Skinny Puppy/Severed Heads concert

[Greg Ward <seismo!ubc-vision!watmath!watvlsi!gtward>]

Well,  it's  almost  a  week  since  the  event happened, and I'm
finally getting around to reviewing it.

     The Place: Federation Hall, University of Waterloo
     The Date: Wednesday, September 24, 1986
     The Event: Skinny Puppy with Severed Heads
     (Cost: $6 Can. = $4.50 US)
     Summary: Do not miss this show when it comes your way.

     Severed  Heads  opened  the  show (of course) and I must say
that  they were quite a disappointment.  These guys put very lit-
tle  energy  into  their  show.  Furthermore, they appeared to be
doing very little in the way of making music.  Most of the sounds
emitting  from  the  speakers  seemed to be the direct product of
drum machines, sequencers and tapes.

     The members of Severed Heads are three of the nerdiest look-
ing  guys I've seen on a stage in a long time.  Now, I'm not very
fashion  conscious  myself,  but when you see three guys who look
like  they  just  walked onto the stage directly from attending a
lecture,  it just doesn't look right.  In fact, there was a bald-
ing  guy  standing  outside  the dressing room a while before the
show,  with a tag which read Severed Heads hanging from his belt,
who  I  figured  was a wimpy looking roady or manager.  He turned
out  to be a member of the band.  After their show the singer was
wandering around the audience, looking like a spoiled suburbanite
fruitlessly searching for a lay.

     After  a  relatively short break, Skinny Puppy hit the stage
(and  the  projection  screen  -  more on that later). Nivik Ogre
(sp?) came out covered with a cellophane bag. (Reminded me of the
Breathing  video.)  Throughout the first song, he feined fighting
to escape from it, finally busting (not bursting) through in time
for  the  next  song.   Having  escaped, he lit a solitary candle
which burned until he blew it out at the end of the last song.

     During  the  show,  Nivik  held  up various props, such as a
ceramic  face  and  a gas mask (no skull :-( ).  With the ceramic
face, Nivik turned his back to the audience and held it above and
in  front  of  his face so that the audience could see it.  As we
watched it started to spew fake blood all over him, some of which
squirted  backwards  onto  Fed. Hall's projection screen. I don't
think  the  management were too impressed.  From another prop, he
produced  some black, charcoal-like substance, which he proceeded
to smear all over his face and arms (along with the fake blood).

     Percussionist  cEVIN kEY also put on quite a show. He had an
industrial  looking set up, including steel drums (not the Carri-
bean kind), metal pipes, and as well some conventional percussion
instruments.    Sure  there  was  a  lot  of  drum  machine  used
throughout  the  show  to  keep the basic rhythm, but unlike with
Severed Heads, it didn't detract from the show.  The highlight as
far  as  cEVIN  was concerned was when he took a metal grinder to
the steel drum, sending a shower of sparks out over the stage and
audience.  Nivik walked right into this shower.

     The  highlights  of  the show, musically, were their 'hits',
including  Smothered  Hope, Assimilate and Dig It. Also, the last
song they played (with the grinder) was very impressive, although
I  didn't  recognize  it.   It  was  probably  from  their newest
release, which by the way is not Dig It.  Although the single Dig
It was only released towards the end of the summer, about a month
ago  they  released  a new record (EP I believe) called Mind: The
Perpetual Intercourse.

     Overall,  Severed  Heads  got  pretty monotonous after a few
songs.   Even  their  hit  Petrol  was pretty lame.  On the other
hand,  Skinny Puppy put on an amazing show that I won't soon for-
get.   And  in case you think I've ruined the show by telling you
everything  that happens, don't worry, there's a lot of surprises
I didn't mention.

Once again, don't miss this show!

     Greg Ward
     "This ain't rock 'n roll, this is genocide." - DB