If you lived through the electro-industrial revolution of the late '80s and early '90s — or even if you just happen to like music that’s rasping, mechanical and oddly hypnotic — mark your calendars.
Skinny Puppy and Ministry, two of the bands that defined the dark underbelly of the electronic music scene, are heading to San Antonio on separate tours. Presale for both tours is happening now via Ticketmaster.
Skinny Puppy, Lead Into Gold
Pioneering act Skinny Puppy, will hit San Antonio's Aztec Theatre on Thursday, April 6, to kick off what’s being billed as its final tour. The dates come after an eight year hiatus from the road and will officially end the group's run — on its 40th anniversary, no less.
Paul Barker’s Lead into Gold will open the show. Not coincidentally, Barker is the former bassist for the aforementioned Ministry, which also will play San Antonio in April.
Skinny Puppy helped usher industrial music from fringes of the underground to dance floors and college radio. Not only did the Canadian outfit inspire swaths of drum machine-armed imitators in their wake, they have since been cited as an influence by acts including Nine Inch Nails, Grimes and Death Grips.
The band built is cultish late-'80s and early-'90s following by fusing industrial, rock and new wave elements and by its groundbreaking use of sampling. Its theatrical, sometimes politically charged, performances frequently featured fake blood and gore.
Skinny Puppy's string of prolific releases ended with 2013’s Weapon. The album was reportedly inspired by rumors that the U.S. government used the band's music to torture prisoners at Guantanamo Bay.
$37 and up, 8 p.m. Thursday, April 6, Aztec Theatre, 104 N. St. Mary's St., (210), 812-4355, theaztectheatre.com.
Ministry, Gary Numan, Front Line Assembly
Electro-industrial pioneers Ministry also made waves in the late' 80s and beyond. Theirs waves, however, were significantly more metal-inspired than Skinny Puppy's.
After a 1980s start as a synthpop duo, Ministry began upping the aggressiveness of its sound, gaining a rabid following by the time of 1989's sound-defining The Mind Is a Terrible Thing to Taste. Later albums took on a more political bent, skewering then-President George H.W. Bush over blasting guitars and jackhammer drums.
For this tour, Ministry will be joined by Gary Numan, whose late-'70s and early-'80s releases set the template for synthpop, and electro-industrial stalwarts Front Line Assembly. In yet another of the genre's incestuous turns, Front Line Assembly was founded by Bill Leeb in 1986 after he left Skinny Puppy.
Still helmed by sole original member Al Jourgensen, Ministry has long been a popular act in San Antonio and maintains a solid worldwide following through its continued touring and metal-tinged releases.
Skinny Puppy and Ministry, two of the bands that defined the dark underbelly of the electronic music scene, are heading to San Antonio on separate tours. Presale for both tours is happening now via Ticketmaster.
Skinny Puppy, Lead Into Gold
Pioneering act Skinny Puppy, will hit San Antonio's Aztec Theatre on Thursday, April 6, to kick off what’s being billed as its final tour. The dates come after an eight year hiatus from the road and will officially end the group's run — on its 40th anniversary, no less.
Paul Barker’s Lead into Gold will open the show. Not coincidentally, Barker is the former bassist for the aforementioned Ministry, which also will play San Antonio in April.
Skinny Puppy helped usher industrial music from fringes of the underground to dance floors and college radio. Not only did the Canadian outfit inspire swaths of drum machine-armed imitators in their wake, they have since been cited as an influence by acts including Nine Inch Nails, Grimes and Death Grips.
The band built is cultish late-'80s and early-'90s following by fusing industrial, rock and new wave elements and by its groundbreaking use of sampling. Its theatrical, sometimes politically charged, performances frequently featured fake blood and gore.
Skinny Puppy's string of prolific releases ended with 2013’s Weapon. The album was reportedly inspired by rumors that the U.S. government used the band's music to torture prisoners at Guantanamo Bay.
$37 and up, 8 p.m. Thursday, April 6, Aztec Theatre, 104 N. St. Mary's St., (210), 812-4355, theaztectheatre.com.
Ministry, Gary Numan, Front Line Assembly
Electro-industrial pioneers Ministry also made waves in the late' 80s and beyond. Theirs waves, however, were significantly more metal-inspired than Skinny Puppy's.
After a 1980s start as a synthpop duo, Ministry began upping the aggressiveness of its sound, gaining a rabid following by the time of 1989's sound-defining The Mind Is a Terrible Thing to Taste. Later albums took on a more political bent, skewering then-President George H.W. Bush over blasting guitars and jackhammer drums.
For this tour, Ministry will be joined by Gary Numan, whose late-'70s and early-'80s releases set the template for synthpop, and electro-industrial stalwarts Front Line Assembly. In yet another of the genre's incestuous turns, Front Line Assembly was founded by Bill Leeb in 1986 after he left Skinny Puppy.
Still helmed by sole original member Al Jourgensen, Ministry has long been a popular act in San Antonio and maintains a solid worldwide following through its continued touring and metal-tinged releases.
$39 and up, 7 p.m., Tuesday, April 25, Aztec Theatre, 104 N. St. Mary's St., (210) 812-4355, theaztectheatre.com.
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