Band Names

[BlueAliceOasis]

Tried to find a thread like this, but didn't, so here goes...

For you guys that have played in band s(most of you I would assume), what were the names of your bands? Did your band even have a name or were you guys just the bar band for the night? What motivated these names, what were their sources, etc.

Is genre a factor when it comes to names? Because I've contemplated this and I have a few ideas for names based on genre:


Punk- Children With Scoliosis
Technical Death Metal- Heaven, Hell and Akuma In Between (or Akuma In Between for short), All Of Creation
Alternative Metal- 20 @ Stalk3R (or just 20 At Stalker)
Jazz/R&B-Blue Circle
Prog Metal- BlueAliceOasis or Planetary Coffin
Thrash/Groove Metal- Ale-X
Hard/Prog Rock- Ocean

Just a few I came up with, just was wondering about the rest of you guys.

 

[Joe Nerve]

Wow... not that I think this is exactly what you're asking for, but I'm going to give a run through of some of the bands (band names) I've played in. I never really did this before, hence the opening "wow" . These are at least ones I can remember right now. Played for a lot of artists that went by their name, too.

The Team
The Nerve
Nerve (a different one)
Cortez the Killer
Vinyl Stash
Bumblefoot
JNP (Joe Nerve Project)
Led Blimpie
Led Bazooka
Outside
The Happy Problem
LaLa's Basement
Monte's Crew
The Rumrats
My Magic Johnson
Dictator's Bitch
Keeta Speed
Top Down
As Is
Rubber Band
Group Therapy
The Violets
Izrock
That Confunded Bridge
Red Not Chili Peppers
Lord (my very first band)
Triton
Spineless Puppet
Thunder Farm

 

[Freez]

Bands I've been in:

Sway (late 70's-early 80's) - Named after a Stones song. We were just kids (15-17) but we had a nice thing going, kind of like Black Crows, before Black Crows...

Nitro (early 80's) - same band but now the hair metal thing has taken hold. We still had a Black Crows kind of vibe, but hey, early 80's, so Nitro it was. We got some pointy guitars too!

The Action (mid eighties) - same lineup as Nitro, but we found out there were other Nitro bands (pre internet, children!) Name change was intended to reflect mod influence (The Who, The Jam). We still sound like The Black Crows...name abandoned after one gig to go back to Nitro, because no one new who the hell The Action were, but everyone knew Nitro! Other Nitro's be damned!

MDP - (late 80's - early 90's) First letter of each members last name. Basement power trio, played Rush, Ozzie, Sabbath, etc. Guilty pleasure band

Bad Fun - (mid 90's) - Named after a cult tune.

Ex-Supermodels (xSM) - (early 2000's) - not sure where it came from, my guitar players idea. To me it's sort of like Barenaked Ladies, but my GP can't stand them, so that ain't it!

The Fuze Band - (2000's) Short and easy to remember; yes I know there are 1000 variations of "Fuse" as a band name. Bar band that played every damn era of pop/rock music that there is, can't say I loved it, but it helped pay the bills during the economic crunch.

The Ilk (2010-2016) This project just recently called it a day. I came up with the name but was never really proud of it; it looks funny written out, it's not a widely use term so people don't "get it", when you say it sounds like " The Elk", etc. For some reason it fell out of my mouth and the rest of the band kind of identified with it. The GP actually loved the weirdness of it and the fact that it confused people, he loves that kind of crap. Great band that just couldn't get anything happening, too involved in careers and family and such.

I know there have been a few others I've been in over the years, but they must not be too memorable!

 

[MattZilla]

love red not chili peppers!


DUIville
Sam's Hot Mom
Duck Butter
Jesse Died Again?
Brock's License to Kill
Lowbrau
Greenest Bongwater Survival
The Soggie Monsters
Jayne Dracula
Sucks Capacitor
Salute the Sun
Falling Water House
Flood Robertson IX / Flood 9
Gomer Gomez

@Freez totally wanted to do a redneck metal band called The Elk way back in hs ~2000. The only other musicians in town were very much not redneck at all

 

[BlueAliceOasis]

Wow... not that I think this is exactly what you're asking for, but I'm going to give a run through of some of the bands (band names) I've played in. I never really did this before, hence the opening "wow" . These are at least ones I can remember right now. Played for a lot of artists that went by their name, too.

The Team
The Nerve
Nerve (a different one)
Cortez the Killer
Vinyl Stash
Bumblefoot
JNP (Joe Nerve Project)
Led Blimpie
Led Bazooka
Outside
The Happy Problem
LaLa's Basement
Monte's Crew
The Rumrats
My Magic Johnson
Dictator's Bitch
Keeta Speed
Top Down
As Is
Rubber Band
Group Therapy
The Violets
Izrock
That Confunded Bridge
Red Not Chili Peppers
Lord (my very first band)
Triton
Spineless Puppet
Thunder Farm

Led Blimpie has an awesome website, seems really cool. That Confunded Bridge, The Team and Red Not Chili Peppers are also genius.

