Reply #102: Met Skinny Puppy backstage in Dallas back in 1990

[derby378]

It was during their Too Dark Park tour; they played a concert in Deep Ellum at a venue whose name escapes me at the moment. That was also where I got rudely introduced to the concept of "crowd-surfing" when an errant boot smacked me in the head, knocking my glasses off and the plugs out of my ears.

I used to know a guy who was also an industrial musician; he bluffed me past the security guards so I could get backstage without a pass. I was nice, though - when it got overcrowded and security started calling for people to give the Puppies breathing room, I left on my own before they started yanking people out, and got a pat on the back from the guards for making their job easier. Turns out that my industrial friend managed to get me backstage again because I was helping him unload some of the equipment from the stage, so that was cool.

In the meantime, I had a nice little chat with Ogre about him and his future plans for Skinny Puppy concerts, and when I asked him if he felt he was punishing himself with the intensity of his performances, he said with a smile, "I'm having a great time. I'm having a great time." I also got to shake hands with cEvin Key and got autographs from both Key and the late Dwayne R. Goettel for my future wife.

As for that "punishment" bit - their performance on the Too Dark Park tour was very eviceral and disturbing. Video screens showing animal torture experiments, fake snuff films from Japan that still looked all too real, suicidal city managers blowing their brains out on live TV, and there was Ogre front and center on the stage, jamming something sharp and metallic into his head and trying to pet the victimized animals through the video screens with bloody hands (all of SP's members are vegetarians and devout anti-vivisectionists). Way too intense for many folks, but then again, a Puppy concert was never meant to be comfortable.

The weird thing is, I struck up a long conversation with John Davion of the opening act Tank Hog, which was loudly booed by all the Puppy fans because they played hard rock and blues. We just sat backstage shooting the breeze about all sorts of stuff, which was great. John was a perfect gentleman, too.