Sleepytime Gorilla Museum Will Close Its Doors in S.F. (Exit Through the Gift Shop, Please)
Categories: Bummer, Show To Know
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And you will know by the trail of tearful tattooed chin-scratchers down Divisadero next month that the 12-year saga of Sleepytime Gorilla Museum is coming to an end. The Oakland enigma-core ensemble has announced three final California dates, culminating in an April 10th performance at the Independent, before they call it quits. (Well, partially: true to the image of some mythic sea monster continuing to writhe and twitch after it's dead, they plan to finish up work on a new album, a live DVD, and a short film called The Last Human Being also.) Tickets are on sale for the extremely reasonable price of $16-$18 at the Independent's website.
The Museum, which takes its name from a fascinating and probably apocryphal tale of a consortium of early-20th-century European nutjobs, never found much of a mainstream outlet for its concept-drenched, art-damaged prog metal, but it spawned a devoted fan network that did a brisk trade in concert stories and live recordings and mutual admiration for the band's sound -- one based, as The Owl puts it, on an "affinity for brooding tonality, odd timing, and crashing percussion care of an arsenal of home-made instruments."
Seriously, read a paragraph of their Wikipedia entry and try not to raise an eyebrow. One of the founding members has an exclamation point in his first name. Their instruments include the Sledgehammer Dulcimer and the Viking Rowboat. Their first live show was played for an audience of a single banana slug. (Alternately, have fun trying to make sense of their website.)
Finally, join the fray on their Facebook page to keep current on their comings and goings and rantings and ravings. Once again, here's that ticket link for their final show at the Independent.
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