Biography
Guano Apes are a German rock band formed in Göttingen in 1994. The band consists of vocalist Sandra Nasić, guitarist and backing vocalist Henning Rümenapp, bassist and backing vocalist Stefan Ude, and drummer and backing vocalist Dennis Poschwatta. Their music has been described as alternative rock, combining elements of metal, pop and rap. The band has released five studio albums, one live album, two compilation albums and five video albums.
Guano Apes were formed in 1994 by Rümenapp, Ude and Poschwatta, with Nasić joining as lead vocalist later that year. The band gained wider recognition in 1996 after winning the "Local Heroes" competition organised by the music television channel VIVA. They won the contest with their song "Open Your Eyes", competing against more than 1,000 entries.
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Their debut studio album, "Proud Like a God", was released in October 1997 through BMG and GUN/Supersonic Records. It reached number four on the German albums chart and was certified platinum in Germany. "Open Your Eyes" became the band's first single and one of their most successful releases. The album also produced the singles "Lords of the Boards" and "Rain". "Lords of the Boards" was commissioned for the 1998 European Snowboarding Championship.
The album's release was followed by an 18-month tour of Europe and the United States. "Open Your Eyes" was featured in the Warren Miller film "Fifty" (1999) and "Crusty 2000: The Metal Millennium" (2000). In 1999, the band contributed the non-album single "Don't You Turn Your Back on Me" to the soundtrack of the film "Meschugge".
In November 2000, Guano Apes released their second studio album, "Don't Give Me Names", through BMG and GUN/Supersonic Records. The album produced the singles "Big in Japan", a cover of the Alphaville song, "No Speech", "Living in a Lie" and "Dödel Up". "Big in Japan" and "No Speech" received substantial radio airplay, and the album was certified gold in Germany. A concert recorded at Paradiso in Amsterdam was released on VHS and DVD under the title "Don't Give Me Names".
In 2001, Guano Apes collaborated with German comedian Michael Mittermeier on the song "Kumba Yo!", which reached number three on the German singles chart. In the same year, Nasić contributed vocals and lyrics to "Path Vol. 2" by Finnish cello metal group Apocalyptica.
The band's third studio album, "Walking on a Thin Line", was released in March 2003 through BMG and GUN/Supersonic Records. It reached number one on the German albums chart and was certified gold in Germany. The album's singles were "You Can't Stop Me", "Pretty in Scarlet" and "Quietly".
In November 2003, the band released "Live", an album recorded during a concert in Cologne earlier that year. A limited edition included a DVD containing footage of the full performance.
In November 2004, Guano Apes released the compilation album "Planet of the Apes", which included the new single "Break the Line". A DVD with the same title followed in February 2005, featuring a documentary, concert recordings and music videos.
In February 2005, the band announced a farewell tour amid personal disagreements among its members and subsequently disbanded. In a later interview, Poschwatta cited financial disagreements and conflicts within the group as factors contributing to the breakup.
Following the split, Poschwatta concentrated on Tamoto, a band in which he played guitar and drums during studio recordings and shared vocal duties with Markus Gumball, also known as G-Ball. Tamoto released its debut album, "Clemenza", in August 2005, supported by the singles "Beware" and "On My Mind". Rümenapp and Ude were among the musicians who contributed to the album. Tamoto released the mini-album "Crudezza" in 2007.
In 2006, Rümenapp, Ude and Poschwatta formed the band IO with American singer Charles Simmons. The group performed several tours and released its debut album, "For the Masses", on August 1, 2008. The project was put on hold following Guano Apes' reunion in 2009.
In December 2006, GUN Records released "Lost (T)apes", a compilation of previously unreleased demo recordings made in 1994 and 1995. The album was also included in the two-disc release "The Best and the Lost (T)apes". In October 2007, Nasić released her solo album, "The Signal".
Guano Apes reunited in 2009 and performed a series of concerts across Europe. The shows included appearances in Sofia, Bulgaria; Braga, Portugal; Nickelsdorf, Austria; at the Przystanek Woodstock festival in Poland; at Rock im Park in Germany; and in Bucharest, Romania. During their performance in Bucharest, the band announced that they were working on a new studio album.
In April 2011, the band released their fourth studio album, "Bel Air", through Columbia Europe. The album debuted at number one on the German albums chart. Four singles were released from the album: "Oh, What a Night", "Sunday Lover", "This Time" and "When the Ships Arrive".
In 2012, Sony Music released the DVD "Live @ Rockpalast", featuring performances recorded in 1997 and 2011 for the German television programme "Rockpalast".
On February 28, 2014, Guano Apes released "Close to the Sun", their first single in two years, and announced their fifth studio album, "Offline". The album was initially scheduled for release on May 2, 2014, but its release was subsequently postponed to May 30. A music video for "Close to the Sun" premiered on April 2, 2014. "Offline" was released on May 30, 2014.
To mark the twentieth anniversary of their debut album, the band released "Proud Like a God XX" on October 6, 2017. The album contains newly mixed versions of ten tracks from the original "Proud Like a God", along with the previously unreleased song "Score". The deluxe edition includes a bonus CD featuring reworked versions of six songs from the original album, as well as three cover versions. The 2017 version of "Open Your Eyes" features Canadian musician Danko Jones, while the first single from the release was a cover of Eminem's "Lose Yourself". Music videos for "Lose Yourself" and the 2017 version of "Suzie" were released on October 6 and November 10, 2017, respectively.
Full Wikipedia article: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guano_Apes
Studio albums
Proud Like a God (1997)
Don't Give Me Names (2000)
Walking on a Thin Line (2003)
Bel Air (2011)
Offline (2014)
Biography text from Last.fm, available under CC BY-SA.