bill also featured noisemakers Otto von Schirach and The White Mice. Let the review commence…

The gig started with Otto von Schirach, who I had not had the displeasure (as I was soon to find out) of hearing previously. Advertising his “music” as a hybrid of industrial, techno, death metal, grindcore, and of all things, gangsta rap and Cuban music, I should have known ahead of time what I was in for. The guy appeared on stage wearing a ridiculous superhero outfit, and proceeded to perform what is arguably the worst music my ears have ever been subjected to. For one, the mix was excruciatingly loud. It didn’t help that it was absolute, complete noise, with barely a trace of what 99.9999% of the Earth’s population would consider music present in any of his songs. His vocals were in a faux-death growl that sounded like complete shit. From what few lyrics I could understand from his songs, they were all deviantly sexual in nature, with stupid lines like “Lick my pussy, suck my cock” and “Squeeze my tits drink my milk” or some shit. Really deep stuff. Everything was sampled, there were no real drums, guitars, or any other instruments, just a mixer and whatever other equipment he needed. A whole host of other characters helped Otto put on his freak show, including some guy in what appeared to be a Chewbacca outfit, as well as a few other masked freaks. Finally, after what seemed like an extraordinary amount of time, his aural equivalent of projectile diarrhea was over and my ears slowly begin to recover from the insult they were forced to endure.

Next up were The White Mice. These guys came out on stage dressed up in, you guessed it, mouse outfits. Consisting of a drummer, bass player, and sampler, these three over-sized rodents actually weren’t half bad. Again, the downside was the extremely loud mix. I’ve been to a lot of concerts, and I can tolerate a lot of volume, but this was loud. I have a feeling that I would have enjoyed their set much more if my ears weren’t on the verge of bleeding. In any case, they ran through their set, and it was time for the night’s headliners, Skinny Puppy.

For anyone who has seen Skinny Puppy, or seen a recorded live performance of theirs, you know that their live show is as much visual as it is musical. Frontman Ogre is a performance artist, utilizing props and interacting with the video projections to convey his message. The band kicked off its set with crowd favorite “Anger”, before kicking into new song “Ugli”. Fortunately, the sound guys were smart enough to turn down the volume a bit for their set, as it wasn’t nearly as unbearably loud as the previous acts. They continued to march through older material like “Dogshit”, “Worlock” (which really got the crowd moving), and “Dig It”, while splicing in new material like “Politikil” and “Pedafly”. Throughout it all, Ogre, who was draped in all manner of weird blood-squirting props and other strange things (find a video on YouTube to get an idea of what this man is like onstage). One thing I have to say: for a relatively underground band that likely does not have that much money to play around with as far as a tour production goes, these guys give you one hell of a bang for your buck. The tickets for this show were $25, and it was well worth it. I can imagine it was somewhat expensive for them to bring this production to life and on the road. The stage projections featured all matter of strange and sometimes disturbing video images, which compliments the Puppy’s music perfectly, and the use of lighting to create some very cool effects was top-notch. The band encored with “Far Too Frail” and “Blue Serge”, bringing the night to a close. The only complaints I heard were that Ogre’s vocals were a little drowned out in the mix, but from where I was standing (front and center, about 10 feet from the stage) they sounded fine.

I’m a relatively new fan of Skinny Puppy, having only become familiar with their music in the last year and a half or so. After viewing the live DVD “The Greater Wrong of the Right”, which documented their 2004 reunion tour, and the home video “Ain’t It Dead Yet”, which was a show from their “Cleanse, Fold, Manipulate” tour in 1988, I had been itching to see them live. I certainly was not disappointed. In fact, I’m anxious to see them again, and am hoping that they do another U.S. leg when they return from their European jaunt.

If you get a chance to catch the Puppy live, don’t pass up on it.

9 bloody Ogres out of 10.