Halloween Week: Skinny Puppy - Worlock

The classic first single from 1989's Rabies came complete with an infamous video that set the song to gory horror movies clips, none of which had been cleared for use, sending the video to legal limbo. An exhaustive list of these together with a complete overview of the video is available here.

Below, a revamped "Worlock" live in Manchester on 2007's Mythrus tour, and below that, for the extremely strong of stomach, is some dedicated soul's painstaking reconstruction of the original video (also available on YouTube) using DVD as the source material for the movie clips instead of the original's VHS samples. You don't want to look at that anywhere near food, I'm telling you.

Wind The Record Player Up

Skinny Puppy's 1992 Last Rights, arguably their best album (yes I know I know Too Dark Park FUCK OFF FUCK OFF) will be re-released on double gatefold vinyl on November 10th, according to the band's website, which also points out, rather ominously, that they're not sure what the cover artwork will be, which strongly suggest the band's got no involvement in the project.

Disappointingly, the reissue won't contain the infamous Track 10/"Left Hand Shake", pulled from the original release (and all subsequent issues) at the last minute due to clearance issues with some Timothy Leary samples. The song was later made officially available on a standalone vinyl release and the European edition of odds'n'sods collection Brap, so the absence here is rather frustrating, particularly since I'd assume anyone interested these days has already incorporated the track into their iPod running order, burned version, etc.

In other Puppy news, the band kicks off its Inn Solvent See Tour October 30th, the name presumably a reference to the fact that its record label SPV is too fucking skint/bankrupt/useless/dead to release their completed new album in support of said gigs. What that does to the setlist is anyone's guess; here's hoping they don't lean too heavily on 2007's disappointing Mythmaker. Below, "Inquisition" from Last Rights with visuals from that tour's infamous backing video.

Worlock?

The miracle of YouTube produces more magic - here's Canada's Images In Vogue performing "Call It Love" sometime in the early 80s. This fairly typical bit of first-wave synthpop is made considerably more entertaining by the presence of Skinny Puppy mastermind cEvin Key there in the back on the drums, just behind the dodgy bloke impersonating a german Peter Murphy impersonator dressed as a german Robert Smith impersonator. The question "Is there a more embarrassing 80s clip than Ministry's Same Old Madness?" has just been definitively answered. Next up, Genesis P-Orridge's stint as slap-bass player in Level 42. Presumably.



Below, by scant way of compensation, is Key no more than three short years later banging away on all sorts of hardware as part of Skinny Puppy. Changed the music, but clearly there was only one hairdresser in Vancouver in the 80s.