Years active 2008-present | ||
![]() | ||
Associated acts RumbledoreProfessor ElementalThe Cog is Dead Website www.steampoweredgiraffe.com Past members Sam LukeErin BurkeJon SpragueMichael Philip ReedMatt Smith Members Isabella Bennett, Sam Luke, David Michael Bennett Albums Album One, MK III, The 2¢ Show, The Vice Quadrant: A Space, Live at the Globe of Yesterda Profiles |
Electricity is in my soul by steam powered giraffe full band fc 2157
Steam Powered Giraffe (SPG) is a musical project formed in San Diego in 2008 that is popular in the steampunk subculture. Led by twins David Michael Bennett and Isabella "Bunny" Bennett, and long-time friend from college Bryan Barbarin, the act combines pantomime, sketches, pop culture references, improvised comedic dialogue, and original music of various genres.
Contents
- Electricity is in my soul by steam powered giraffe full band fc 2157
- Electricity is in my soul steam powered giraffe expert rbn
- 20082011 Formation and early career
- 20122013 The 2 Show and MK III
- 2014present The Vice Quadrant and Quintessential
- Backstory
- In concert
- In webcomic
- In lore
- Band members
- Past members
- Chronology
- Songs
- References

Electricity is in my soul steam powered giraffe expert rbn
2008–2011: Formation and early career

The members of Steam Powered Giraffe met while taking Theatre Arts at Grossmont College. Afterwards, they became members of a local San Diego pantomime group called Troupe SD. Trained in pantomime by Seaport Village mime Jerry "Kazoo" Hager, and with collective backgrounds in clown, theater, music, and visual design, Jonathan Sprague, Erin Burke (a fellow pantomime artist) and the Bennett twins—Bunny and David—started street busking as quirky robotic characters (at the time known as Peoplebots) in January 2008 at Balboa Park, California. Due to personal reasons, Erin Burke left the group in 2011.
Since their conception, the band has performed at 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.
In October 2009, the band released their first album, Album One. It contained the previously released single from May 2009 titled "On Top of the Universe", along with the hit "Brass Goggles" in 2009. In early 2011 the band released a single, "Honeybee", announcing that it would be on an upcoming second album, and in late 2011 the band announced the release of an interim "live" album entitled Live at the Globe of Yesterday's Tomorrow. On 30 October 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. Also, 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.
2012–2013: The 2¢ Show and MK III
Their second studio album, entitled The 2¢ Show, was released in May 2012. That year, they were voted Best Live Comedy act (and runner up for Best Family Entertainment act) on San Diego A-List.
Besides their musical endeavors, the band publishes a web comic and has produced a card game based on characters in their backstory. In April 2012 they released a DVD entitled, Steam Powered Giraffe: The DVD (and the Quest For the Eternal Harp of Golden Dreams).
On 24 September 2012, the band announced on their Tumblr page that Jon Sprague would no longer be a part of the group. On 1 October it was announced that Sam Luke, the drummer for the band at the time, would become the new robot in the band, "Hatchworth". On 2 November 2012, Hatchworth made his stage debut with SPG at Youmacon in Detroit, Michigan with interim drummer Mike Buxbaum (of A City Serene). Later, Matt Smith was named SPG's new drummer.
During this time, SPG also introduced the characters of the Walter Girls into their shows. The Girls started out by manning the band's merchandise tables at performances, but have started figuring in to the SPG stage show and back story. Described as "blue matter engineers", the porcelian-white skinned and blue-haired Walter Girls (now called Walter Workers) are essentially the robot's caretakers on stage.
In June 2013, SPG released a cover of Rihanna's "Diamonds", essentially a solo performance by the Spine. The accompanying video, released to YouTube, introduced a new character to the SPG canon, a robotic giraffe puppet named GG (voiced by Bunny Bennett). GG appeared again in July when the band released a comedic video, "Walter Robotics Rap", to YouTube.
