Grand Opening and Closing

Updated on Nov 11, 2023

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Released October 30, 2001 Artist Sleepytime Gorilla Museum Label Seeland Records		Length 59:08 Release date 30 October 2001

Recorded 1999-2001 at Polymorph Recording, Oakland, California Producer Dan Rathbun & Sleepytime Gorilla Museum Grand Opening and Closing (2001) Of Natural History (2004) Genres Progressive rock, Experimental rock, Avant-garde metal, Progressive metal Progressive rock albums Rock Bottom, Amputechture, Thrak, Frances the Mute, In the Wake of Poseidon

Grand Opening and Closing is the debut album by Oakland, CA based Avant-garde metal group Sleepytime Gorilla Museum. It was recorded at Polymorph Recording, Oakland, CA, and was recorded, mixed, mastered by bassist Dan Rathbun. The album was produced by Dan Rathbun and Sleepytime Gorilla Museum.

The album was originally released on October 30, 2001 by Seeland Records in conjunction with Chaosophy Records. When the band signed to The End Records in 2006, the album was re-released on September 5, 2006 with three previously unreleased tracks.

Grand Opening and Closing features David Shamrock on drums, the only SGM album to do so. He was replaced by Frank Grau, who plays drums on "The Stain" for this album.

Like with Of Natural History, some of the album's lyrics are inspired by different authors and poets. For example, the track "Sleep is Wrong" quotes a section of a poem by Dylan Thomas, while "Sleepytime (Spirit is a Bone)" is inspired by William T. Vollman's The Rainbow Stories and phrenology.