Influencing a generation of musicians and artists, a founding member and mastermind behind Skinny Puppy, Ogre gets behind our lens and talks about the newly released ohGr album unDeveloped on Metropolis Records, his role in the cult classic Repo! The Genetic Opera, the upcoming long awaited Skinny Puppy album, and more.

interview by Aaron Andrews

Since 1982 Ogre (aka Kevin Ogilvie) has been bending our minds and breaking new musical ground. First as a founding member and the vocalist for the hugely influential and infamous Skinny Puppy and later in the starring role of the self-named duo ohGr, Ogre’s one-of-a-kind vocal style combined with his visually engaging and in-your-face stage persona have been widely copied and his contributions can also be heard with bands such as Ministry, Pigface, and KMFDM, in addition to being a cast member of newly minted cult film classic, Repo! The Genetic Opera. OhGr’s fourth and latest musical effort unDeveloped builds on this strong legacy and reputation.

Ogre was nice enough to talk with us and discuss the premise and sound of the new material, aging, costuming, death, the creative culture of Skinny Puppy and ohGr, and last but not least, even Michael Jackson.

I heard great things about the Auxiliary Magazine shoot of you for this feature.
Ogre : It was fun, she’s a great photographer.

I’m glad to hear you enjoyed the session.
O : Well, it’s always a bit daunting at this point in life. I call it the Dorian Gray effect. So it’s always a bit daunting. When you work with nice people who understand all the subtleties and sensitivities that go along with watching yourself decay on film over a lifetime, it isn’t so bad.

Tell us a little about the new album. What have you been exploring and thinking about with unDeveloped?
O : unDeveloped is kind of a beginning point and also closure for me. It’s something that began with Devils In My Details, so it’s a continuation of the concept of Devils In My Details but closure to the content; in that I think the last four years of my life I’ve had a number of revelations and experiences that have been very profound to me. I tried to correlate that in a much more journalistic way in Devils In My Details in the moment and unDeveloped is a different look at the same situation through a much clearer resolution lens. Almost akin to looking at something through a childhood microscope and then taking it into a lab and looking at in under an electron microscope and re-examining the same information. So unDeveloped really came out of that, it was the continuation of a really great project with Mark that we have a lot of fun with and we’re really actively involved in fomenting and creating an immersive experience and taking that one step further. Obviously this time period is rife for tons of information both confusing, I’m sure terrifying to most people; but to me, somebody who’s had their head up the ass of all this spectacular and covert and, um, left over right, right over left, even when they’re all the same. I’ve had my head seasoned to this for so long that there’s just so much interesting stuff to write about in the fashion that I do that it’s a bit poetic. I think with unDeveloped too is I’m getting closer and closer to the process of my own writing. I’m not trying to say to sound bigger than life, I say that with a great deal of humility in the sense that my writing has lead me to where I am now and on the route has had things that were almost prophetic and very mysterious to me.

read the full interview in the June/July 2011 Issue

The June/July 2011 issue is the sixteenth issue of Auxiliary, a magazine dedicated to alternative fashion, music, and lifestyle.  This issue features an interview with and exclusive photos of Ogre of Skinny Puppy and ohGr, an interview with Amelia Arsenic of Angelspit, a designer spotlight on Gore Couture, and Cassia Sparkle in House of Etiquette as our PinUp.  The issue also contains a daydream notebook fashion editorial that brings art and illustration to fashion, a fashion editorial full of retro and hip swim and casual wear, an editorial of reclaimed vintage fashions, a sleek dark cyber beauty editorial, a lolita inspired Style feature, and an article that looks at the underground of skateboarding.  It features photography by Saryn Christina, Steve Prue, Deek Images, Andriy Zolotoiy, Erica Eichelkraut, and Zach Rose and fashion from Iron Fist, ModCloth, Cats Like Us, Futurstate, Ichigo Black, Kali Clothing, Monster Muffin, Dystropolis, TUK Shoes, Revamp Productions, Once Vintage Couture, Dungaree Dolly, and much much more.

