Skinny Puppy

Twenty-six years ago, Skinny Puppy released their first recording, Remission, on an unsuspecting public and redefined industrial music.  They had help from Ministry, as both bands would eventually become the godfathers of this heavy, strange and danceable sound that emerged in the early 80’s.  Twenty-five albums later, Skinny Puppy is still going strong which isn’t bad for a band that was apparently initially supposed to be a side project for cEvin Key (born Kevin Crompton).  When Nivek Ogre (born Kevin Ogilvie) joined soon after, the band became a full-time project.  Dwayne Goettel joined the band from 1986-1995, and the band has had various other members, including Bill Leeb of Frontline Assembly and Al Jourgensen, over the years as well.

In 1993, tensions between band members and rumors of drug abuse plagued Skinny Puppy, culminating in the death of Goettel and Ogre leaving in June of 1995.  Ogre and Key reunited in 2000 for a Skinny Puppy show in Germany and then finally reformed in 2003.  Currently, Justin Bennett (formerly of Professional Murder Music) is the drummer and had a key role in choosing the band’s set list for their recent “In Solvent See” tour, which ends December 10th, 2009 in Los Angeles.

Recently, Nivek Ogre chatted with Maximum Ink about the dangers of touring with no album to support, animal rights, politics and his burgeoning film career.

Read More...

Slash

Slash, a household name because of Guns N’ Roses, is without a doubt one of the most legendary guitarists of our time. His work with Snakepit, Velvet Revolver, and as a solo artist has shown time and time again that he is one of the best in his field. As a session artist, he has worked to enhance the music of some of the biggest names in the business and has influenced guitarists of all ages with his solid and timeless playing style. He recently embarked on a five week North American tour, opening for Ozzy Osbourne, in support of his latest self-titled solo album. It was truly an honor to have the chance to bring his fans this small glimpse of one of rock’s finest.

Maximum Ink: How do you think the music industry has changed since your early days? How would you like to see it change next?
Slash: It’s been going through some massive changes. The most important being the advent of the Internet and file sharing and also digital. We are still adapting to that, but that’s a major change.  It’s hard to say where it is headed in the not too distant future.

Read More...

Sleighriders 2009

Bringing together an almost ridiculously diverse collection of Milwaukee’s most popular musical talents to perform for charity under one roof for one night is difficult enough, but THE SLEIGHRIDERS have done it every Christmas season for the past twenty-seven years. Combining the expertise of forty performers rotating through the lineup throughout the night and blasting through a musical revue of seasonal Holiday music, R&B, and classic rock, over time, it’s become firmly entrenched as a tradition of the Milwaukee music scene’s Yuletide festivities.

Read More...

Jill Sobule

After a series of near failures with the record industry, Jill Sobule scored with the heavily played tongue-in-cheek MTV hit “I Kissed a Girl,” and followed up with “Supermodel,” which appeared on the Clueless soundtrack. Her first album was produced by Todd Rundgren, and she recently played lead guitar in Lloyd Cole’s band. The Denver-born singer/songwriter/guitarist has penned songs about such diverse subjects as the death penalty, anorexia, shoplifting, reproduction, the French resistance movement, adolescence and the Christian right, but a lot of her songs are about love. Sobule’s music secretes an aura of love, so instead of asking my heartthrob a bunch of questions that she has probably been asked a hundred times before, I asked her to ask herself the five questions that she has never been asked in an interview, that she always wanted to be asked, then answer them…

Read More...

Soil

Backing a new album and hitting the road, SOIL will be in both Madison and Milwaukee on April 2 and 3 respectively. SOIL plans to hit The Annex and The Rave harder than ever. Going out on a limb from their previous albums and getting back to their early rock roots, they have developed an album that “took them back to their youth”.

The new album, Picture Perfect, was named so because “it really is the sound that we have always wanted,” according bassist Tim King. The album delves on a common rock vibe, but adds an extra element with a heavier sound. “We finally got it right on this one,” explains King, “We managed to encompass all classic rock stuff, but get the heavy sound with down tunings and more distortion. We went back to square one, and back to what we wanted to sound like.”

There is a dark side to SOIL that really comes through. Without this darker element the album would be a standard rock record. Their extreme metal influences, however, have added a biting edge to the new music.

Read More...

Dan Solovitz

Classically trained as a percussionist and composer, Dan Solovitz began his career as a programmer and engineer in Los Angeles cutting his teeth assisting on sessions for Sabrina The Teenage Witch, The Nutty Professor 2, and The Replacements.

By combining his formal training with a computer technology, Dan has created a unique skill set that has led him to an active career as a composer across the various fields of the entertainment business. He has produced hundreds of pieces for recording artists, television, and film. His ability to produce ‘stand-out’ sounds has landed him advertising work with corporations like Porsche, Converse, Merck, SONY, Corona, and Target. Dan has also produced award-winning remixes for artists like Tommy Lee and Chainsaws & Children.

Maximum Ink: Can you tell us a little about where you are from and what shaped you into who you are today?
Dan Solovitz: I grew up in Minneapolis so by definition, that makes me a nice guy. My parents encouraged me early with music lessons of various sorts, starting with piano at age 5. Then came violin, viola, and percussion. I was also lucky to be surrounded by computers from as early as I can remember, getting my very own computer in 6th grade (a laughable statement these days, but hey, this is the late 80’s we’re talking about). I started arranging little MIDI compositions about that time, played in various bands, and had a lot of fun learning how to do all things music. After getting my degree in music composition I moved to Los Angeles for continued training in engineering and production, and got to work in many different environments and see what I enjoyed the most. 

Read More...

Soul Shaker

I often get asked what’s new and interesting in the Madison music scene, and these days usually the first couple words to roll off my tongue are “Soul Shaker”, a hot new ballsy bluesy rock band in town. Their calling card states “Dirty Blues Rock Fo’ Yo’ Dirty Minds” which sums it up pretty well, and somehow they already knew my mind was usually in the gutter.

The guys on the guitars and drums may look familiar if you were a fan of Trinity James And Big Bad. Guitarist Jason “JP” Peterson, bassist Scott Aumann, and drummer Brent King had backed up singer/songwriter Trinity James for a couple years before Trin moved on to the land of grueling competition Nashville. JP, Scott, and Brent kept writing on their own and eventually joined forces with singer and harmonica player Adam Zierten of Reason For Leaving and Jose And The Sumlimes fame.

Read More...