Bikini Bottom Traffic Jams (band.)

Members
 * Squidward Tentacles - Lead Vocals and Sampling. 1988-2002 ; 2002, 2005-present.
 * Spongebob Squarepants (under the name Springboob) - Backing Vocals and Acoustic Guitar 1988-2002 ; 2002, 2005-present
 * Sandy Cheeks - Electric Guitar 1988-2002 ; 2003, 2005-present
 * Nat Peterson - Bass Guitar and occasional lead vocals 1988-2002 ; 2002, 2005-present
 * Patrick Star - Drums and very infrequent backing vocals. 1988-2002 ; 2002, 2005-present
 * Bikini Bottom Orchestra - Frequent Collaborators.

Past Members

Squilliam Fancyson - 1988 (Left due to Squidward not letting him run the group)

Sheldon J. Plankton - 1988-1993 (1965-1993, Unknown causes)

Eugene H. Krabs - 1993-1999 (1967-1999, Departure from money causing stroke and eventual death)

Early Days (1988 - 1990 )
The Bikini Bottom Traffic Jams were founded by Squidward Tentacles and Squilliam Fancyson. Squilliam barged his way in at the last second to annoy Squidward because, even though he's rich, he's a complete scumbag.

Squidward picked up some of the only Bikini Bottomites he knew personally at the time and played at multiple restaurants in town, avoiding the Krusty Krab, because they knew of Plankton's antics. They didn't play at the chum bucket, though, not like anyone was there.

Squilliam left the band after this small tour, but not before their debut release went into post-production. Squilliam was credited with all instrumentals on the EP.

Squidward Tentacles and his fellow bandmates, continued to tour around Bikini Bottom and even picked up a show in Rock Bottom, much to the dismay of Spongebob and Patrick who quit the band for exactly two days before coming back.

The Great Barrier Reef (1991-1993)
After the Traffic Jams had gained a sizable following as a local band, Squidward managed to scrape some studio money together so they could record their first album. Spongebob broke his arm from falling off of a stool, early in the session, but insisted on doing backing vocals anyway. The acoustic guitar was given to Squidward for most of the recording. There were only five songs on the album, out of nearly twenty, that used the acoustic guitar for more than thirty seconds, so Squidward didn't see this as much of a burden.

In a 2006 interview with Squidward Tentacles, he was asked about how the recording went down. He responded : "We just powered through songs, which I had written before founding the band. I thought the songs were genius when I was a pretentious little 18 year old, but, I just look back and cringe slightly, now."

In about three weeks, the recording was done and the album was released on January 4th 1992. The lo-fi production as well as minimalist vocal work made this quite different from any album released afterwards, Spongebob described it as an experiment that went quite well for them in a 2001 interview.

The album didn't sell well when it was first released, only selling ten-thousand in its first six months on sale. It was reissued soon after in April 1993 and did quite well around the local circuit, solidifying their status as a top-tier local band.

Death of Sheldon J. Plankton.
Plankton died in June of 1993. The autopsy report had found multiple blood clots, but the cause of them is unknown. The band cancelled all of their shows for the rest of the year in memory of him.

In an interview by the local press, shortly after it happened, Spongebob revealed that Plankton was the driving force behind the sound of the first album. Their later stuff still kept an ethereal edge but they focused on other means of songwriting more.

Introduction of Eugene H. Krabs and The Fear of Fishermen (1994)
After the death of Plankton, the band needed a keyboardist, as Squidward wasn't on keyboard at the time, Krabs was one of the first volunteers. The band liked his personality and decided to keep him, even though he had to use a special, claw shaped keyboard, constructed by Sandy Cheeks.

Afterwards, in March of 1994, they set out to record their second studio album, "The Fear Of Fishermen." The fear of fishermen was a double album, which, yet again, the band powered through in about three to four weeks. The quality of the production was noticeably higher and multiple songs could be listed under the genre of "Jazz Fusion."

The songs had a theme where they would all start with the band either uncontrollably laughing, or spongebob, with the mic practically in his mouth, screaming at the top of his lungs, which was the only incredibly grainy sound on the record.

The album was released in May of 1994 and was a huge success among both Bikini and Rock bottomites. The album went Platinum in June of 2014.

Hello! Rock Bottom! (Tour, 1995)
Rock Bottom was toured by The Traffic Jams in early 1995. The concert is considered their most violent by many goers from both Bikini and Rock Bottom, although the latter had to add an obligatory "Prrtht" in the middle of a sentence. It's just the accent, though.

Setlist
1 : Leave Me Alone (The Squid EP, the one with Squilliam on)

2: Follow (currently unreleased on any album format)

3: Bernie (Failure cover, Fear of Fishermen)

4: Song against Protests (The incredible irony) (Niphates digitalis, Upcoming third album)

5: Niphates Digitalis (Niphates Digitalis)

6: The Static God (Self titled fifth album, Spongebob on Lead Vocals.)

7: Sheldon, We see you up there (known as "Tribute song" on Niphates Digitalis)

8: Migration/Great Barrier Reef (Great Barrier Reef)

Mainly because of "Leave me alone" being forty minutes in length, this was all that the set had.

Niphates Digitalis, Death of Eugene H. Krabs. (1995-1999)
In September of 1995, Krabs was admitted into hospital. The band thought he just had the flu. After Krabs came out of the hospital, recording of their third studio album, Niphates Digitalis, started.

Niphates Digitalis was recorded in Squidward's basement, because he missed the thrill of recording at home, after he disbanded his first project, funnily enough, known as "Project."

Niphates Digitalis contained almost-kind-of-lo-fi production, but wasn't noticed as a lo-fi album by the media. This album was recorded in the underwater equivalent of "Rancho de La Luna." The recording took two years, because of Eugene's mysterious illness causing him to take breaks in the middle of sessions, which could last for months at a time.

Eugene H. Krabs snuck one of his solo songs onto the album at the very last minute, but it was met with very warm reception by skeptics of the band and is the only known recording of Krabs playing five or six instruments (Not at once)

The album was released a few days before Krabs' death on December 30th 1998. Krabs died of a stroke in his Anchor home on January 3rd 1999.

Adlib (1999-2000)
After the death of the two former keyboardists, the band decided to hand the keyboards over to Squidward. Honestly, it's a miracle that he's lasted eighteen years.

Recording of Adlib started after the memorial service of Krabs, when the band started a process called "music therapy." These were originally short jams but started being recorded after they developed into fully fledged songs, at the request of Patrick Star.

The songs were recorded mainly at Sandy's Treedome. The glass dome provided a brilliant drum room and the sound of the drums on the record was created by pure accident.

The final song on the album, "Custard" was written by Squilliam Fancyson when he decided he really craved custard. They decided to let him have a guest appearance on vocals, for the hardcore fans that have stuck with them.

The album turned "gold" on April 17th 2006.

Self-titled and hiatus. 2000-2006
The self-titled album was recorded on a caffeine binge, in a day. Surprisingly, the songs came out very good and the album is a fan favorite. The album was released three days after it was recorded, with somewhat high quality production, also done on a caffeine binge.

Shortly after recording the self-titled, Sandy went on a rampage in Squidward's studio apartment for no apparent reason and this caused the band to split for a number of years, reuniting for a one-off tour in 2003

Post-hiatus (2006-)
The band has put a focus on touring more than anything and hasn't released anything new as of yet, but rumors of a sixth album being in the works are floating about. The band has not released an official statement about this yet.