Not my favorite song from Shiv-r’s latest and second full length album This World Erase and not as good as Shiv-r’s first music video “The End”. But praise must be given to an industrial artist that still makes music videos and works hard to create a distinctive visual aesthetic for themselves.

- Jennifer

Through the release of Shiv-r’s debut dark electronic album with a horror edge, Hold My Hand, by three labels; Metropolis Records, Infacted Recordings, and Deathwatch Asia, Shiv-r has experienced a good deal of success worldwide in a relatively short period of time. We had the chance to talk with one half of Shiv-r, Pete Crane, about their new EP Incision, touring Australia and Europe, his other musical projects including The Crystalline Effect, and the importance that captivating visual elements play in his projects.

interview : Jennifer Link
photographer : Brent Leideritz
makeup artist : Mishka
hair stylist : Mishka
model : Pete Crane
assistant : Wendy Crane

Originally from Australia, you moved to London and wrote Shiv-r’s Hold My Hand while there, and you are currently living in the Netherlands, what areyour favorite aspects of each? And how have these locations influenced the style and sound of your projects?

Pete Crane : London was probably the single biggest influence in the formation of Shiv-r. I was living in a ghetto-ass area, faced with seeing violence, extreme coldness, emotional alienation, and general filth on a daily basis. I was essentially screaming for expression in a perpetually dark and claustrophobic environment. The Netherlands is like the ‘anti-London’ for me, in that it’s much quieter, more open, and less centralized. I have since moved back to Sydney, Australia, but with plans to move overseas again in 2012. Ironically, I find the unbeatable weather of Sydney and the cheerful atmosphere of the Netherlands almost take away the inspiration I was feeding on in London, as though the oppression was fueling me. Satisfaction is a very dangerous thing!

How heavily do you weigh visual aesthetic, fashion, and style in your current musical projects?

PC : Shiv-r is an all-encompassing project for us so the visual element needs to go hand-in-hand with the music. We create strong, dark music with a haunting, delicate twist, and our visual aesthetic needs to express this. We’ve been fortunate enough to collaborate with amazing fashion designers like Mother of London and photographers like Brent Leideritz on achieving this vision and it’s something we’ll be doing more of.

read the full interview in the February/March 2011 Issue

Alice In Videoland – A Million Thoughts And They’re All About You

Covenant – Modern Ruin

Daft Punk – Tron Legacy Soundtrack

Freezepop – Imaginary Friends

Iszoloscope – The Edge of Certainty

Komor Kommando – Oil, Steel & Rhythm

Shiv-r – Incision EP

Suicide Commando – Death Cures All Pain

Twitch The Ripper – Bodiless

Various Artists – Werkschau

Vertical Section – Death Throes

Wire – Red Barked Tree

read the reviews in the February/March 2011 Issue

The February/March 2011 issue is the fourteenth issue of Auxiliary, a magazine dedicated to alternative fashion, music, and lifestyle.  This issue features interviews with Pete Crane of Shiv-r, Covenant, Alice in Videoland, and Freezepop, a designer spotlight on Hey Sailor! Hats, and Audrey Kitching in Toxic Vision as our PinUp.  The issue also contains a fashion editorial featuring sensual lingerie and fashions, a beauty editorial entangled in neckwear, a Valentine’s Day inspired style feature, an article on The Edwardian Ball, and our new advice column by Arden Leigh.  It features photography by Luke Copping, Brent Leideritz, Stephanie Bell, Charlie Bones, and Ama Lea to name a few, and fashion by Betsey Johnson, Purrfect Pineapples, Logan Neitzel, Betty Monroe, Veruca Cyn, Prototypist, Starkers Corsets, Ego Assassin, Mother of London, Dungaree Dolly, and much much more.

You can download it for free at :
www.auxiliarymagazine.com/issue14/AuxiliaryMagazineFebruary11.pdf

Print copies are available for purchase online at :
www.magcloud.com/browse/Issue/159011
And for purchase in stores at :
www.auxiliarymagazine.com/distribution

Enjoy!



Auxiliary’s top 20 best album picks for 2010.

