1999—2011 After the disbanding of
Idiot Flesh,
Nils Frykdahl and
Dan Rathbun joined with
Carla Kihlstedt (with whom Frykdahl and Rathbun had played in the band
Charming Hostess) to form Sleepytime Gorilla Museum, along with percussionists
Moe! Staiano and
David Shamrock. Their first performance, on June 22, 1999, was given to a single
banana slug (
Ariolimax dolichophallus). The following night's performance was their first to a human audience. Some time during the recording of
Grand Opening and Closing (2001), drummer David Shamrock left the band and was replaced by
Frank Grau. Grau also co-released the album, instigated their first tour and managed the band. During the recording of the follow-up,
Of Natural History (2004), Grau left the band and was replaced by new drummer Matthias Bossi, formerly of
Skeleton Key. The
Of Natural History tour saw Moe! Staiano's exit, and new multi-instrumentalist
Michael Iago Mellender's entrance. In January 2006 Sleepytime Gorilla Museum signed to
The End Records who re-released their début
Grand Opening and Closing with three bonus tracks. During early 2007, the title and track list for their third studio album,
In Glorious Times was announced with the release date set for May 29, 2007. Prior to the release, an
mp3 and
music video of the song "Helpless Corpses Enactment" were made available online.
2013—2016 In 2013, Matthias Bossi and
Mike Patton,
Scott Amendola and
William Winant performed a live score for the 1924
silent film Waxworks, with the performance said to be filmed.
Nils Frykdahl,
Dan Rathbun,
Michael Iago Mellender, and
David Shamrock, along with
Drew Wheeler, formed a new band called
Free Salamander Exhibit in 2013. In a July 2014 press release for
Rabbit Rabbit Radio, Carla Kihlstedt announced that a new track featuring almost all members of Sleepytime Gorilla Museum, including Michael Mellender who "penned the architecture of this one," was to be released in August 2014. The track, titled "The Perfect Abomination" was released on
YouTube on July 31, 2014, and featured Kihlstedt and Bossi (of Rabbit Rabbit Radio, to whom the song is credited) with Michael Mellender and Dan Rathbun performing guitar and bass, respectively. Announcing a 2016 re-issue of the band's catalogue, Sleepytime Gorilla Museum wrote "And so it shall come to pass that the SGM back catalogue will see the light of Vinyl." Official announcements for
Of Natural History,
In Glorious Times and
Grand Opening and Closing vinyl re-issues were made by distributor "Blood Music" in September and October 2015.
2023 On March 22, 2023, Sleepytime Gorilla Museum changed their Facebook cover photo and included the message “Rise you must” and updated their bio to read: "The museum of the past hides the future." On April 27, 2023, they posted an image of sheet music titled “BRING BACK THE APOCALYPSE“ and included the hashtag #sgm2024. On August 21, 2023 their Kickstarter campaign named “Save the Last Human Being!” went live. They had set a primary goal of crowdfunding $75,000 USD to put toward completing a full-length studio album, titled “Sleepytime Gorilla Museum of the Last Human Being,“ a short film, titled “The Last Human Being: A Critical Assessment,“ and a short tour. A stretch goal of $100,000 USD was set to help fund “a nationwide U.S. tour.“ They funded their primary goal in approximately two days. ==Name==