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Monsters and puppies
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by LATEEF MARTIN The new album Devils in My Details is the fourth offering from OhGr, a band that calls into service frontman Nivek Ogre’s two decades of Skinny Puppy experience. But the groupies and raging fans aren’t enough. Saving animals, including his blind dog Bat-Bat, and his role in Repo: The Genetic Opera, a musical that frankensteins Blade Runner with The Rocky Horror Picture Show, keeps the ogre within at bay for this industrial techno-rock icon. Mirror: What was the vision for Devils in My Details? Nivek Ohgr: I originally had a concept for an album called Blurry Dotted I’s. The idea was life through a dog’s eyes. I rescued a dog that was in such bad shape that anybody else would have euthanised it. And I kinda went the distance, but it wasn’t that hard. That idea kind of went south as other things in my life took precedent. It was an extremely dark and profound experience that I went through, that transcended and became something more therapeutic for me in working through... it’s the closest thing to what was going through my head since [Skinny Puppy’s] Last Rites. I was lucky enough to have Mark Walk as a muse, producer and composer. MM: How did you get involved with Repo: The Genetic Opera? NO: Repo was an incredible experience I was lucky enough to get through Joe Bishara from Drown, who was producing a lot of the music. He had asked me what I wanted to do and I said that I always wanted to play music in a movie under a lot of make-up. I love prosthetics and the horror genre. He said he was working on a film with Darren Lynn Bousman, director of Saw II and III. I tried out for Pavi, a face-stealing narcissist rapist. I got the part. M: You’ve been around to weather the tides of the industry. A part of that has to be the ability to embrace new ways of reaching out to your fanbase. NO: We’ve done that, with a Web site called devilsinmydetails.com. We’ve signed up with this thing called Modulus, which is a live video broadcast streaming chat room. We started doing live shows online. I find that exciting because it starts this viral thing with kids who have their own set-up in their room. We give them access to the account and they can start broadcasting their own shows. That’s our way of interacting and giving something that’s more personalized to people. I have a problem with being too personalized. I’ve always kept my character and persona in a bit of a mystique, but at the same time, there are ways of doing it where you can maintain the mystique and still have the same effect. It’s all positive. M: Getting back to the pooches, how many have you rescued? NO: I’ve saved 12 to 15 dogs in the last 20 years, some cats, a squirrel, a possum. Anything I can rescue, I will. I don’t try to get animals, they tend to come to me. I’ve had some that didn’t make it and had to deal with that anguish. I had a squirrel die on my chest—they all seem to die around five or six in the morning, it’s really weird. WITH AMERICAN MEMORY PROJECT |
