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Im sure there must be some nice stories out there.
To kick it off, we named out band gigDoggy cause we wanna book gigs and were crazy about dogs. So not much of a story there. Bet yours is better...


Oh and we got this blog out. It's based on band quotes and unsigned band related articles.
Feel free to check it out and leave some comment while your at it:
www.gigdoggy.wordpress.com

Good topic.

One time I'd played an open mic with two guys, & it was a good set, so good in fact that the bar owner asked us to do a gig. What to call ourselves...

I have lists of names that I write whenever the mood hits me...I handed them to the guitar player, but all he wanted was his name in highlights.

I wasn't gonna go for that. I don't like band members names in the band name for all the obvious reasons, unless I'm just a hired gun.

So we argued...then this drunk came up & asked the guitarist what our name was, & he said "ask Phil." (My name is Phil)

"Nashville?!?!?" the drunk spat.

Well the guitarist thought that was so funny that he figured our name should be "Ask Phil Nashville." He also wanted the marquee to read "featuring.." his name after it.

The drummer & I nixed that, so I got a band for one show with my name...although I thought it was kinda lame, & the "story" behind it even lamer. The other two guys thought it was so great, however, that I was outvoted on the issue.

Had a hell of a time getting the name approved for "Funk Me, Fester!" but I thought that was the best...ppl still talk about it around here. And the kicker was - no funk.

Being in the buckle of the bible belt, it's hard to come up with cool names like that one & get away with it.

This is a huge issue for every band I've ever played in...& yeah...it's important to me, too.

I picked the last one. There's not really a choice that applies to me there. My old band Spiral just did pretty much what I decided! I know that sounds awful, but about the only input they ever gave was to just play their instruments. I wrote, I booked, I promoted, I networked. Them? Eh.....

Anyway....
We agreed on Spiral b/c I explained the power and beauty of the spiral as it occurs in nature and different cultures. Plus, I used to use a series of effects that sounded like "swirling" ...... It just fit us.

I never choose.

I'll toss out suggestions, but typically let the others worry about it. I gave up on fighting about it a while back.

If I feel it's TOO dumb (like Pee Pee Head), I'll say something, but I tend to stay out of it.

I'm a big believer that it almost doesn't matter. If the music kicks ass, somehow the name generates it's power from that. A good example would be KORN. When I first heard it I thought it was ridiculous. But with the music they created along with their image, it became quite a powerful band name. If they sucked, it might have gone down in history as the dumbest band name ever created.

If a band kicks total ass.. Even Pee Pee Head would work. Vagina might be a little harder to pull off.

One Day Broken.. Neil, The Bass player, just blurted it out one night, the other guys liked it, and I just said I didn't care, fine with me. I've got songs to write. If that's what you guys want, I'm cool with it.

There was no fighting, just suggestions by everyone until a name stuck. The guys in One Day Broken are pretty relaxed. It was a laid back issue that we knew would just happen at some point.

Good point Shredd,

The best example is the name THE BEATLES ...Would history have been a whole lot different if they called themselves "THE SELTAEB" ?

I fish a lot, my name is Bob, I'm the main vocalist, and the guys in the band wanted to pick a name for the band that had the word blue in it, so we somehow decided on fisherman bob & The Bluefin Tuna Band, and the rest is history.

I only have my new band half named.

Howlin, J and the....

Any suggestions?

HowlinJ wrote:Good point Shredd,

The best example is the name THE BEATLES ...Would history have been a whole lot different if they called themselves "THE SELTAEB" ?

I heard they were originally called "The Silver Beatles" or something like that, and it was shortened.

Some bands really came up with great, creative and catchy names. "Rush". "Meat Beat Manifesto". "Front 242" "Death Cab For Cutey".

And then you have "The Dave Matthews Band". Oh well.

HowlinJ wrote:I only have my new band half named.

Howlin, J and the....

Any suggestions?

Craze

Howlin J. and the Wolfpack!!

If you had group of female backup singers, you should call them "The Moist Howlettes"

Brad...you crack me up

Howlin' J & the Pug Puppies

...& the Wailing Spliffs

...& the Dimple Dunkers

...& Huey, Dewey, Louie & Chewy (ooops...wrong thread)

...& Cheese Danish

...& the Crunch Monkeys

...& the Solid Purple Blues Band

What genre' are you claiming Howlin, HowlinJ n the Rock,
HowlinJ n the Jaz. How bout The Howlin J band?
Our idiot name just stuck from something one of the guys said about thats some noisy kung fu, we used to practice in my MMA gym after hours.

My new project is coming together, and I guess the next step will be figuring out a name. I'm sure it will be hellish to a point, but everyone so far seems pretty cool and laid back. I got a couple of names tht just come to me when thinking about stuff, like the other day I was thinking about the beach, so I came up with:

The Beach
The Shores
Surf / The Surfs
Riptide / The Riptides
Preserver
Knot
The Sails
High Tide
Breeze
Plank

you get the idea...

Just as long as its not "The Crabs" a seafaring band name would be cool.
Im sorry man, just in a strange mood today.