The history of Skinny Puppy began in the summer of 1983 when Cevin Key (distorted synths, metallic percussion) and Nivek Ogre (vocals and horn treatments) discovered a similar taste in bizzare and mutant in music and joined forces to record the back and forth cassette. This cassette, now a treasured rarity amongst puppy fans drew the attention of Nettwerk Productions to the band. Skinney Puppy eventually agreed to record two albums for Nettwerk and soon after this, their Remission EP was released and the band jumped out of the dungeon shadows and into enigmatic notoriety. In October 1985, with synthesist Wilhelm Schroeder added to the ranks,, Skinny Puppy released its debut L.P. Bites, Bites quickly received critical acclain in North America and Europe and charted higher than any other Canadian independant release had on the indie charts.

In 1986 Wilhelm Schroeder left the band to pursue solo work (Front Line Assembly) and was replaced by Dwayne R. Goettel, formerly of the Edmonoton-based band Psyche. In September Skinny Puppy's second L.P. Mind: The Perpetual Intercoarse was released. boiling over with the fresh sounds and rhythms, Mind: TPI is an expedition into a nether world of sonic, seething emotion. The singles, Dig It and Stairs and Flowers agian assaulted the indie charts.

Cleanse Fold and Manipulate, their thisrd L.P. was released in October 1987. The L.P. contained some of their most coherent, powerful material to date. tracks suck as Anger, Tear or Beat, and shadow Cast, with their heavy rhythms, balanced perfectly with the more atmospheric feel of The Mourn and Epilogue. This L.P. marked a crossover of sorts for Skinny Puppy. The public was finally coming around to Skinny Puppy's nightmarish world on a larger scale. they could no longer be dismissed as a cult phenomenon. And when the People Magazine reviewed their L.P. their popularity was undeniably confirmed. Even the ever-fickle British Press succumbed to praise Skinny Puppy's aural onslaught.

VIVIsectVI, released in October, 1988, was the long awaited follow up. The L.P. and the first single, Censor (alternatly titled Dogshit), were characterised by both brutal, relentless rhythms and strangely accessible melodic lines. Testure the next single was the bands most approachable song since Dig It and to many peoples supprise, it cracked the Billboard Dance Chart Top 20.

In support of the L.P. Skinny Puppy undertook their most ambitious tour to date. The trademark mind-bending live show had evolved to more powerfully reflect the bands ongoing concerns for animal rights. Throughout the show, the audience witnessed a tranformation. Ogre became a laboratory vivisectionist, the enlightened man, and finally the tortured test subject himself. November 1989, marked the release of Rabies, Skinny Puppy's fifth full length recording project. From first listen, its obvious that Rabies is harder , heavier and more fully realized than anything that had come before it. Massive guitars, relentless, armour-plated beats and vocals from the edge of madness all combine to create a collection of songs that are typified by the electro biker-grunge of the first single Tin Omen.

Skinny Puppy remained as rabidly intense and tenacious in all aspectsof their art. Their video for the rabies track Worlock was banned for its high speed montage of violent imagery. they were even banned and, on one occasion in Cincinnati, arrested for their on-stage extremities. Still, it wasn't a gore-for-gore's sake affair. Skinny Puppy was bent on sttacking the chinks in our mental armour not merely to shock. but to challenge and provoke. Why The use of such violent imagery, such painfull shock theatre? "because nothing else really drives itself home,"Ogre stated. "The sick thing is that violence really is a big part of our lives, and all we do is suppress it, not deal with it. It completely motivates our behaviour, yet we never seem to admit that to ourselves. You know the world's not that nice to drink but we keep drinking it anyway. I'm not at all a violent person, but I think it's important to confront people and shock them into dealing with the truths they're too afraid to deal with."

In October, 1990. Too Dark Park continued in that direction, taking their sound to ends of pure claustrophobia offering frightful lyrical visions of diseased, decayed planet. Too dark Park is a tense seething urgency that grabs hold of your gut with no intention of letting go. You realize at once that this is living, breathing entity, it surpassed and redefined what the ignorant still determine as "Industrial". Last Rights, Skinny Puppy's eigth album, was the shudder of total collapse--the sound of dark, unmanageable horrors and one mans breakdown on all levels. "Its a document of delusion," said Ogre "Basically, it's a version of Rimbuad's Season In Hell. The end of a certain period in my life seen smack dab in the middle of a lot of pain and confusion."

Last Rights is a seething, enigmatic work. It was the most harrowing aural sculpture the group had wrought to date and was a pivotal release of Skinny Puppy's nine years of audio-exorcims and exercises in sever discomfort. "It's still just as unforgiving and i'm not really too interested in giving people the hits they want," said Dwayne. "I'm pretty proud of how uncompromising it really is." The title led people to believe that ir would be the Puppy's last gasp--a eulogy to their years of lurking beyond the shadows. In calling the album Last Rights, it was not the burial of the band that the band were getting at. It was something a lot personal. "It's the product of being near death, of being read those 'last rights.' This was my reality." declared Ogre "In retrospect, it wasn't so much reality as it was partial delusion with bits and pieces of reality thrown in. That reality I can't really talk about. It's just too 'outthere'."

After releasing Last rights on Nettwerk, Skinny Puppy sighned to L.A.-based American Recordings and started working on their next album, The Process. After two years of working on that record and finally completing it. Ogre departed the band and American decided to drop them. However, the label commited to releasing the new record. and The Process was released in North America in February 1996.

Sadly, after completing the Process, Dwayne Goettel died at his home in Edmonton in August 1995. He will be dearly missed. As Ogre said at the time, "He was the little known genius behind the curtain of Skinny Puppy."

Cevin Key and Dwayne had continued working on several side projects including Download and The Tear Garden.

Ogre is currently working on his new project W.E.L.T.