User:Jonnybgoode44/sandbox:SPG

Steam Powered Giraffe (SPG) is a musical project formed in San Diego in 2008 that is popular in the Steampunk subculture. The act combines the visual of robot pantomime with sketches, pop culture references, improvised comedic dialogue, and original music.

Career
The members of Steam Powered Giraffe met while taking Theatre Arts at Grossmont College. Afterwards they became members of local San Diego mime group Troupe SD. Trained in pantomime by Seaport Village mime Jerry Hager (known as "Kazoo"), and with collective backgrounds in clown, theater, music, and visual design, Jon Sprague and the Bennett twins, Christopher and David Michael, started street busking as quirky robotic characters in January 2008 at Balboa Park, California, along with fellow mime artist Erin Burke, who left the group in 2011.

Since their inception, the band has performed at popular Southern California venues including The San Diego County Fair, The San Diego Zoo, The Wild Animal Park, Legoland California, Ontario Mills, The Queen Bee's Art & Cultural Center, and at numerous Sci-Fi, Fantasy, and Steampunk Conventions. Festival and convention appearances have included:


 * ConDor in San Diego, California, March 2010
 * Anime Conji in San Diego, California, April 2010
 * Oceanside Music Festival (OMFest) in Oceanside, California, October 2010
 * Wild Wild West Con at Old Tucson Studios in Tucson, Arizona, March 2011 - VIP Dinner
 * Anime Conji in San Diego, California, March 2011 - Musical Guests of Honor
 * Gaslight Gathering steampunk convention in San Diego, California, May 2011 - Performers and panelists

In 2009 the band released their first album, "Album One." In early 2011 the band released a single, "Honeybee", announcing that it would be on an upcoming second album. Their music can often be heard on a number of steampunk radio broadcasts that stream worldwide, such as The Clockwork Cabaret. The band's song, "Electricity Is In My Soul" is available on the Rock Band Network.

On October 30, 2011, the band was mentioned by name in the comic strip Luann. The strip showed the title character and two of her friends dressed in steampunk attire, going out to attend a SPG concert. The title frame, which didn't appear in the online version but only in print, showed a giraffe's head and neck with steam escaping its ears and nostrils.

Besides their musical endeavors, the band publishes a web comic and has produced a card game based on characters in their backstory.

Backstory
The band 's fictional backstory explains why they pantomime as robots. According to that narrative, the "musical automatons" were invented by a rich San Diego inventor named Colonel P. A. Walter in 1896 and kept in the Walter family over the years. Called the 8th 1/2 Wonder of the World, the robots were a technological marvel that ran off steam powered engines and artificial intelligence. The band's name is said to come from Walter's first robot, a giant mechanical giraffe. A fictional timeline on the band's website chronicles the band's supposed "appearances" throughout the years at such notable places as the 1933 Chicago World's Fair and The Ed Sullivan Show.

The Robots:

 * The Spine (David Michael Bennett) is a futuristic dieselpunk robot with a titanium alloy spinal column and convincing human mannerisms. His skin is smooth silver, and he wears a black fedora and red tie. He plays guitar.
 * Rabbit (Christopher Bennett) is a copper clockwork android, who wears a short black tophat with steampunk-style goggles on it and a black tunic with red accents. He plays the melodica.
 * The Jon (Jon Sprague) is a brass robot powered by soda (primarily Crystal Pepsi), who wears a tall black top hat and red suspenders. He generally plays the mandolin.

Albums

 * Album One (2009)

Singles

 * Honeybee (2011)