On 9 August 2013, Steam Powered Giraffe announced the title to their third album, MK III, on the band's website and Tumblr page. The album was released on December 3. In September, the band released a cover of Icona Pop's "I Love It" on their YouTube channel.
2014–present: The Vice Quadrant and Quintessential
On March 18, 2014, it was announced that Michael Reed and Matt Smith would no longer be performing members of Steam Powered Giraffe. The Bennett twins stated that the reasons for their departure was to focus more on the theatrical elements of the act and to reduce the cost of touring.
Early in 2014, "Bunny" Bennett began to transition the character of Rabbit from male to female, coinciding with her own status as a transgender woman. She legally became Isabella Bennett on 22 January 2016.
More videos have followed in the meantime. In May 2014, they released their third cover, a mostly acoustic version of Daft Punk's "Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger". The video marked the first "official" appearance by the female Rabbit to the general public at large (although the band had played some dates prior and some photos and raw audience footage had been seen). The band then followed up with two new videos: "Fancy Shoes" in June and "I'll Rust With You" in July, with the latter featuring live footage recorded at Anime Midwest in Rosemont, Illinois.
In September 2014, Steam Powered Giraffe gave their first international performance, playing at the Grand Canadian Steampunk Exhibition in Niagara Falls, Ontario. They returned for the 2015 Exhibition to do a collaboration show with Professor Elemental.
On September 1, 2015, SPG released The Vice Quadrant: A Space Opera, a 2-disc space opera concept album containing 28 tracks, although iTunes released it as two separate albums for download. The release followed a number of video releases to promote the work. This marked the band's first recorded work with Rabbit as a woman, as well as the first full album recorded strictly as a trio. The album featured an appearance by Professor Elemental as well as vocals by Walter Worker Chelsea Penyak.
On June 20, 2016, Steam Powered Giraffe announced on their website that their fifth studio album, Quintessential was available for pre-order. According to the article, a free downloadable digital copy of the twelve-track album would be included with the purchase of the CD.
On December 19, 2016, the band announced on Tumblr that Samuel Luke would be leaving the group so he could focus more on his independent work as an artist and musician, and that he would immediately be replaced by Bryan Barbarin and his character Zero. The next day, the Bennetts, Sam, and Bryan came together in David and Isabella's new podcast, The Bennettarium, to discuss the robot transition, among other things. Zero's first live show occurred on February 18th of 2017 at The California Center for the Arts in Escondido, California. It was confirmed on March 12, 2017, following her appearance on The Bennettarium, that Erin Burke's contributions to Album One would be restored. It was additionally confirmed on Isabella's Twitter account.
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 Peter 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 the mysterious Blue Matter, discovered and harnessed by Walter. They were originally developed as war robots, intended to guide Walter's first robot, a giant mechanical giraffe named Delilah, in a battle across the African Savannah against a robotic elephant that was built by his rival, Thadeus Becile. Once the battles were over, the robots were decommissioned and re-tooled into musical robots for purposes of entertainment. 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.
In addition to the band's origin, some individual cast members have origins that pertain to their characters. The Spine was re-cast in silver and began wearing a fedora in the 1940s. Former band-robot The Jon was said to have left the band to travel the world, and Hatchworth was brought up from the Walter's basement, forgotten due to a defective power core, repaired and placed as The Jon's replacement.
Rabbit's transition from male to female was explained in the backstory and Isabella's comic, Red Core, that the robot was originally intended to have been female, but due to time constraints, was left unfinished and appeared to be male. Nearly a century later, Rabbit began to malfunction badly, and in the process of repair, the robot's long-lost blueprints were located. Once the mistake was discovered, Peter Walter VI completed Rabbit's build according to her original blueprints, and, for the most part, the malfunctions ceased.
In concert
In webcomic
In lore
Band members
Past members
Chronology
Songs
HoneybeeThe 2¢ Show · 2012
Brass GogglesAlbum One · 2009
Automatonic Electronic HarmonicsLive at the Globe of Yesterday's Tomorrow · 2011