page_title: Skinny Puppy
section_title: Live performances
hierarchical_section_title: Skinny Puppy / Style / Live performances
caption_attribution_description: Nivek Ogre and cEvin Key live in 2014.
context_page_description: Skinny Puppy is a Canadian industrial music group formed in Vancouver, British Columbia in 1982. The group is widely considered to be one of the founders of the industrial rock and electro-industrial genres. Initially envisioned as an experimental side project by cEvin Key while he was in the new wave band Images in Vogue, Skinny Puppy evolved into a full-time project with the addition of vocalist Nivek Ogre.
  Over the course of a dozen studio albums and many live tours, Key and Ogre have been the only constant members. Other members have included Dwayne Goettel, Dave "Rave" Ogilvie, Mark Walk, and a number of guests, including Bill Leeb, Al Jourgensen, Danny Carey, and many others.
  After the self-release of their first cassette in 1984, Skinny Puppy soon signed to Vancouver label Nettwerk, anchoring its early roster. From their Nettwerk debut EP Remission in 1984 to their 1992 album Last Rights, Skinny Puppy developed into an influential band with a dedicated cult following, fusing elements of industrial, funk,
  noise, new wave, electro, and rock music and making innovative use of sampling.
context_section_description: Skinny Puppy is noted for theatrical and controversial live performances which blend performance art with music. Ogre has been critical of the band's early performances, telling Spin magazine in 1992 that "I would do things on stage that would blow – they just wouldn't work". Live performances involved periods of musical improvisation, film projections, and elaborate stage props and machines, many of which are designed and built by Ogre himself. While discussing Skinny Puppy's performances, Ogre remarked that "our shows combine images with theater. It works better than just coming out and doing a horror magic routine". He explained to the Vancouver Sun in 1988 that he wanted his act to have "that grey area where anything could happen – where I can cut my head off by accident and people will go, 'wow, that's great'".
  On-stage theatrics have included Ogre being suspended from racks and cables, play with a hangman's noose, use of an angle grinder, and mock executions of Ogre and George H.W. Bush. Following the 2004 United States presidential election, promoters began to ask the band to refrain from using fake blood during their performances. This reaction was prompted by the performance of a mock execution on stage, during which Ogre was "decapitated" by actors dressed as then U.S. President George W. Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney. The band was also asked by Samsung (who had been asked by Ogre to sponsor the band with a large flat screen) to "not insult the president" while performing on stage. In a 1987 television interview with Kim Clarke Champniss, Key explained that while Ogre follows a "rough guideline" during a live performance, a majority of his on-stage theatrics are conceived spontaneously. Key told Champniss that Ogre's demeanor on stage could "range from just a sort of laid back kind of lurking to a rampant psycho". Ogre once remarked that touring was, for himself, like  "dating hydrogen peroxide", referencing the numerous injuries which he would acquire over the course of touring.
  Though Ogre and Key have remained the only constant members of Skinny Puppy's live act since Goettel's death, the pair have hired various other musicians to assist them onstage. They include drummer Justin Bennett, guitarist William Morrison, and guitarist Matthew Setzer.
caption: Nivek Ogre and cEvin Key performing live in 2014
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