The Tear Garden
The Tear Garden is a
psychedelic synthpop group, formed by
Edward Ka-Spel of
The Legendary Pink Dots and
cEvin Key of
Skinny Puppy in 1985 after Key served Ka-Spel on tour in Canada as a sound engineer.
The Tear Garden was released that same year, with
Dave Ogilvie producing.
The group reconvened in 1987 to release
Tired Eyes Slowly Burning to a limited degree of success. Their output since has been sporadic, 1992 saw full-length album
Last Man to Fly. Another EP,
Sheila Liked The Rodeo, much of which was live studio improvisation was accompanied by a video of the title track in 1993. At this point Skinny Puppy began recording the ill-fated
The Process, a project which nearly ended in 1995 with vocalist
Nivek Ogre leaving the band and keyboardist
Dwayne Goettel dying of a heroin overdose. The album was finished and released in 1996 as tribute to Goettel.
With his primary commitment over, Key and The Tear Garden released
To Be an Angel Blind, The Crippled Soul Divide in 1996, followed by
Crystal Mass in 2000.
Crystal Mass marked a departure for the group, with more focus seemingly directed toward sound and production than the traditional staple, the lyrics. In 2002 a limited edition compilation of previously unreleased songs,
Eye Spy With My Little Eye came out on Key's
Subconscious Communications label. A best of,
For Those Who Walk With The Gods is also available.
Despite being together since 1985, The Tear Garden have not gone on a major tour, a detail that has limited their commercial potential. The only live performance of Tear Garden material by members of both Skinny Puppy and the Legendary Pink Dots was on April 14, 1988 in Leiden, Holland and May 1, 1988 at Foyer St. Arbogast in Strassborg France, during Skinny Puppy's Head Trauma tour, for which Edward Ka-Spel was the opening solo act. At the end of Ka-Spel's set cEvin Key joined him on guitar and keyboards for a performance of the song The Centre Bullet which originally appeared as a Skinny Puppy track with a few vocals by cEvin himself on an early Skinny Puppy Album entitled
Bites. The song was later re-released, with vocals by Edward Ka-Spel, on The Tear Garden's self-titled EP, in its entirety, and on the CD edition of Tired Eyes Slowly Burning. The Legendary Pink Dots have preformed Isis Veiled very commonly during their last few tours.
Edward Ka-Spel revealed in a phone interview with 'But is it art?' radio host and Litany.net webmaster Corey Goldberg that new Tear Garden is definitely in the works and ideas have been thrown around since the beginning of 2006 in regards to new material between Key and Ka-Spel.
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The Tear Garden (1985)
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Tired Eyes Slowly Burning (1987)
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Last Man to Fly (1992)
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Sheila Liked The Rodeo (1993)
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A Bouquet of Black Orchids (1993)
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To Be an Angel Blind, The Crippled Soul Divide (1996)
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Crystal Mass (2000)
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For Those Who Walk With The Gods (2001)
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Eye Spy With My Little Eye (2002)
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Official The Tear Garden Website*
Subconscious Communications*
The Tear Garden Lyrics
