... and always the female entices!

Right from the start, a Guano Apes interview had to be requested twice. After the first time, where only the male instrumental ranks of the band were present, and following an intensive live-inspection, frontwoman Sandra Nasic had to go before the mike. Because Guano Apes without Sandra is like windsurfing in a cornfield...with no wind.

Good news: The success of Guano Apes is not due to hype or immense advertising expenditures by the record company. Apparently it is still possible for a band to work its way forward just through the music.
Even with the second interview date in mid-November, neither Sandra nor the record company had any idea that "Proud Like A God" would make its way into the Top 100 of the charts and into the hearts of not just our readers. And as in January the facts stood firm, Guano Apes had secluded themselves in a communication technology-free farmhouse to rehearse new songs. The only reaction to be gathered from the band was, 'Enormously pleased'.
The fact that the hour of their greatest triumph found them already working on new material did not necessarily come as a surprise. Rather, their work on new songs is indeed also the result of numerous criticisms following their first concert tour in the Autumn with their own gigs and as the support band for The Bloodhound Gang.

Sandra doesn't clam up when confronted with criticism: "You can't forget that this is our debut album and that the tour last Fall was our first. With our second album we'll probably pay more attention to making sure that it can be realized better live. Some of the songs from "Proud Like A God" are very difficult. Sometimes Stefan has real microscopic-work to take care of on the bass, some song structures are hard to get across live. We certainly wouldn't do it that way again. On the other hand, the earlier songs get better and more familiar for me with time."
Hopefully the same applies for Stefan and Henning, because in their support gig for Bloodhound Gang they were just too timid on the job. Henning stared stiffly at his guitar and Stefan would have preferred, at least the way it looked, to have disappeared with his bass into an adjoining room. Only drummer Dennis flailed like a madman, but who's interested in the drummer's show when he's sitting in a poorly lit background.
"Sometimes I think too that the guys could put on a little bit more of a show, but it's just not everybody's thing to jump around on the stage. I do my thing and the other three do theirs, and if they don't want to jump along then I don't care. But I don't believe that our songs are too weak. On our first tour the set list was just too chaotic sometimes, so the mood changes were too extreme. The power of "Open Your Eyes" was followed by "Pain", a quiet piece, and right after that it took off again with "Crossing The Deadline".
What sounds diversified on the album doesn't necessarily work live.
One month and many concerts later, that's all ancient history. The set list, in a sort of evolutionary process, has mutated its way into the right combination, and Sandra doesn't have to change her emotional costume after each song. The normal learning process for a young band, and tonight it is already bearing its first fruit. Then providence would have it that I meet to talk with Sandra directly before the WDR-Rockpalast (German TV live music show) broadcast of the Guano Apes. And the gig is the best that I've seen, with the exception of Skunk Anansie's appearance at the Bizarre Festival, from a band with a frontwoman in 1997.
And even bassman Stefan Ude and guitarist Henning "Teddy" Ruemenapp make liars out of Sandra and myself. Their presence on the stage by and large earns the predicate, 'Show'. Whether it's because of the cameras? "No, we were just in a particularly good mood today. The audience was great and that just carries us along with it."
Henning needs a certain level of audience enthusiasm to get going. Sandra, on the other hand, apparently works self-sufficiently. She sinks into her own world made up of the songs that she is interpreting, and that sinks in with the audience. It is hard to break out of her spell.
A comparison with Skin from Skunk Anansie is almost unavoidable, even if you know that this irritates Sandra. "I used to get very angry when people would compare us with bands that have a frontwoman. The stupidest comparison was with No Doubt, whose sound really has absolutely nothing to do with us. The only thing I have in common with Gwen is that we're both girls and we both have blond hair, but then I don't compare Mike Patton with Pavarotti. I can accept it if someone says that my voice sounds like Nina Hagen's, because that's just true, and anyway, I think Nina Hagen is a classy woman."
Regardless, there's little doubt that Sandra is the focal point of interest, since she plays the leading role as singer. "It's not true when the media says that all of the songs were tailored for me. We're a band and we compose the songs for a band. Some songs are even tailored for the drummer. It's not true that I write all the songs or put my stamp on them."
But she has to interpret the songs, and that also works with those that are allegedly tailored for the drummer. The reason why: "I stand 100% behind all of our songs."
Sandra transports this concept perfectly. That's why Guano Apes were still able to convince the audience, even in front of a chaotic bunch like the Bloodhound Gang and in spite of Stefan and Henning's nerves and the fact that the band was not announced. "At first we thought that the only thing that would help was the promise of free beer for everybody, but then we just played our music and it worked. That's because we don't make 'trend' music and we don't fit into a particular category. We played one time during broad daylight at a Goettingen city festival. There was a granny there with white curls, and after a couple of minutes she started to completely rock out ñ at least for her it was rocking out. And next to the granny there was a little hip-hop kid and he was into it too. The guys from the Bloodhound Gang were knocked-out too, and Jimmy Pop Ali even said that with us every song is a hit."
As to whether Jimmy Pop Ali was knocked-out by the show or understandably more knocked-out by Sandra is something she won't reveal, except to say, "My boyfriend is very into sports."
A pity really, but at the moment her boyfriend isn't here and anyway, I already know what her plans are for the evening. At the beginning of their own Fall Tour, Sandra, because of her appearance and her clothes ("I don't wear this because Gwen does. It's just comfortable and that's what people wear these days") had to put up with audience comments like 'stupid No Doubt copy'. But the nay-sayers have long since been silenced. "Most of the time they would shut up after about a half an hour. That's usually about the amount of time we need to warm up for an audience that doesn't know us. That's why it basically sucks for us to do a half-hour support gig. Just at the point where the audience has jumped onto our train, we have to drive into the station. That sucks for everybody."
At the evening's Rockpalast gig everything goes quicker. The small hall in the E-Werk is well filled and already after the second song, the Guano Apes-Express, including audience, is on the fast track. Maybe it's because Lucilectric, a band that the world really doesn't need, started the show. But such considerations shouldn't undercut the persuasiveness of the Guano Apes' performance. And by the way, the repertoire tonight was already expanded by the song, "Lords Of The Boards", currently burning up the clubs. It's also this year's official song of the European Snowboard Championship, a further honor and acknowledgement for the Guano Apes from the "Skater Scene", who they can primarily thank for their success.
A scandal is narrowly escaped during the interview as Sandra spills coffee on her pants, indeed the very pants in which she is to deliver tonight's gig before running T.V. cameras. But even without emergency pants ("I've only got two pairs of pants, and they're both identical."), Sandra remains calm. "That's a good sign." True enough. But in spite of the level of relaxation, the Guano Apes have left their status as a hobby project far behind them. "We want the band to be professional. It hasn't been just a labor of love for a long time, although we still have a lot of fun together."
Still, Guano Apes are not a band of four bosom buddies. "At the beginning, we really didn't do very much together. Meanwhile we do more. With musicians it's always just a little difficult. At the beginning everybody has to prove themselves, but when the initial 'feeling out' phase is over and you begin to think that this could really turn into something, then you do start to circle the wagons. We've made that jump and have reached the point where we trust each other. It's a little bit like a family, and I think that it can really only work that way with us as a band."
Sandra's wishes for the Guano Apes for the future are almost too humble. "In Germany, everybody in rock music is trying to drive up the mountain with the emergency brake on. I'm just happy if I can pay my rent from the music...and buy a third pair of pants."

from: DISCOVER April/99
Text: Ralph Buchbender