Let’s go 33 years back in time, to the year 1976.

Not everyone’s memory can reach so far back in time (not suggesting that Sandra’s so old nobody remembers those times, but we and our generation don’t anyway :D), so let’s get a closer look at what life looked like back then.

Imagine life with mostly only black and white television and Grundig C260, a popular cassette recorder, as the most advanced technical miracle. No CDs. No HD movies. No widescreen or plasma TV. NO INTERNET. That’s right people, it seems that it is possible to survive without it.

While the UK was going through it’s most recognisable phase – the years of the punk, The Crass and Sex Pistols, Germany’s music was much more varied. From hippie stuff, through jazz, to progressive rock and a lot more.

But what we’re most interested in at the moment is one event that changed many people’s lives. Well, at least ours, but let’s say yours too.

*drum roll* *orchestra coming in*

25th May 1976, when Sandra Nasic was born.

Having moved to Germany from their native country Croatia, Sandra’s parents chose Göttingen as the place to live in and stay for good. This town, situated in Lower Saxony by the Leine river was soon to become the birthplace of Sandra and her sister Lilly. Well, the other way around really, seeing as Lilly is older, but let’s not get into such details, shall we? No point getting too precise about the town itself either, that’s what Wikipedia’s for. :P

Now let’s find out more about the schooling system in Germany. Yes, Sandra had to go through the horror of school too.

After optional nursery, education starts at the age of 6 in Grundschule – an equivalent of Primary School. This lasts for four years, and then at the age of 10 a decision has to be made (usually by parents of the child with the help of the teacher, as the results of the child matter here): the child can either go to Gymnasium (lasting 9 years. That’s right, 9 years in the same school.), Hauptschule (5 years) or Realschule (6 years). Sandra chose the last option and successfully finished Voigt-Realschule in Göttingen. We’re not quite sure what happened next, as some sources say she finished the next step of education and got through her exams, and Sandra herself has apparently said in one of the interviews that she had left school at the age of 17 to join the Guano Apes and start her journey with music. Either way, let’s get on to life in the 90s – what the world around Sandra looked like when she was a teenager.

The 90s as we know them are the time of grunge and ‘the Nirvana revolution’. Sandra seems to have gone with this flow, going from a more hip-hop style to grunge. We can even see that on a video of one of her first gigs with the Apes (found on one of their DVDs) – Sandra wearing a knee-length jumper and geek glasses, somehow still managing to look sexy, even with that style... hmm...

Ahem, the 90s, right. Sandra actively took part in all the rock bands that appeared anywhere in her environment – mostly school, obviously. After one of the bands that she got into fell apart, she started going to auditions for bands she didn’t know. As she said in one of the interviews, she’d go to an audition (usually with her sister) and listen to the music the band played through the closed door. If she liked the music, she’d audition for a part in the band.

And then, dramatically speaking, came the time of the Apes.

In January 1993 Sandra joined the band – of what they did beforehand, you can read more in the Guano Apes section of the website. A friend of Dennis (the drummer), knew Sandra, and when the Apes started looking for a singer, it’s through the friend that the band met Sandra. Confusing. You can hardly be surprised by the fact that the guys accepted Sandra into the band right after the first audition they’ve had with her. Shortly after that, they’ve already had a few songs done, and after playing some rather insignificant gigs, Guano Apes took a step that rapidly brought them into the spotlight.

In 1996 the band took part in a competition called ‘Local Heroes’. Apart from the huge range of Sandra’s vocal abilities and the excellent standard of instrumental parts, the ‘chemistry’ and passion for the music must’ve been the factors that made the band stand out – leading to winning the competition. The main award was the possibility to record an album.

From there, Sandra’s career with Guano Apes went more rapidly than ever.

Three records, in 1997, 2000 and 2003 were all more successful, than anyone would’ve expected. And the splitting of the band was equally surprising.

Both the band and Sandra try to keep it quiet, so the reasons for this aren’t clear. What Sandra always says, is that she needed to ‘grow musically’, and she didn’t feel this freedom and ‘chemistry’ anymore while she was with the band; also that she felt limited by the fact that she wasn’t on her own, and presumably couldn’t do everything that she wanted to.

As a result of that, Sandra’s fans experienced a VEEERYYY long-lasting break. According to Sandra, she took a break from the music industry through the first year after leaving Guano Apes. Afterwards she started to work on her solo album – ‘The Signal’.

There were many speculations about what sort of music or theme would the record have. Although in fact it seems that most of her fans would most likely listen to it even if it contained nothing more but just Sandra reading out a German phonebook.

And in the end, Sandra surprised us again.

On her solo record, we found all sorts of music – from electro, through pop and slow, emotional songs to hard rock songs with aggressive vocals – so Sandra as we know her from the Guano Apes.

After a single, the debut album and two videoclips, another long silence kept us waiting for a solo concert tour – mentioned by Sandra several times.

And what did we get?

A Guano Apes reunion!
Several festivals around Europe brought back all the memories and the songs from before ‘The Signal’. But what now?

To keep the tradition up, Sandra keeps us waiting again.

But one thing for sure: whatever she’ll bring to us next, is worth the wait.

So that’s it so far, all of the most vital information about Sandra’s life story. To find out more about her personality, character and favourites, check out the interviews section of the website and enjoy the pure essence of Nasic-wisdom. :D

PS. 1976?! God, she still looks 20 years old at most. Ahh.....