Bands I've been in:

Sway (late 70's-early 80's) - Named after a Stones song. We were just kids (15-17) but we had a nice thing going, kind of like Black Crows, before Black Crows...

Nitro (early 80's) - same band but now the hair metal thing has taken hold. We still had a Black Crows kind of vibe, but hey, early 80's, so Nitro it was. We got some pointy guitars too!

The Action (mid eighties) - same lineup as Nitro, but we found out there were other Nitro bands (pre internet, children!) Name change was intended to reflect mod influence (The Who, The Jam). We still sound like The Black Crows...name abandoned after one gig to go back to Nitro, because no one new who the hell The Action were, but everyone knew Nitro! Other Nitro's be damned!

MDP - (late 80's - early 90's) First letter of each members last name. Basement power trio, played Rush, Ozzie, Sabbath, etc. Guilty pleasure band

Bad Fun - (mid 90's) - Named after a cult tune.

Ex-Supermodels (xSM) - (early 2000's) - not sure where it came from, my guitar players idea. To me it's sort of like Barenaked Ladies, but my GP can't stand them, so that ain't it!

The Fuze Band - (2000's) Short and easy to remember; yes I know there are 1000 variations of "Fuse" as a band name. Bar band that played every damn era of pop/rock music that there is, can't say I loved it, but it helped pay the bills during the economic crunch.

The Ilk (2010-2016) This project just recently called it a day. I came up with the name but was never really proud of it; it looks funny written out, it's not a widely use term so people don't "get it", when you say it sounds like " The Elk", etc. For some reason it fell out of my mouth and the rest of the band kind of identified with it. The GP actually loved the weirdness of it and the fact that it confused people, he loves that kind of crap. Great band that just couldn't get anything happening, too involved in careers and family and such.

I know there have been a few others I've been in over the years, but they must not be too memorable!

That's pretty cool! What was The Ilk about?

love red not chili peppers!


DUIville
Sam's Hot Mom
Schmoopie
Duck Butter
Jesse Died Again?
Brock's License to Kill
Lowbrau
Greenest Bongwater Survival
The Soggie Monsters
Jayne Dracula
Sucks Capacitor
Salute the Sun
Falling Water House
Flood Robertson IX / Flood 9
Gomer Gomez

Flood 9, Falling Water House and Jesse Died Again? Those are pretty cool. What genres do you play?

 

[MattZilla]

Flood's group is kinda proggy bro country. Zack Brown + Mastodon? no recordings yet

FWH was very Shadowy Men on a Shadowy Street originals plus some green day, daft punk, and sublime covers all done in a smss surfpunk flavor

JDA? was a straight up black flag circle jerks ripoff with lyrics that were just inside jokes that had us dying onstage. pretty fun for us anyways.

The rest were all some flavor of psychadelic... jam, sludge punk, that one goth metal band, acid jazz, shoegaze

 

[Freez]

The Ilk was an originals band primarily. We did play several multi band tribute shows though. We have a nice little clique of musician friends that all have bands, so it's pretty easy to get 5-10 bands that will come out for a British Invasion show, or a Beatles show, or 80's, or Power Pop, etc. We've got a Bowie tribute coming up soon, did a Kinks show, that kind of thing. It's kind of like a social event for all of our musiciand buddies, but we all make a few bucks too. Lotsa fun!

 

[hrodbert696]

I have a notebook page with band name ideas. Don't do all that much with it. One day I went and googled them all and found that 95% of them were taken.

Band's I've been in:

Virginia Dare (drummer's idea for a name.)
Parabolic Wave (NOT my idea. never went anywhere).
Switchblade Beat (my idea, but I wound up not liking it)
Finding Fire (some originals guys I jammed with, actually they came up with that name after I left)
Wipt (I hated that one - already chosen before I joined)
The Fuzzboxx (had been gigging 10 years with that name when I joined)
Longhand (current cover band. Name was my idea, but not my first choice)
Fallen Houses (originals project of a guitarist friend, his name choice, I like it).

 

[buldog5151bass]

I never worried about band names. As long as it is nothing offensive, or patently misleading, who cares?

 

[Gravedigger Dav]

B.C and the Cavemen (fronted by Big Chuck Monroe)
The Firebirds (B.C. bought a new guitar)
The Modernaires
Looking Glass
Southfield Blues Band
The Diminished Fifth
All Night Diner
The High Speed Wobblers
4 Against the Current
Doc Hogan's Bad Habit

Those are the ones I can remember.

