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Band Names...can we discuss?

#62
I joined my first band in the early part of this year. It has had birthing pains and we have yet to anything but some rehearsals. We spent too much time bouncing band names off each other, and most of it was wasted because I was the only one pre-vetting the names before suggesting them. Too many times the other guys would get excited by a name only to find it was in use. Trying to pick a band name that is not in use is about as difficult as picking a good URL that's is available.

I'd say 70% of the names I checked were in use by someone, and a few times I checked names that I didn't even want to use but was curious to see if they were in use, eg, "Mobius Dick". The most surprising was a name that was a typographic pun, eg "mirrorrim" (taken!). "lorem ipsum" is taken. The two guitarists and I all have helix stomps, so I checked "triple helix" (taken). I have a list of 80 such taken names so I don't waste time trying them again in the future.

My penchant is for wordplay and for self deprecating humor, but that wasn't appreciated so much. "Dork Energy" was available but rejected by the other guys. Same with "Panning For Lead". Since we are a cover band, I thought "The Blankets" would be good (we do covers) but nobody else liked it

Good luck figuring out a band name -- we still haven't succeeded.
 
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#66
What is your schtick? Is the name really important to you?

Names have meaning and are important. Not saying it has to be super heavy and deep, but what are you trying to say with your name?
 
#67
Best local band... "The Fabulous Armidillos". They just played last night and drew about 20,000 people at a mid sized towns outdoor gig... On a Wednesday night.

I gotta agree with SoCal80s "The band makes the name cool, not the other way around."
upload_2023-8-10_11-32-30.png
 
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#68
Egg250 said:
What is your schtick? Is the name really important to you?

Names have meaning and are important. Not saying it has to be super heavy and deep, but what are you trying to say with your name?
Click to expand...

Got that from an old, 70's SNL sketch where they parodied the PBJ ad of "With a name like Smuckers, it has to be good". They then started throwing out other names to improve on the branding and came up with "With a name like Painful Rectal Itch, it has to be good". That stuck with me for 45+ years. Just throwing it out there for those with a sense of humor.
 
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#74
51PRI said:
Wow, they HAVE to be REAL good to be able to afford to have 8 people in the band.
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Good is an understatement. 8 people is one variation. They bring in guest artists, combine with other bands, and sellout theatres. Through the grapevine I've heard what they get paid...

They can afford to have 8 people in the band. Sometimes 5 or 6, sometimes 10-15.... They do a Pink floyd show with about 50 local kids... They've also been together a LONG time without getting stale

All with what I always thought was a ridiculous name.... The Fabulous Armidillos (?)
 

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