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HOLLYWOOD, CA via phone - 09.01
cEvin had just returned from abroad when we finally reached him to talk about his new album and other current projects. The Ohgr tour wrapped up in early July, and he headed out to one of his favorite places to unwind after the shows… Amsterdam. I talked to him a bit about how he felt about the Ohgr tour.
"Oh yeah, we had a great time. It was unusual playing music that I had never really wrote or had much to do with in the first place. But it was sort of neat at the same time for us all to come together and have that experience. It was really fun, everyone had a great time."
All around the Ohgr tour had a good consistent turn out, though they played several cities that they had never played before, and some that seemed to have never seen anything remotely like a Skinny Puppy show. The only criticism on the tour was some sentiment from Puppy fans wanting to hear their favorites.
They plan on doing more touring soon including old Skinny Puppy tracks as well as new. There are talks right now of recording new Skinny Puppy material. When I had last talked to
cEvin five years ago, there was an indefinite hiatus due to mourning the death of integral Puppy member Duane Goettel. I asked how this still affected them with going forward with new Skinny Puppy.
" So far it seems like the most logical thing to do. We were Skinny Puppy at the beginning, when there was just the two of us that was what we called the band. And it had been in existence for about four or five years before even Duane came along. So we sort of feel like in some ways we should not veer off and stick to our guns, and stick to the path. You know, we can't bring the unfortunate death of Duane back. There's nothing we can do. As sad as it all is, we have to move forward."
So the focus now is redefining what Skinny Puppy is. At the time of this interview the idea is to include
cEvin, Ogre, Ken "Highwatt" Marshall, and Genesis P'Orridge. They are planning on beginning new recordings by the end of this year, and possibly do another Skinny Puppy show in follow up to the Doomsday show in Dresden, Germany. Although the main indication is another European show, there is the possibility of a one-off American show once the opportunity has clarified itself.
Both cEvin and Ogre agreed on separate occasions that by the end of the Doomsday show, the old songs had taken on a new element. It seems that both felt that it was a very healing reunion. When
cEvin rose to take a final bow thunder cracked, and cEvin thought, 'Oh Duane, there you are!". The live recording from the Doomsday show is now available and you can even hear some of the strange progressions.
The closest thing fans have probably heard to a Skinny Puppy song since The Process album, is 'Frozen Sky' on the recently released
cEvin key solo project. The album is entitled 'The Ghost of Each Room', and features many collaborators though is distinctly
cEvin's style. From strange noises recorded in Jamaica, to vocals by Ogre and Edward Kaspel, this album is a must have chill-out/freak-out record from the dreadheaded man himself.
cEvin took the pictures on the album cover, and much inspiration it seems, from the haunted plantation called Rose Hall in Jamaica. Those of the living can no longer live in the old house, and many stories abound about the 'White Witch' who lived there. She stood only 4'3", killed three husbands, practiced voodoo, tortured her slaves and was a sexual deviant, or so the legend goes. When
cEvin visited the place he felt a sort of strange magnetic resonance that centered mostly around the painting of the family that graces the album cover. He has seen Rose Hall on a television feature whose cameras seemed to be drawn to the painting also; particularly the girl in red giving credence to
cEvin's feelings and leading him to think perhaps that is the image of the 'White Witch' herself. Cevin has been making annual trips to Jamaica for eight years. Which led me to a question I had wanted to ask for a while.
I asked Cevin tentatively if my vision of his process behind recording was accurate. I've always envisioned a typical day in his life beginning with getting really stoned then heading to the studio. He was happy to answer the question with a straightforward, "oh definitely, in fact I don't think we've done a Skinny Puppy recording or show without the influence of THC."
This went into an in depth discussion about the inane hypocrisy of the war on drugs. Why spend millions of dollars on jailing petty marijuana crimes, when unlike alcohol there is no real health risk or acts of violence associated with it?
cEvin posed this: Wouldn't it make more sense to legalize it and tax it, allowing coffee shops and grass bars to sell products including pot as an ingredient? Then you would not only stop spending taxpayer money on it, you could actually make money and put that into funding neighborhood clinics to deal with the more addicting, harmful drugs, and abuse. This seems like common sense to most people, and there are many more people than most would ever realize that already smoke marijuana. I asked to make sure I could include these points in the interview. He responded with a pause, an exhale and, "Just lit one up! Yeah man, protest, protest!"
Having broken the ice completely with that conversation, I asked about a rather banal curiosity.
cEvin had discussed the conception of his album 'Music Fur Cats' with me while it was in the works, saying at that time that he was specifically finding sounds that his own felines responded to. I had to know, had this idea ended up in the final product? He answered with a bit of a laugh, and explained that it had started that way but he soon discovered that what our felines might enjoy is not necessarily palatable for human ears. In the end it is still music for cats though, in the way that all hippies are cats. Ya dig, kat?
E.mail cEvin key: ckey@jps.net |
