Been listening to the Process by Skinny Puppy today. I like this record. I know that there is a split with most of the SP “purists” but I like it. What exactly was all the “drama” of this recording? Were the guys not getting along? Was there a battle of sounds and sonic direction? What was it exactly? I also noticed that Martyn Atkins was a co-producer - maybe that was the root of the problem. heh. anyone else like this record?
i’m looking forward to this ohgr show this Wednesday.
well the process itself was a church and religious movement… the band was supposedly cursed… the studio burned down, genesis was there and almost died… dwayne did die… hardset head was more of what ohgr wanted… blue surge was more of where keving wanted to go… both thought the other was trying to take the band in the wrong direction… it was their first album (and last) on rick rubin’s label… this was during nin’s downward spiral days and everybody saw green in their eyes with industrial music… wikipedia the album man… or go to http://www.litany.net/ or some other SP site and read a faq
very very tough time for all. keep in mind cevin and dwayne was working on a new group called Download at that time too. ogre met mark walk during the process era (he works on the process) and started the WELT project, which eventually became ohGr.
Yeah, that one got panned pretty badly when it came out, but there’s some good stuff on it. Overall it’s a very uneven record (and Curcible in particular still makes me cringe), but I still give it a spin fairly regularly. Check out Back & Forth 7. There are some pretty decent outtakes from the Process sessions.
the band was supposedly cursed… the studio burned down,…genesis was there and almost died…
Wasn’t Genesis almost killed in a fire that broke out at Rick Rubin’s house? I believe he was living there in '93 while in exile from the UK on trumped up charges.
Supposedly he sued Rubin years later for hundreds of thousands because of injuries he suffered.
Silly boy.
… this was during nin’s downward spiral days and everybody saw green in their eyes with industrial music… wikipedia the album man… or go to http://www.litany.net/ or some other SP site and read a faq
Ugggh! Yeah those were dark days. Awful awful ‘industrial’ shit came out of the woodwork and spoilt a perfectly good thing.
Anyone remember the likes of Prick and Filter and … oh heavens it’s just too painful to recollect.
this was the 1st SP album i heard, to me it was ahead of it’s time
Bad-mouthing prick and filter? adsjfaosdif!!! First two filter albums are awesome, and prick is just godly.
Back on topic though. There was just a lot of “mishaps” in the production. Atkins probably played a part of it. I know there was an issue between the band and “rave” as well (which he hasn’t worked with them since). Everything was just very separated, and the band was practically broken up long before this even came out. Ogre was off doing WELT and pigface, cevin and dwayne were off doing download and other things, and rave was off doing stuff with trent and so on. A lot of bridges were burnt between all of them, even ogre and aktins after awhile.
I, personally love the album and it’s one of my favorites. But I can also admit that isn’t isn’t very cohesive like the rest of them, mostly due to the many complications of the production and so on. I’ll always be in the mood for Candle and Jahya. Blue Serge is fucking awesome. First puppy song I ever heard was Amnesia. It’s a great album, but it goes in so many different directions imo that you kinda get lost.
And as far as genesis goes. I could’ve sworn that I read about him winning millions because of that fire.
I think this album really bridged the old puppy sound of lots of noise collages and the newer puppy stuff that has more of a song structure (choruses and verses and such)
The Process is great! Nothing really like it before or since. I think it is a very “cohesive” album- in fact, I always listen to it as a single track so I don’t even remember which song has which title.
Mythmaker is the one where practically every track goes off in some different genre. Not that there’s anything wrong with that.
Genesis did win a big settlement in the Rick Rubin fire case. He was there with Love and Rockets when the fire broke out and he had to jump out of an upstairs window, shattering his elbow.
As for the making of the Process, there was a lot of acrimony that went back and forth between the two camps Key/Goettel vs. Ogre/Atkins. It was basically the first time the band recorded together as a whole, before Ogre was always sent the music then wrote the lyrics on top.
Martin came into the picture after initial producer Roli Mosimann was sacked. American did not want Dave Ogilvie to produce as it was to be in their eyes Puppy’s first mainstream break through, but he did come back and work on it after Dwayne died.
