ohGr is an American industrial band formed by Nivek Ogre and Mark Walk of Skinny Puppy. Early ohGr releases incorporated hip hop and synth-pop influences, and in contrast to Skinny Puppy, utilized conventional structures and a lighter tone. Ogre noted that this direction was inspired by the pop bands he enjoyed as a child, such as The Archies. However, in releases such as Devils in my Details, ohGr has taken to a more abrasive, non-linear flavour of electro-industrial, while continuing to release pop albums such as 2018's Tricks.
History
The band was officially formed in 2000, although the material for the first album, Welt dates back to the mid-nineties, having been held up due to legal trouble with American Recordings. W.E.L.T. was actually originally the title of the group, until it was discovered that in the interval it had been taken by a Californian punk band. Al Jourgensen was also originally involved, and only one track he collaborated on has been leaked to the public, titled "Noreen". The music of that song later became industrial metal group Ministry's "The Fall", on their 1996 album Filth Pig. ohGr's third album titled Devils in my Details was released on October 17, 2008 in Germany, October 20 in the United Kingdom, and October 21 in the United States. ohGr toured in support of the album release during the autumn of 2008. At Comic-Con 2008, Ogre announced that Bill Moseley will be contributing to the new ohGr album, as a result of them becoming friends through Repo! The Genetic Opera. It was tentatively revealed in a chat with the band that an album of B-sides from Devils in my Details and an album of unreleased material from the 1990s was due to be released. In October 2009 a link to appeared on Skinny Puppy's website. When users sign up to the mailing list they receive a link to the song COLLIDOSKOPE which starts with many different voices saying "Welcome to Collidoskope". As of May 10, 2011, ohGr has released a new studio album, unDeveloped. The album was a collaboration with Mark Walk, with whom the previous album was created. Also on the album was the audio from the 911 call reporting Michael Jackson's death. In 2017, ohGr announced a PledgeMusic campaign to raise funds for their new album Tricks. The album was originally scheduled for release on October 31, 2017, but was delayed due to mastering errors. The band submitted their final mix to PledgeMusic in Spring 2018, but received no word from the company regarding payment. Without the money promised by PledgeMusic, the band released the album digitally and went on tour without any physical media to sell. Walk went to the media following reports of similar situations happening to other bands who were using PledgeMusic. According to Walk, the band had received only $40,000 of the $140,000 they had raised during the campaign and were unable to pay for the manufacturing of the products they promised fans.
Touring
The band toured in 2001 to support the release of their debut albumWelt; the live band consisted of Nivek Ogre, Tim Sköld, cEvin Key, Loki der Quaeler, and William Morrison. 2003 saw the release of a follow up, SunnyPsyOp. There were initially plans to tour for SunnyPsyOp, with Ministry in a festival type arrangement. These plans fell through, although much of the material from the second album had already been played live on the Welt tour. 2008 saw ohGr on tour throughout the U.S. and Canada in support of the album Devils in my Details with a live band including William Morrison returning on guitars, drummer Justin Bennett, keyboardist Jeff "Squigg" Smith. In late 2011, ohGr announced a December 2011 West Coast USA and Canada tour consisting of nine dates with direct support by fellow Metropolis Records artist Left Spine Down. In autumn 2017, ohGr supported KMFDM on a North American tour. The 2018 touring lineup consisted of Ogre on lead vocals and samples, Morrison on bass, keyboards and backing vocals, Bennett on drums, Matthew Setzer on guitars and backing vocals, and Dustin Schultz on keyboards and backing vocals.
Videos
ohGr has released three promotional videos, all directed by William Morrison. The first was a stop-motion creation for the track "Cracker". The second was a live performance of "Minus", filmed by Michael Condo at several venues from the 2001 tour. The third was for "MaJiK", from the second album; this also employed stop-motion, and was a collaboration with artist Thomas Kuntz. "Cracker" and "MaJiK" have both been played occasionally on MTV2 and Fuse. All three have been available through ohGr's website, and "MaJiK" appeared on the audio CD for SunnyPsyOp, albeit with some serious technical glitches. You can also see and hear a partial live performance from the 2001 tour on the short film John E. Dirt by director Bill Draheim.