You can download it for free at :
www.auxiliarymagazine.com/issue16/AuxiliaryMagazineJune11.pdf

Print copies are available for purchase online at :
www.magcloud.com/browse/issue/205936
And for purchase in stores at :
www.auxiliarymagazine.com/distribution

Enjoy!

by Luke Copping

After several rounds of “road tour” theater screenings Repo! The Genetic Opera was released on DVD and Blu-Ray on January 20th.  Will Repo! The Genetic Opera prove to be a major cult classic?

film still

A Venetian style carnival at night, adorned in rich golds and blues, is a fine setting for any opera.  But it is the little details that set the scene here: the bags of organs hanging from the vendors’ stalls, a young man wearing a woman’s face, an opera diva with mechanical eyes, and enough human oddities to cast several Tod Browning films.  All this makes you realize that this might not be an opera in the classical sense of the word.

Based on the stage production of the same name by Darren Smith and Terrance Zdunich and directed by Darren Lynn Bousman, Repo! The Genetic Opera is a new fusion of rock opera and apocalyptic futurism. This production is a shocking, horror-tinged look at what might happen should our culture’s obsession with cosmetic surgery and artificial perfection continue to their extremes.  To quickly sum up the plot – a large biotech firm has perfected techniques for organ harvesting and transplanting and has made these advances available to the public, for a price.  Financing is available but should you fail to pay your debt then GeneTech will send one of their cadre of lethal surgeon/assassins after you to reclaim the company’s property.

Anothony Stewart Head plays Nathan, one of the Repo Men that GeneTech employs.  Nathan is a character possessed with an interesting juxtaposition of natures.  In one regard, Nathan is a doting father and doctor, haunted by the sins of his past and trying to raise his daughter in a less- than-friendly world, but he is also a monstrous and skilled assassin who enjoys his work with an almost ecstatic glee.  This role is a real showcase of Head’s talents.  He turns in one of the strongest performances in the film, both musically and theatrically, though those familiar with his previous role on Buffy The Vampire Slayer, or his career on stage, know that he is no stranger to musical theater.  Hopefully this role will prove that he is more capable of carrying an American film production as a lead rather than being relegated to supporting roles.

Other standout performances in the film are delivered by Sarah Brightman and Terrance Zdunich. Zdunich plays his role of Graverobber (one he has played in several incarnations of Repo! productions) with such cleverness and charisma that he is absolutely essential to the film as both a narrator and for his performances throughout the production. Of all the characters present in the film, his is perhaps the most memorable.

The set production and the costuming are aspects of the film that are true accomplishments. Lavish colors mix with the dull tones of stone, metal, and night to create the sort of world where things might have once been luxurious and plush, but the velvet drapes have rotted away to show the wall underneath. It seems that decay is at the heart of this film, both in plot and in aesthetics. The costuming mixes a certain operatic sensibility with a mix of futuristic haute couture and modern day fetish wear. Lace and ruffles are mixed liberally with leather and latex to create an anachronistically wonderful collection of looks.

Overall, the film has the potential to become a true cult classic.  While lacking much of the camp of masterpieces of the genre like Phantom of the Paradise or the Rocky Horror picture show, Repo! just might have what it takes to become the cult musical of choice of the future generations of film fans.  It mixes humor, style, edginess, and some genuinely well written songs like “Zydrate Anatomy” with a solid cast and great art direction.  This film is definitely worth checking out.

Zydrate Anatomy - film still

Fashion
The costuming in the film is notable in its own right.  Rorward thinking and an anachronistic blending of styles has created some great looks for the production.  Especially the costumes for the characters of Shilo and Blind Mag.  In fact I think Shilo’s wardrobe may end up inspiring a slew of imitators.  A mixture of high end vintage looks with forward thinking tailoring and modern materials has created a real fashion syntax for the film.  It’s far the from the silver lammé, or torn leather and rags of most post-apocalyptic visions, it seems as though they have followed the natural evolution of several current and past trends have created realistic and styling interpretations of what their future versions might be like.

Shilo - film still

Ogre
Skinny Puppy’s Ogre also makes an appearance in the film as Pavi Largo, one of the three decadent Largo children, he may be one of the more frightening images in the film.  Adorned in the skin of women’s faces over his own, he comes across as everyone surgical nightmare come true.  Ogre’s character possesses vain and feminine characteristics that make him quite surprising in his role.

Ogre and Anothony Stewart Head - film still

from the February Issue of Auxiliary Magazine