A lot of tension existed bewteen Dwayne and Ogre whose work ethics were quite different (Dwayne was a workoholic and Ogre didn’t join a band to punch a time clock). Not to mention injuries, fires, and earthquakes that seemed poised to derail the album. As for a curse from the original Process, I think this is more of a rumour as the remnants of the Process now run one of the largest no kill animal shelters in the country.
The album itself to me will always be 3/4ths done, Dwayne’s death saw to that. Still it is a transitional work leading to a more straight forward and drier approach to Ogre’s singing, and it brought about the heavy beat period of Download’s Eyes of Stanley Pain (of which many of the tracks were Process outtakes).
There’s a great article somewhere where the A&R guy from American talks about Puppy. It gives you a really insightful view of the whole timeframe but is rather depressing as it shows the guys in a very different light than you usually see them. Dwayne covering himself in barbwire and slamming into Ogre’s door, the band refusing the pursue the material the label was interested in, etc. My take is that the band was genuinely afraid of success on such a large level.
If anyone can track that article down, post the link here. I googled but couldn’t find it anywhere.
Martin came into the picture after initial producer Roli Mosimann was sacked.
Mossimann was sacked from the first Marilyn Manson album, too.
That guy must really suck.
There’s a great article somewhere where the A&R guy from American talks about Puppy. It gives you a really insightful view of the whole timeframe but is rather depressing as it shows the guys in a very different light than you usually see them. Dwayne covering himself in barbwire and slamming into Ogre’s door, the band refusing the pursue the material the label was interested in, etc. My take is that the band was genuinely afraid of success on such a large level.
If anyone can track that article down, post the link here. I googled but couldn’t find it anywhere.
That was in an Alternative Press issue from '96 that had Ministry on the cover. Its a pretty good interview showing a lot of different sides particularly Mark Geiger of American. cEvin Key won’t really talk much about the whole ordeal, but Phil Western awhile back revealed that it was his and Dwayne’s roomate Greg who mailed the heroin to Dwanye that killed him at his parent’s home in Edmonton. Greg played guitar on K-9 the first Puppy song, and eventually he committed suicide some months after Dwayne’s death. The whole thing is just a sad affair of what could have been, but I am just glad the two kevins are in a place where they are working together again, and in a more positive way.
anyone else like this record?
I had listened to every major Skinny Puppy album except for this one. When I first heard it I hated it because I was expecting a continuation of the Last Rights sound. I was also a musical troglodyte at the time and have since expanded my tastes and can’t believe I thought the album sucked at one point.
On another note, the recent Ohgr show rocked and I have yet to see a negative review. Hopefully they’ll release a DVD of the concert but I doubt it.
Mossimann was sacked from the first Marilyn Manson album, too.
That guy must really suck.
He’s quite a talent, actually. Anyone who heard his work in Swans can attest to that. He’s just really lazy, from what I’ve heard. But then again, so was Trent Reznor for years…
The Process to me is the best SP album out. At least from start to finish. Most of the albums get off track to me. This one from start to finish is solid. I love the diversity of the tracks.
I always thought the “Less is More” style of the production really brought out the best parts of the songwriting.
Good album, I rank it above Last Rights and the last two LPs. Favorite tracks are Death, Candle, Process, and Blue Serge. I still like their '80s material best.
1002
Have yet to check this one out, or “Last Rights” for that matter. Still, nothing in the Skuppy discography quite stacks up to “Bites” for me yet.
Good album, I rank it above Last Rights and the last two LPs. Favorite tracks are Death, Candle, Process, and Blue Serge. I still like their '80s material best.
1002
Agreed. Except that I’d probably rank ‘Greater Wrong Of The Right’ a little higher as the ending of that album is so damned great.
I actually prefer everything POST Rabies. Personally, much of the earlier material seems to chaotic, too dense to penetrate. Ohgr’s vocals are also a little too gruff for my liking. On later albums his voice is much more palatable to these ears.
Don’t think much of his solo albums tho’. Much prefer Download.
Have yet to check this one out, or “Last Rights” for that matter. Still, nothing in the Skuppy discography quite stacks up to “Bites” for me yet.
Holy shit. Get thee to a Last Rights CD and get back to us. That album is the best.