My buddy and i just started a new project, and we are having a terrible time trying to come up with any type of name. Any suggestions or secrets when it comes to naming your new projects.
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Secret for picking a band name.
- Thread starter pLewis
- Start date
This thread ain't about
Any type of bass guitar
I will move it now
Any type of bass guitar
I will move it now
Ah, band name issues.
In general - short, sweet and memorable.
A line from a lyric or a poem or something that fits your vibe is usually good.
But really, something to remember: ALL band names are stupid until the band catches on. Kajagoogoo, Mott the Hoople, I mean... come on. So don't stress too much over it, and don't waste a lot of energy early on trying to pick the perfect name. There isn't one.
I was driving in the car with my wife with the bluetooth mp3 from my phone going, and she noticed a band name that was cut off by the small screen - "King Gizzard and the Li-... what's the rest of it?" "and the Lizard Wizard. Duh." She laughed.
My favorite band name I came up with was for a cover band doing 2000s indie/alternative covers. The video for one song we covered, Cold War Kids' "Hang Me Up to Dry," is a fake trailer for a non-existent black-and-white noir movie. There's a moment in it that advertises the film as "from the Director of Six Cowards and I Married a Street Tough." I named the band Six Cowards. It was a power trio. We got a lot of talk out of, "The band is called Six Cowards - but there's only three of them? Where are the other three?" To which I would reply that each of us was coward enough for two men.
Another time, I got asked to play on an originals project that had started with a singer and a guitarist. The guitarist - a middle-aged man who should have known better - was all hot and bothered that we were going to take over the world playing their Santana knock-off tunes. It was URGENT that we decide a name RIGHT AWAY so he could reserve the web address, etc etc, and of course he had THE PERFECT NAME all picked out - "Rocasana," which meant precisely nothing to anyone but him. I suggested we should wait until we had gelled some more and worked up more music, but he insisted. You know how much that band did? Two songs at a benefit. Period, the end, pffffftt. So yeah - don't get all stoked or stressed over a name.
In general - short, sweet and memorable.
A line from a lyric or a poem or something that fits your vibe is usually good.
But really, something to remember: ALL band names are stupid until the band catches on. Kajagoogoo, Mott the Hoople, I mean... come on. So don't stress too much over it, and don't waste a lot of energy early on trying to pick the perfect name. There isn't one.
I was driving in the car with my wife with the bluetooth mp3 from my phone going, and she noticed a band name that was cut off by the small screen - "King Gizzard and the Li-... what's the rest of it?" "and the Lizard Wizard. Duh." She laughed.
My favorite band name I came up with was for a cover band doing 2000s indie/alternative covers. The video for one song we covered, Cold War Kids' "Hang Me Up to Dry," is a fake trailer for a non-existent black-and-white noir movie. There's a moment in it that advertises the film as "from the Director of Six Cowards and I Married a Street Tough." I named the band Six Cowards. It was a power trio. We got a lot of talk out of, "The band is called Six Cowards - but there's only three of them? Where are the other three?" To which I would reply that each of us was coward enough for two men.
Another time, I got asked to play on an originals project that had started with a singer and a guitarist. The guitarist - a middle-aged man who should have known better - was all hot and bothered that we were going to take over the world playing their Santana knock-off tunes. It was URGENT that we decide a name RIGHT AWAY so he could reserve the web address, etc etc, and of course he had THE PERFECT NAME all picked out - "Rocasana," which meant precisely nothing to anyone but him. I suggested we should wait until we had gelled some more and worked up more music, but he insisted. You know how much that band did? Two songs at a benefit. Period, the end, pffffftt. So yeah - don't get all stoked or stressed over a name.
The name "The Rolling Stones" came from a Muddy Waters song. The name "Death Cab for Cutie" came from a song on the Beatles movie 'Magical Mystery Tour." The name "The Beatles" was a take on (Buddy Holly and,) The Crickets. The name "led Zeppelin" was the UK version of lead balloon.
Open a dictionary and jam your finger down randomly on the page. There’s the first word in your band name. Repeat process for second (or even third) words.
Or, write down a stack of individual words on slips of paper. Pop these in a hat. Draw out two slips of paper and add these words together for your band name (I know this has been done by friends).
Or, write down a stack of individual words on slips of paper. Pop these in a hat. Draw out two slips of paper and add these words together for your band name (I know this has been done by friends).
The other thing is once you find one - do a search. One of my bands in the 80's had one of us named Mike and a few of us worked in a heavy equipment shop. "Mike and the Mechanics" seemed like a natural fit. Then the "Living Years" was released, we may even have had it first but it really didn't matter. We had one band named "Those guys" playing off "who are Those guys?" In case we ever made an album.
Cheers, don't sweat the details and you might as well have fun with it...
Cheers, don't sweat the details and you might as well have fun with it...
I always wanted to name a band "After You" so we could get up on stage and say to the crowd "We are After You."
I’ve heard the first 2/3 as a formula for your stripper name.
Make sure it gets drastically misspelled so it can be found in Google searches.
It's very hard. The only advice I have is to google every name you think of before you consider it, to make sure it's not being used. Ideally you want something unique. Very very hard to do at this point. I think there are only 6 band names left that haven't been taken.
Also, band name generators, if no-one has mentioned it. Those can be fun and sometimes lead to actually useful ideas. Here is one, there are many.. Band Name Generator
I figure all the good band names are already taken so try to come up with the stupidest and most ridiculous one possible.
I'm only semi-joking here.
I'm only semi-joking here.
