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You can tell that ohGr is an extremely creative and artistic band because of the presence of a capital letter in the middle of its name instead of at the beginning, sort of like t.A.T.u.; also, one band member is named cEvin Key, which makes the band seem even more creative and artistic. ohGr’s new Devils in My Details (SPV) tumbles to No. 147 on Billboard’s Heatseekers chart a week after entering at No. 18 (and spending a week at No. 9 on the Electronic album chart); one MySpace friend calls it “a bit darker and ominous than the other ohGr albums,” suggesting those earlier ones were perhaps all happy and sunshiney.
ohGr’s main guy turns out to be Nick Ogre from crappy Vancouver industrial legends Skinny Puppy, though ohGr are supposedly both lighter and more heavy (metal), if that’s not a contradiction. They’ve got connections to Ministry’s Al Jourgenson deep in their pre-history as well, and if you visit their official site, you find out that Ogre is also now starring alongside Paris Hilton and Sarah Brightman in the “Rocky Horror meets Blade Runner classic” Repo! The Genetic Opera.
The band’s video for “Cracker”–said to be “controversial,” of course–was a stop-action thing featuring Ogre “in animated form attacking celebrities such as Eminem and Trent Reznor”; curiously, Ogre portrays a nutcracker-like wooden soldier bearing an unmistakable resemblance to Buckethead, except with no KFC logo. The marching piggy banks–wild-boar banks, whatever–are adorable, though. I totally want one. “You think you’re evil but you’re not, still sucking life from the mainstream/It’s so diluted, give it up,” bark the lyrics, which add that Em’s and NIN’s music is “unoriginal.” As opposed to Skinny Puppy or ohGr, who are truly evil and never diluted, and always very original! The backing music is basically Giorgio Moroder-style electrodisco, catchier than you’d expect. And their clip for “Majik” is similar in the way it looks Tool-ish and Halloweeny and Nightmare Before Christmas-like, what with those skeletons and all. Be sure not to watch it with the lights out!
ohGr [MySpace]
Am I The Only One Thinking “Hollywood Undead” electro mix?
remember this single?
[music.pluggedin.com]
Not only is Ogre (whose real first name is Kevin, un-scariest of all names) the main guy behind this, but cEvin Key was his partner in Skinny Puppy. So I’m a little confused as to why this isn’t just a Skinny Puppy album.
Love ya, Chuck, but you were beating this horse dead two decades ago! (That said I always did appreciate the comment about how you had to wear protective gloves whenever something new from Wax Trax arrived in the promo mail.)
Skinny Puppy had two creatively spelled Kevins, yes? Why would I bother with only one special Kevin? Have things gotten so dire that only half the Kevins of the world are evil? And haven’t these guys been around for decades? I seem to recall that the last time I made fun of them I was on a typewriter.
Weren’t Ogre and Reznor both involved in Pigface at the same time?
Skinny Puppy up to 1992’s Last Rights WAS NEVER crappy. they’re certainly not for everyone, but to dismiss them outright, tsk tsk!
they’re two recent reunion albums (without the dead guy), yes those are above and beyond crappy, no one’s gonna argue with you there.
I think most people involved in early 90’s “industrial” music had a spot in Pigface at one time or another. Heck there are even local D-List celebs in Tampa that were in that band.
@rainmkr: not to mention taime downe.
cEvin Key is not actually in ohGr, which is Ogre and collaborator Mark Walk, which is why this isn’t billed as a Skinny Puppy album. Marvelously efficient dismissal of an influential body of work spanning three decades though cHuck, which I infer was the primary reason for the article. twAt.
When I first read this I was frustrated by how little the author knows about Skinny Puppy. Then I became depressed when I realized how much I know about Skinny Puppy.
@noz: Ha! You pretty much summed it up right there.
i think you missed the point of the song. it’s not attacking m&m or nin directly, it’s attacking the middleclass alternayouth that bankroll the corporate appropriation of rebellion or the impulse for change(geez I’m pretentious :P). I don’t know what his attitude toward the artists is, but I don’t imagine he would think that Trent Reznor is so clueless as to actually think he is what his image says he is.
And yeah, your dismissal of Skinny Puppy pretty much tells everyone how ignorant you are–not that I am a fan of either. But really, Skinny Puppy was a very influential and yes groundbreaking act. I guess you had to be around in 1982 to know how unique they were. Listen to Ministry from 1982 and you’ll know what I mean.