Skinny Puppy

Skinny Puppy formed in 1982 from the partnership of cEvin Key (Kevin Crompton) and Nivek Ogre (Kevin Ogilvie) in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. Key was dissatisfied with the pop direction of his then-current band Images in Vogue, and began Skinny Puppy with the intention of doing something more raw and experimental. Initially Key had planned Puppy to be a side project while he continued his work in Images, however, when Images in Vogue relocated to Toronto, Key made Skinny Puppy his full-time project. Key had already created the name of the project and the concept of music from a "dog's eye view" when Ogre joined, and it was with this idea that they recorded their first self-released cassette Back & Forth in 1984, with help from Dave "Rave" Ogilvie. This was the beginning of a long partnership between Skinny Puppy and Rave, who would serve as their producer until 1993, and again in 1995, and was occasionally listed as a member of the band in album liner notes. Back & Forth drew the attention of Vancouver startup label Nettwerk, who signed the band later that year.