Band Names

jaybic · Post by **jaybic** » Fri Feb 18, 2005 8:06 am

I was just wondering about the inspiration people get for their band's name. Some are easy, such as Van Halen or there is a known story behind it, such as the Beatles. I'm also interested in knowing how each of you arrived at your band(s) name. The band I'm in is called Home By Eleven. The story behind that is that all of our wives will let us practice as late as we want, as long as we're home by 11. There was also other options that we didn't go with. Such as Valient Effort and Appriciative Support. Kind of gives you a clue as to how confident we were when we started.

jingle_jangle · Post by **jingle_jangle** » Fri Feb 18, 2005 8:34 am

Wow. What a loaded topic. Here are maybe the OLDEST memories you're gonna get:

My first band (1964-65) was named by our lead guitar player after a robotic character in a Philip K. Dick novel: The Papoolas. (This guy is now one of the USA's top Jungian analysts. Shows you where his head was at, at an early age.)

Then I started a 5-member Beach Boys tribute band called The Surfbards (1966). Not surfboards, bards, as in singer or story-teller. That pun escaped a lot of people. We sang five-part harmony and played our instruments at the same time (a feat the real BBs didn't do, even in concert, at the time. But we didn't know that then!) I still stay in touch with a couple of these guys and we even have a Yahoo! group with about 8 or 9 members. Har.

Then there was a blues band called "This End Up" (1967-8). Name suggested by drummer; drum head was stencilled "THIS END UP", but was put on upside down. Funny, huh? Right.

Final chapter in this ancient history was a serious band called "Haymarket Square", a six-member vocal/instrumental group doing Kinks and Mamas and Papas covers and lots of original material, none of which I can recall anymore (we had a male/female vocal duet singing the lead honors). Lead player had a nice Gretsch Tennessean; rhythm player moved between a Strat and a then-new sunburst Fender XII. They actually cut an album in '69; I gotta copy somewhere...

Since then, it's been mostly nameless jamming and I have been completely inactive from about 1977 until last year! But I'd like to find a couple of old fart kindred spirits in the neighborhood...

jaybic · Post by **jaybic** » Fri Feb 18, 2005 8:39 am

Lol! Those are great names! That's exactly the type of stuff I was wondering about. I'm still cracking up about the Surfbards and This End Up. Great stuff

jingle_jangle · Post by **jingle_jangle** » Fri Feb 18, 2005 9:17 am

OK, here's a copy of the Papoolas' drum head art, saved for 41 years! This was taken from a written description of the creature in the Dick book , The Simulacra. See the "PW"at lower right?

Hard to believe I was headed for a career in design.

LOL all over again.

admin · Post by **admin** » Fri Feb 18, 2005 9:26 am

A good beginning Paul. Will you be using some of the design features here for the Forum tee-shirts?

bmi_guy · Post by **bmi_guy** » Fri Feb 18, 2005 9:32 am

Heres' mine:

65-66 / "Terry and the Vandals" (it didn't fit - we were all wimps! Terry was the drummer)

66-68 / "The Corsairs" (Don't know where that came from)

69-73 / Break (got drafted)

74-78 / "Carnival" (On the road, mostly down south)

78-80 / Wabash Valley Acoustic Band (All acoustic 'cept for ma' steel guitar for those Daredevil and Marshal Tucker tunes)

Now - Songwriter and full time Dad and Husband

Ahhhh... the memories...

jingle_jangle · Post by **jingle_jangle** » Fri Feb 18, 2005 9:39 am

Peter: as the kids at my college say:

BUSTED!!

I hope that this has not caused a crisis of confidence...

Michael: "Corsair" was a model of Edsel automobile. No comment on suitability.

jaybic · Post by **jaybic** » Fri Feb 18, 2005 9:41 am

Hey Michael - you're from Southern Il? Did you get the Vandals possibly from the Vandalia Vandals? I believe that's the school mascot there. I'm from central IL, near Springfield

bmi_guy · Post by **bmi_guy** » Fri Feb 18, 2005 9:45 am

I just remebered - The "Corsairs" (named after the French word for Pirate - we thought it added mystique and a certain amount of macho-ism)
Talk about LOL...
We were in a battle of the bands contest and won - prize was a recording session at Capitol Records in Nashville. Had to have two original songs. We had two songs, but no lyrics!!
Ya' should'a seen the look on the A&R guy's face each time I started singing to do a take over!!

loendmaestro · Post by **loendmaestro** » Fri Feb 18, 2005 10:06 am

I don't have any incredible stories behind any of these, but I'm feeling a bit nostalgic...

Oblivion - horrible name my malcontent metalhead drummer came up with. He ALSO sang. Yes, it was as bad as you think. Hey, I was 14.

Crystal Flame - We thought it was a cool, druggy, jam band name. Hey, I was 17.

Bad Influence - Rivals the aforementioned "Oblivion" for worst band name ever. This was my high school cover band. Played a lot of colleges & learned how to drink with frat guys. Guitarist was a HUGE Skynyrd fan (..shiver...). Ironically enough, the only band I made good money with.

Headquake - All original pop funk project. Same era as Living Colour/RHCP/Fishbone etc. Name was a hybrid of 2 Prince songs: "Head" & "Housequake". Pretty successful band, though we went through more drummers than Spinal Tap.

Fade To Winter - Spin-off of Headquake with me & the guitar player (and eventually the same singer again). Name came from a line in a Mother Love Bone song.

Mr. Flekno - Supposedly there was some Scottish poet named MacFleckno or something. I dunno, there were around for awhile before I joined. Heavy grungy type stuff. Look, I was drunk a lot & the band had roadies & RABID fans...who was I to say no?

Idiot Stick Rules - Cool project that never really got off of the ground. I hated the drummer but liked the name. Go figure.

Bright Light Burnout - The alliteration in the name was cool, but mostly it replaced the bands atrocious previous name "Simmer".

3 Piece Boiler - heavy drop D flat project I do as a favor to my current drummer. (Hey when you find a drummer as good as him WITHOUT all of the traditional "drummer drama" you do whatever it takes to keep him around. We have the hella-groove together.) The name came from the day he cleared out a 50 year old cast iron boiler to make room for the new studio/rehearsal space. It was removed by breaking it down into...you guessed it, three pieces.

Ash Street Chrome - current full time project. Cool melodic rock (how's that for a vague description?!) Name came about because our guitar player lives in the hood (actually I do too, but that's a different story) on Ash Street. There are a lot of tricked out pimp rides rollin' down his street so we came up with Ash Street Chrome.

There have been other maybe not so colorful bands & band names too, but I've wasted enough of your time.

bmi_guy · Post by **bmi_guy** » Fri Feb 18, 2005 10:09 am

Jason - naw - read above... I do like
"The Vandalia Onions"!!

Paul - I actually like the design you did. Have you ever considered opening a tatoo parlor?

jingle_jangle · Post by **jingle_jangle** » Fri Feb 18, 2005 10:17 am

I thought tattoo and acupuncture might be a natural "partnership"...pain-relieving and art all in one.

Acu-tattu?

bmi_guy · Post by **bmi_guy** » Fri Feb 18, 2005 10:19 am

LOL... and bass drum heads!

jingle_jangle · Post by **jingle_jangle** » Fri Feb 18, 2005 10:21 am

We were too poor to afford a bass drum. It went on the bottom of the snare drum, with a mirror on the floor...

Actually, the drummer had a Ludwig sparkle pearl set EXACTLY the same as Ringo's. Wonder what it's worth today?

bmi_guy · Post by **bmi_guy** » Fri Feb 18, 2005 10:23 am

Quite it man... My daughter's are staring at me asking what's so funny?