Skinny Puppy’s ‘HanDover’ turns 15 on 25 October
Skinny Puppy’s ‘HanDover’ turns 15 this year. The Canadian electro-industrial band’s eleventh studio album was released on 25 October 2011 via SPV GmbH.
Skinny Puppy’s eleventh studio album, “HanDover”, turns 15 this year. The Canadian electro-industrial band released the record on 25 October 2011 through Synthetic Symphony, a division of SPV GmbH, following an October 28, 2011 release in Europe.
A delayed follow-up to ‘Mythmaker’
Work on “HanDover” began in 2008, after the touring cycle for 2007’s “Mythmaker”. Skinny Puppy founders cEvin Key and Nivek Ogre, together with producer Mark Walk, initially developed noise-based material in the vein of Lou Reed’s “Metal Machine Music”, intending to hand the album over to their label in time for a 2009 tour. SPV GmbH’s insolvency proceedings delayed the release, and the 2009 tour went ahead under the name In Solvent See while the album’s fate remained unresolved. Some of the original noise recordings were later reworked by Key and Walk into songs for the ohGr album “unDeveloped”, while the tracks “Brownstone” and “Noisex” carried over into “HanDover” itself. The song “Ashas” is dedicated to the band’s former live crew member Sasha Coon, who died in early 2011.
“HanDover” was recorded at Subconscious Studios and produced by Skinny Puppy. The eleven-track album was released on CD, in jewel case and digipak editions, alongside digital formats. Contributors included Ken “Hiwatt” Marshall and Traz Damji on programming and synths, and Saki Kaskas on guitar, alongside the core lineup of Ogre on vocals and synths, Key on synths, percussion, electronics and guitar, and Walk on programming, bass and guitar.
“HanDover” is available to stream on Spotify.
About Skinny Puppy
Skinny Puppy formed in Vancouver, Canada, in 1982 as a side project of cEvin Key (Kevin Crompton), then a member of the new wave band Images in Vogue. Key was joined by vocalist Nivek Ogre (Kevin Ogilvie), and the pair adopted their stage names to avoid confusion between two members both named Kevin. With engineer Dave “Rave” Ogilvie, the duo self-released the EP “Back & Forth” in 1983 in a pressing of 35 copies, drawing the attention of Vancouver label Nettwerk, which signed the band that year.
Skinny Puppy released the EP “Remission” on Nettwerk in December 1984, followed by its debut full-length, “Bites”, in 1985. Bassist and synth player Bill Leeb, performing under the name Wilhelm Schroeder, left the band in 1986 to form Front Line Assembly and was replaced by Dwayne Goettel, whose contributions shaped the albums “Mind: The Perpetual Intercourse” (1986), “Cleanse Fold and Manipulate” (1987) and “VIVIsectVI” (1988). Nettwerk’s 1986 distribution deal with Capitol Records expanded the band’s reach into North America, while a deal with Play It Again Sam brought its music to Europe.
The band’s fifth album, “Rabies” (1989), was co-produced by Ministry’s Al Jourgensen and included the single “Worlock”. “Too Dark Park” followed in 1990, and “Last Rights” in 1992. In 1993, Skinny Puppy signed to American Recordings and relocated to Malibu, California, to record what became “The Process”. Ogre left the band in June 1995, and Goettel died of a heroin overdose two months later; “The Process” was completed and released in 1996 after the split.
Key and Ogre reunited for a one-off performance at the Doomsday Festival in Dresden, Germany, in 2000, and officially reformed Skinny Puppy in 2003 with producer Mark Walk. The reunited lineup released “The Greater Wrong of the Right” (2004) and “Mythmaker” (2007) before “HanDover” arrived in 2011, followed by “Weapon” in 2013.
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