discography . . .

2000 - "proud like a god..."

It's the intensity and raw emotion that keeps your eyes glued on Guano Apes' lead singer, Sandra. With over 300 shows in a little over a year and one of the most talked about debuts, Guano Apes have converted audiences all over Europe into diehard fans with their eclectic sound.

Their debut album, Proud Like A God, takes the listener on a wild ride from the metallic crunch of "We Use the Pain" to the delicate brooding on "Maria" to the twisted funk in "Suzie." The first single, "Open
Your Eyes" combines a hard hitting rock attack with irresistible hook and a subtle wash of electronics, while "Lords of the Boards" captures the exhilarating energy of snowboarding.

Formed in the central German university town of Göttingen, guitarist Henning, bassist Stefan and drummer Dennis started playing together as teens. They struck up a rapport personally and musically, and began to lay the sonic ground work of Guano Apes, drawing on influences that ran the gamut from the Police to Primus. The one thing eluding them was the right voice to crystallize their sound.

"We tried out a couple of singers, but couldn't find the right match," Henning recalls. "We met Sandra through a friend of Dennis who told us he knew this female singer who wasn't afraid of going to extremes-from singing soft to screaming. When we got together I couldn't believe the voice that came from within her. She just exploded at the mic!"

Sandra not only provided a striking focal point for the band's live performances (one of the cornerstones of Guano Apes' career so far), but had a dramatic impact on the general musical dynamic of the band. Influenced by rappers such as Public Enemy and groups like Korn and Limp Bizkit who have incorporated elements of rap into their visceral brand of hard rock, Sandra
writes all the lyrics for the band. "I prefer to write in English," exclaims Sandra. "German doesn't quite have the same flexibility and it's easier to express yourself in English." But with a voice that is as strong as it is agile, Sandra could undoubtedly make her feelings known in any language.

With all the pieces in place Guano Apes began working in earnest. The goal was simple: self-expression. But the time, effort and talent that went into the music took them much further. In 1996, they entered a band competition called "Local Heroes," sponsored by VIVA TV (the German equivalent of MTV), and they went on to win the contest. Part of the prize was a video and enough money to record what became Proud Like A God. Thanks to exposure on VIVA TV, which aired the video for "Open Your Eyes" in heavy rotation for two months, just about the time the group had exhausted its recording budget, Gun Records offered them a deal. Proud Like A God was released to rave reviews.

The success of "Open Your Eyes" put Guano Apes on the musical map in their homeland, but it was "Lords of the Boards" made them a European phenomenon. The single was commissioned for the 1998 European snowboarding Championships in Austria. It became a huge hit for the band helping to push the album well past platinum in Germany and gold status in four other countries.

"The weird thing," says Henning, "is when we started recording Proud
Like A God, it was never meant to be a big major label release at all. We
wanted to have fun with the music and to earn a living with it but we never
dreamed that all this would happen."

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