I was not in these, but I like the names

Sheep Herders International Trade Union
W.C. Fields Memorial Electrical String Band

 

[Flashback Bass]

Current Band: NIGHT SHIFT (Everybody made suggestions, picked it out of a hat. Drummer was working the Night Shift at the time.

Past Bands (All cover bands):

Crown Regal Band CRB (Play on words for our favorite libation "Crown Royal")

Flashback (Played old covers! And where my screen name came from)

Double Secret Probation DSP (First band to play out!)

Notable "Basement" Bands through the years;

Burnt Toast

Tall Dead Grass

Physical Insult

Fungus

 

[skot71]

Saw a headline yesterday in my local paper about 2 brothers fighting and one stabbed the other with a fork. "Pork Chop Fracas"

 

[Muttleybass]

Currently: Ricochet Rabbit
Side project: MIB (Mike, Ian & Brad... or Monkeys In Bondage, Mine Is Bigger, Made In Bankok... Malevolent Inbred Bastards...)

Previously:

The Smokin' Rutabagas
Freewill (Didn't care for that one... Everyone called it "Free Willy")
Avocado Shag (Funk trio)
Leather Messiah (original)
Total Rewind (HATED that name)
Intensive Care (80's)
Classified (80's)
Ground Control
Woody James Band (hired gun)
Tokyo Rose

 

[two fingers]

One of the reasons for my TB name is an old band name. We were drinking Two Fingers Tequila while trying to figure out a band name. We shoulda called it Hangover. Oy.

 

[whatizitman]

Double Secret Probation gets my vote for the win.

I realize I haven't been in that many bands. Or rather, many bands that went far enough as a unit to actually settle on a name.

Small Talk (high school. Asked to sing one show for them)
Crop Circles (first college band. Collective would probably be a better word for it. Played acoustic and electric guitar for a weird, creepy songwriter guy. I mean REALLY creepy. I was pretty open minded at the time, if a bit naïve. He didn't care what instruments people played, as long as it were his creepy songs. I appreciated the novelty at the time, since my college was really conservative and preppy)
Zero (college band I fronted and played rhythm guitar for. I wrote most of the material. Pop punk/grunge, I guess)
Electric Alligator (recent alt-country band, part original, part cover. But not really a cover band. Play bass and back up vocals)
Yet to be named (actually haven't decided on a name for our current soul/r&b cover group. Although my guitar buddy has floated a few, I'm too picky)

EDIT: Cow Congress and J.Miles Band - not bands, but names for my solo stuff.

Several other projects over the years that never got off the ground and never got a name (at least not that I can remember).

The best band names were the ones that came inadvertently, and not while a bunch of us were sitting around floating ideas. For example, that creepy songwriter guy said something about crop circles one day, and I was like.... that...sounds...like... a fitting name for whatever this weird band is turning out to be.

I prefer short, sweet, easy off the tongue band names.

 

[picko]

Machinations
The Big Show
Cherry Lace
The Concert Pigs
Bonnie Blue
shagbuddy

 

[socialleper]

Tried to find a thread like this, but didn't, so here goes...

For you guys that have played in band s(most of you I would assume), what were the names of your bands? Did your band even have a name or were you guys just the bar band for the night? What motivated these names, what were their sources, etc.

Is genre a factor when it comes to names? Because I've contemplated this and I have a few ideas for names based on genre:


Punk- Children With Scoliosis
Technical Death Metal- Heaven, Hell and Akuma In Between (or Akuma In Between for short), All Of Creation
Alternative Metal- 20 @ Stalk3R (or just 20 At Stalker)
Jazz/R&B-Blue Circle
Prog Metal- BlueAliceOasis or Planetary Coffin
Thrash/Groove Metal- Ale-X
Hard/Prog Rock- Ocean

Just a few I came up with, just was wondering about the rest of you guys.

As a guy that plays in bands, watches the other bands, and consumes massive amounts of music, here's my opinion:

Genre does matter. Your band name needs to be something that grabs the attention of the unaware. It needs to convey something about the band. If you are a jazz three piece a name like Blood Drenched Triptych wouldn't make a lot of sense. Transversely, a death metal band called The Johnson Lounge Quartet wouldn't make a lot of sense either, unless it is obviously ironic like Pink Pony Gore Orgy.
At some point the name of a band just becomes a brand that people don't think too hard about. We say the name "Beatles" but does anyone think about bugs? Names like Iron Maiden or Judas Priest have the right sound, but we don't think much about how their name relates to the band. Metallica is a nonsense word, but it conveys the idea of the band perfectly. So is Opeth, but the word has some kind of an ethereal quality that matches the band's work.
What I'm really tired of are word salad band names that just sound like someone just glued some random things together. A Job For A Cowboy? Doesn't sound very metal and doesn't mean anything. Asking Alexandria, Bring Me The Horizon, Thy Art Is Murder, Fit for An Autopsy, The Devil Wears Prada, etc; these are dumb names for a band. Another one that makes zero sense is Fallujah. Why would would name a tech metal band after a city in Iraq? It sounds like they just thought it sounded cool and went with it without thinking. I get at this point a lot of the "good" names are taken, but come on guys.