Android Lust Human Animal If it’s not the best Android Lust album, then it’s at least the most mature.  Moody and organic, cold and sterile, all at once.  Android Lust is back after a four-year break, and it was well worth the wait!

Ascii.Disko Stay Gold Forever Gold Great hard driving beats that progress and weave throughout the album, this will transcend you to the next level.

The Birthday Massacre Pins & Needles Chibi and crew return with a powerhouse of a synthrock album.  Each song on this album deserves its own single.

Edge of Dawn Anything That Gets You Through The Night The highly anticipated album delivered.  With the right mix of poetic lyrics and intelligent beats, it pushes the bar for futurepop albums.

Goldfrapp Head First Taking the band’s fascination with disco and 80s synthpop another step couldn’t have worked out better.  Alison’s incredible voice and the fantastic song writing make this some really addictive pop music.

Groove Armada Black Light Cues from indie rock, synthpop, electro house, and downtempo with a taste of new wave 80s.  This is club and pop music friendly but easily the best Groove Armada album and one of the best retro-electro releases of the year.

iVardensphere Bloodwater A mix of rhythmic noise and tribal industrial, the hardness mixes very well with the worldly and raw tribal drumming and chanting vocal samples.  A cool direction for industrial music to be going in.

LCD Sound System This is Happening Indie-disco-punk explosion featuring the whole party from start to finish, from dancing on tables to the hangover and pangs of regret.

Liars Sisterworld Noise-punk revivalists put out their strongest, most consistent album to date.

Matthew Dear Black City Ghostly International label head puts out the best Low/Heroes era Bowie album you never heard.

Nitzer Ebb Industrial Complex The first new material from the band in years finds them older, wiser, and focused on writing both kick ass and more mature music.  Their time apart has grown their ability and this has allowed them to show it off.

Niveau Zero In_Sect We’ve been excited all over again with this fresh face to dubstep.  Excellent beats and hard bass mixed with cool sampling and talented MCs make this a great listen over and over.

Shiv-r Hold My Hand This is a solid dark EBM dance album.  Shiv-r will make you dance the hardest in your darkest of blacks with a big gleaming white smile.

Swans My Father Will Guide Me Up A Rope To The Sky The return of Michael Gira’s noise machine resurrected after a decade of silence with a new album that easily ranks in with the best of their old material.

Underworld Barking The return of Underworld finds them excited, invigorated, and in love with life on this mostly happy and upbeat album that features collaborations with musicians across the electronic dance spectrum.

These New Puritans Hidden Borderline prog-rock, math-rock, and post-punk but none of the above. Strikingly original and ambitious in a Public Image Limited kind of way.

Veil Veil Vanish Change in the Neon Light There is no denying The Cure connection, yet this album is simply a post-punker’s wet dream.  This quintet puts out an amazing wall of sound that is filled with solid bass lines, crunchy guitars, and haunting vocals.

We Love We Love If The Knife went more techno you would get We Love.  The album brings a dark and eerie mood.  You can not resist this album.

Xiu Xiu Dear God I Hate Myself Neurotic indie rock for the depressed and masochistic set with everything but the kitchen sink thrown into the mix to get their point across.

Yeasayer Odd Blood The Brooklyn based experimental pop group continues to build their eclectic psychedelic dance empire with their most pop inspired album to date.

* listed in alphabetical order

Ascii.Disko – Stay Gold Forever Gold

Deftones – Diamond Eyes

Edge of Dawn – Anything That Gets You Through The Night

Ellen Allien – Dust

Flying Lotus – Cosmogramma

LCD Soundsystem – This Is Happening

Front Line Assembly – Improvised Electronic Device

The Lovecrave – Soul Saliva

Mothboy – Bunny

Nice Nice – Extra Wow

SE – L36

Shiv-r – Hold My Hand

The Sight Below – It Falls Apart

read the reviews in the June/July 2010 Issue

I must say I am in love with the new Shiv-r album Hold My Hand. The album itself reminds me of the early Combichrist before they started to write music for their stage show. The video for “The End” is dark and well produced, giving the band a visual presence that helps push them past fellow bands in their genre. Take a peek at the video and enjoy the makeover. ;)

- Mike