ohGr Plays With Celebrities, Capitalization

xhuxk | November 25, 2008 12:00 pm

You can tell that ohGr is an extremely creative and artistic band because of the presence of a capital letter in the middle of its name instead of at the beginning, sort of like t.A.T.u.; also, one band member is named cEvin Key, which makes the band seem even more creative and artistic. ohGr’s new Devils in My Details (SPV) tumbles to No. 147 on Billboard’s Heatseekers chart a week after entering at No. 18 (and spending a week at No. 9 on the Electronic album chart); one MySpace friend calls it “a bit darker and ominous than the other ohGr albums,” suggesting those earlier ones were perhaps all happy and sunshiney.

ohGr’s main guy turns out to be Nick Ogre from crappy Vancouver industrial legends Skinny Puppy, though ohGr are supposedly both lighter and more heavy (metal), if that’s not a contradiction. They’ve got connections to Ministry’s Al Jourgenson deep in their pre-history as well, and if you visit their official site, you find out that Ogre is also now starring alongside Paris Hilton and Sarah Brightman in the “Rocky Horror meets Blade Runner classic” Repo! The Genetic Opera.

The band’s video for “Cracker”–said to be “controversial,” of course–was a stop-action thing featuring Ogre “in animated form attacking celebrities such as Eminem and Trent Reznor”; curiously, Ogre portrays a nutcracker-like wooden soldier bearing an unmistakable resemblance to Buckethead, except with no KFC logo. The marching piggy banks–wild-boar banks, whatever–are adorable, though. I totally want one. “You think you’re evil but you’re not, still sucking life from the mainstream/It’s so diluted, give it up,” bark the lyrics, which add that Em’s and NIN’s music is “unoriginal.” As opposed to Skinny Puppy or ohGr, who are truly evil and never diluted, and always very original! The backing music is basically Giorgio Moroder-style electrodisco, catchier than you’d expect. And their clip for “Majik” is similar in the way it looks Tool-ish and Halloweeny and Nightmare Before Christmas-like, what with those skeletons and all. Be sure not to watch it with the lights out!

ohGr [MySpace]