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Picking a band name sucks

hrodbert696

hrodbert696

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Jan 15, 2010
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#1
It does. I'm putting a new cover band together, we have contacts we can get gigs from but I'd like to be able to at least tell them the name of the band we're asking them to book. We've been practicing together about six weeks now, starting putting nominations out there from day one. Here's the list of name ideas that came out:

Ow That Hurt (or just Ow)
Dirty Bubbles
Rock Bottom
The Ride
Bubblehead
Argyle Gargoyle
Get in the Van
Mug Shot Mary
Junk Drawer
The Kin
Long Hand
Payphones
What's Left
Ride the Beauty
The Last Call
All God's Dogs
Four Tea Thieves
Born on a Ship
Frogfeet
The Nibblers
Rider
The Third Way
The Kicks
The Easy Part
The Transients
Objects in the Mirror
The Switch

A week ago, we finally agreed to go with the Switch (three of us used to be in a band together called Switchblade Beat and it would have been a nice reference). Then I went home and googled it and found a bunch of other bands using the name. None are in our area but I'm concerned it would make it harder for anyone trying to search for us to find us. So I told the others this over email, and the singer and guitarist agreed to change it. We thought "Mug Shot Mary" sounded like a drug but modified it to Mug Shot Monday and were ready to go with that. But the drummer never bothers checking his email, so we get together for practice last night and he vetoes the name when he hears it.

Further discussion, no clear winner emerges, so we take a different approach. Pass the list of names around on a sheet of paper, everyone cross out any names that they positively do not want to use. One principle I laid down is that no one should be playing under a name they hate; I used to be in a band called Wipt (name chosen before I joined) where every single %&*@ing gig the female singer would introduce the band by saying, "Hi, we're Wipt! Well, the boys in the band are whipped, I'm the one holding the whip!" Hardy har har. So the paper goes around, everyone cuts the names they dislike, we wind up with nine candidates. Cut them into slips of paper, put them into a hat, and draw one. What comes out is... Longhand.

We're not sure how it will work as a name, so we said we'd use it for six months and not spend a lot of money on marketing with it, just a facebook page and maybe $60 for a banner to start. Then we'll review after six months and see if we want to keep using it or go with something else.

Yeesh. At least we have something to work with now. I'm itching to get gigging.
 
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#3
MakoMan said:
Well I can see why you can't pick a name... I don't like any of the ones on the list :)
Always a tough time picking a band name, but once you hit on the right one you will know it!
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I actually have a different view on it: in my opinion, pretty much all band names are stupid, until the band starts to catch on. Who would want to join a band with a dumb name like the Beatles or the Who or Cream? Personally, I wanted to go with one of the more whimsical names, like Mug Shot Mary, Get in the Van, Dirty Bubbles or Ow that Hurt. But I couldn't force them on the others. Longhand is pretty vanilla, and as soon as I put up a facebook page for it my wife promptly told me it's boring and sounds like an Eric Clapton tribute band. Oh well. I don't want to delay booking gigs waiting for a perfect name that everyone loves to descend from the sky. That list is the best we came up with after a month of brainstorming. We'll try this one out for a while and see how it takes.
 
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#4
First one that jumped out at me was The Switch too. Bummer there are already so many out there. I always get stuck naming anything (songs, bands, children). Heh, Four Tea Thieves made me chuckle. Longhand is not my favorite name but if the music is good the name wont keep me away.

I'm currently in an unnamed project and dread the day we have to have this talk.
 
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#6
I actually had a blessing that someone gave me. THE perfect Funk Band name. It was actually so good I have decided to form a band just because the name beckons it to be. I do wish you the best of luck with your situation though. I was once in a Country band and nobody wanted to man up and pick a name so I decided on "Long Train Runnin' ". The biggest problem is everyone though we were a Doobie Brothers cover band; guess I should have thought that one through! :banghead:
 
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#7
I went through this. Ended up doing a 'name the band this week' competition on facebook. I changed the name for every gig. After Stark Raving Naked Lunatics the other guys finally settled on something. By that time I didn't care.
 
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#11
Slorra440 said:
First one that jumped out at me was The Switch too. Bummer there are already so many out there. I always get stuck naming anything (songs, bands, children). Heh, Four Tea Thieves made me chuckle. Longhand is not my favorite name but if the music is good the name wont keep me away.

I'm currently in an unnamed project and dread the day we have to have this talk.
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Thanks. I was the one to nix Four Tea Thieves. I kinda felt like it would be the Oneders from That Thing You do.

AaronVonRock said:
Bands names using a combination of three words are less likely to be already taken.

I think Mug Shot Monday is a cool name. It rolls off the tongue nicely.
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Thanks, I thought so too. Obviously this band needs to crash and burn so I can use that in the next one. It got nixed because some members felt that mug shots are sad and depressing and don't say "party." I thought that people would associate it more with all the joke or ironic mug shots that are out there in pop culture - or that the party would be so awesome this weekend that on Monday people would be looking at your mug shot. Ah well.

We had a bit of a running issue between the guitarist and me, because he wanted a super short name (a la Rush, Yes, KISS, etc.) and was hesitant about longer ones (like those with three words). I liked the way having a few more syllables lets you set up humor or contrast, and like you say, easier to avoid duplicating other bands.

amusicalperson said:
I actually had a blessing that someone gave me. THE perfect Funk Band name. It was actually so good I have decided to form a band just because the name beckons it to be. I do wish you the best of luck with your situation though. I was once in a Country band and nobody wanted to man up and pick a name so I decided on "Long Train Runnin' ". The biggest problem is everyone though we were a Doobie Brothers cover band; guess I should have thought that one through! :banghead:
Click to expand...

ha ha exactly.

SnoMan said:
Who suggested this?
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Argyle Gargoyle? That would be the guitarist. Probably two-thirds of the list were his ideas. I liked some of them.
 
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