As to your names:
The punk one is OK depending what kind of punk it is.
All of Creation is pretty good but Beyond Creation kinda has you beat. The other sounds like word salad.
Your alt metal name: NO! No one will remember it and it makes no sense.
Blue Circle- there is potential there
Prog Metal- its hard to judge those since the fans tend to be a little wacko. Either of those could work.
Ale-X? Nah. Sounds like you are knocking off Alestorm.
Ocean? Already taken.

A band name is important. You don't need to agonize over it until the band is up and moving, but it should have some kind of meaning. It should either be witty, eye catching, memorable, or plant an idea in the head of the consumer. Cover bands tend to use song lyrics or album names for their bands, especially if they are tribute bands. Literature is a great place to find band names. Maybe so many band names suck because people don't read anymore. Lighter styles of music tend to use band member, city, street, or location names.
Just remember to put yourself in the shoes of the listener. Pretend for a moment that you know nothing about your own band. What would grab your attention about your band?

 

[BlueAliceOasis]

As a guy that plays in bands, watches the other bands, and consumes massive amounts of music, here's my opinion:

Genre does matter. Your band name needs to be something that grabs the attention of the unaware. It needs to convey something about the band. If you are a jazz three piece a name like Blood Drenched Triptych wouldn't make a lot of sense. Transversely, a death metal band called The Johnson Lounge Quartet wouldn't make a lot of sense either, unless it is obviously ironic like Pink Pony Gore Orgy.
At some point the name of a band just becomes a brand that people don't think too hard about. We say the name "Beatles" but does anyone think about bugs? Names like Iron Maiden or Judas Priest have the right sound, but we don't think much about how their name relates to the band. Metallica is a nonsense word, but it conveys the idea of the band perfectly. So is Opeth, but the word has some kind of an ethereal quality that matches the band's work.
What I'm really tired of are word salad band names that just sound like someone just glued some random things together. A Job For A Cowboy? Doesn't sound very metal and doesn't mean anything. Asking Alexandria, Bring Me The Horizon, Thy Art Is Murder, Fit for An Autopsy, The Devil Wears Prada, etc; these are dumb names for a band. Another one that makes zero sense is Fallujah. Why would would name a tech metal band after a city in Iraq? It sounds like they just thought it sounded cool and went with it without thinking. I get at this point a lot of the "good" names are taken, but come on guys.

As to your names:
The punk one is OK depending what kind of punk it is.
All of Creation is pretty good but Beyond Creation kinda has you beat. The other sounds like word salad.
Your alt metal name: NO! No one will remember it and it makes no sense.
Blue Circle- there is potential there
Prog Metal- its hard to judge those since the fans tend to be a little wacko. Either of those could work.
Ale-X? Nah. Sounds like you are knocking off Alestorm.
Ocean? Already taken.

A band name is important. You don't need to agonize over it until the band is up and moving, but it should have some kind of meaning. It should either be witty, eye catching, memorable, or plant an idea in the head of the consumer. Cover bands tend to use song lyrics or album names for their bands, especially if they are tribute bands. Literature is a great place to find band names. Maybe so many band names suck because people don't read anymore. Lighter styles of music tend to use band member, city, street, or location names.
Just remember to put yourself in the shoes of the listener. Pretend for a moment that you know nothing about your own band. What would grab your attention about your band?

In Order of name critique:
-What kind of punk would it fit?
-Dammit, I was thinking that. I like the other one though, it sounds cool IMO, and I based it off of Street Fighter.
-I came up with it at a time when I thought band names were allowed (so to say) make no sense.
-I don't even know who Alestorm are.
-I had a feeling, ugh. Lol

Agree with the above. Those names are stupid, but fitting. Stupid names for stupid bands. People should read more.

 

[steamthief]

That Confunded Bridge

 

[grinx]

Rud Awakening - metal cover band
Feuri - metal cover band
Velcro Coffin - alt original band
Naked House - same band as VC but added vocalist and did more covers
EST - same band as NH but added vocalist
Boneyard - alt-country originals
Rubber Gypsy (since 2001 - ?) - acoustipirateyfolkmountainyrocky originals