Guano Apes

Guano Apes on stage in the Netherlands, 2009

Guano Apes were formed in 1994 in Göttingen, Germany, by guitarist Henning Rümenapp, bassist Stefan Ude and drummer Dennis Poschwatta. Female lead singer Sandra Nasić joined the band later that same year.

The band's career took off in 1996 after they won the "Local Heroes" competition held by VIVA, beating out over 1000 competitors with their song "Open Your Eyes".[1] The song was their first and most successful single, followed by the release in October 1997 of their debut album Proud Like a God on BMG and GUN/Supersonic Records. The album peaked at number 4 in Germany and was certified platinum. The songs "Lords of the Boards" and "Rain" were also issued as singles, with the former being specifically commissioned for the 1998 European Snowboarding Championship.[1]

The release of their debut album was followed by an 18-month tour of Europe and the United States. "Open Your Eyes" appeared in the Warren Miller movie, Fifty (1999) and Crusty 2000: The Metal Millennium (2000). The non-album single "Don't You Turn Your Back On Me" was contributed to the Meschugge film soundtrack in 1999.

In November 2000, Guano Apes released their second studio album, Don't Give Me Names on BMG and GUN/Supersonic Records. The songs "Big in Japan", "No Speech", "Living In A Lie" and "Dödel Up" were issued as singles. "Big in Japan" (an Alphaville cover) and "No Speech" received a lot of airplay and the album was certified gold in Germany. A concert at Paradiso, Amsterdam was filmed and released on VHS and DVD, also called Don't Give Me Names.

In 2001, the Guano Apes collaborated with German comedian Michael Mittermeier on the song "Kumba Yo!", which reached #3 on the German charts. Also, Sandra Nasic contributed vocals and lyrics to the song "Path Vol. 2" by Finnish cello quartet Apocalyptica.

Guano Apes' third studio album Walking on a Thin Line was released in March 2003 on BMG and GUN/Supersonic Records. It reached number one on the German album charts and, just like its predecessor, was certified gold. The album was supported by the singles "You Can't Stop Me", "Pretty in Scarlet" and "Quietly".

In November 2003, Guano Apes released the album Live, which was recorded during a concert in Cologne earlier that same year. The limited edition contained a DVD with video footage of the entire concert.

In November 2004 the best of album Planet of the Apes was released, which included the new single "Break the Line". A DVD with the same name was released in February 2005, containing a documentary, concert footage and several music videos, among other things.

Sandra Nasić in 2003

Because of escalating personal differences, Guano Apes planned a "farewell" tour in February 2005 and subsequently disbanded.[4][5] Dennis Poschwatta gave more details on the reason for their breakup in an interview:[6]

"Basically, it was all about money. That is the most common problem that bands break up over. If someone thinks he is a born rock star or whatever, if you just lose your footing - that's what I could call it now. It was also not possible to bring Sandra back down to earth. And if your environment and lawyers encourage stupid opinions or actions,  it becomes difficult. It's like a marriage or a relationship - at some point there's a fight, then it just doesn't work any more."

Poschwatta subsequently focused on his band Tamoto, in which he played guitar (and drums while in the studio) and shared vocal duties with Markus Gumball a.k.a. G-Ball. Tamoto released the album Clemenza in August 2005, which was supported by the singles "Beware" and "On My Mind".[7][8][9] Stefan Ude and Henning Rümenapp were among the musicians who participated in the recording of the album. In 2007 Tamoto released the mini album Crudezza.[10]

In 2006, Rümenapp, Ude and Poschwatta formed a new band named IO, together with American singer Charles Simmons. IO went on the road several times and released their debut album For The Masses on 1 August 2008 but was put on hold after Guano Apes reunited in 2009.[11]

In December 2006, GUN Records released the compilation album Lost (T)apes, which contains a selection of previously unreleased demo tracks recorded in 1994 and 1995. Lost (T)apes was also released as part of the 2CD package The Best and the Lost (T)apes.

In October 2007, Nasić released a solo album titled The Signal.[12]

In 2009, Guano Apes reunited and played a string of concerts in Europe, starting in Sofia (Bulgaria) and also including Braga (Portugal),[13] Nickelsdorf (Austria), Przystanek Woodstock (Poland),[14] Rock am Ring[15] and Rock im Park[16] (Germany) and Bucharest (Romania).[17] In Bucharest the band announced they were working on a new album.[18]

In April 2011, the group released their fourth studio album, Bel Air, on Columbia Europe.[19] The album entered the German album charts at number one.[20] They released four singles from this album: "Oh, What a Night", "Sunday Lover", "This Time" and "When the Ships Arrive".

Sony Music released the DVD Live @ Rockpalast in 2012. It contains footage of two concerts from 1997 and 2011, both recorded for the long-running German TV show Rockpalast.

On 28 February 2014, Guano Apes released their first single in two years, titled "Close to the Sun", and released a teaser trailer for their fifth album titled Offline on their YouTube account three days later, confirming that the album should be released on 2 May 2014.[21] A music video for "Close To The Sun" was released on YouTube on 2 April.[22] Later that month it was announced that the release of Offline had been pushed back to 30 May.

To celebrate the 20th anniversary of Proud Like A God, Guano Apes released Proud Like A God XX on 6 October 2017. The album contains newly mixed versions of ten songs that appeared on the original album, plus the previously unreleased track "Score". The Deluxe Edition comes with a bonus CD containing reworked "2017 versions" of six songs from Proud Like A God (with a guest appearance by Danko Jones on the 2017 version of Open Your Eyes), as well as three cover songs, including the first single "Lose Yourself" (originally performed by Eminem).[23] Music videos for "Lose Yourself" and the 2017 version of "Suzie" were released on 6 October and 10 November 2017, respectively.[24][25]

Since 2017, Dennis Poschwatta has appeared as a member of the "electro trash" duo Fukushima Twins.[26] They released an EP entitled The World Is Ours on May 1, 2020.[27][28]