Ohgr

There is nothing quite like going to a goth concert on the Sabbath. Ohgr was performing at the Red Room on Sunday November 23rd, and after patiently waiting for this moment, hundreds of Vancouver's spookiest all made an appearance to pay tribute to some of the former members of Skinny Puppy. I was late, as usual, arriving to the venue amongst a sea of black, sometimes I wonder how I manage to find my circle of friends when we are all camouflaged in the dim lights. To an outsider, it would look like a cult meeting, or a ritualistic sacrifice was about to take place since we were all dressed in a uniform of stompy boots and industrial gear, but really it was just a roomful of anarchists who wanted to tear the place down.

Ogre's live performances remain the high water mark for lead singers in our corner of the pool. As I realised when I was able to see him live for the first time on the "Greater Wrong of The Right" tour, it's one thing to watch the video of "Ain't It Dead Yet", to read about the effect of Ogre's elaborate costuming at shows, to have it pointed out to you that everyone in the business has jacked his style at one time or another - it's another thing entirely to viscerally experience it for yourself. The man is at home on a stage from the moment he steps onto it, and never ceases to be in the midst of some grotesque pantomime from that point onward: part butoh artist, part court jester. On that note, our hometown boy was looking damn lithe and spry for someone pushing fifty.

Ohgr graced the stage in a backwards bodysuit which made us think he was singing through an alien mask, however looking at his hands you could see that they were facing the wrong direction and this mask was on the back of his head. In typical Ohgr-style, he slowly removed layers of this costume throughout the show, turning into a freaky-looking mime, and then removing that mask to reveal a face like Heath Ledger's as the Joker in Batman. What most intrigued me about Ohgr's performance was not the experimental sound to his latest CD, but the grace with which he moved his hands and the crazed look on his face while he did so, it was like watching a freak show clown try to seduce you. And in some sick way, I was completely mesmerized.



Being someone who loves to rip it up on the dance floor on any given night, I was super stoked to hear the last few songs Ohgr played, "Cracker" and "Water". The fans gave so much love to the band as they rocked the venue, I swear I almost saw a tear in Nivek's eyes near the end of the night, because he looked thrilled to be doing a live show after all these years. He made several shoutouts to other local musicians including Bill Leeb from Frontline Assembly, who I spied in the audience.

As mentioned in Rob Kukuchka's guest review of "Devil In My Details", the new ohGr album is both decidedly darker and dirtier than either of its predecessors, or even the two post-reunion Skinny Puppy albums, for that matter. As such, it was a shock to hear just how emotive and even plaintive the songs from "Devil In My Details" could be when presented in a stripped-down live environment, with little in the way of backing tracks.

Now that I have had the opportunity to listen to Ohgr's newest CD at a live venue, I am definitely feeling more encouraged to pick it up even though it sounds more experimental than I usually care for.