My most dreaded conversation....."so I hear you are in a band. What's the band's name?"
......the name of my band is "BILL". All I know is that 14 years ago we kept using ****** names for the band then would find out they were being used by other bands so we needed something original. I was about to go on vacation and put my vote in for "Trouser Puppet" (still kinda wish we picked that one). Upon returning from my trip I was informed that the other members wanted the name of the band to be "BILL". I guess the other guys just thought it was the stupidest name they could think of and nobody else would ever use it for a band name so we'd be set. I tend to go with the flow so even though I hated it (and sorta still do) we kept it. I must admit that it is pretty cool hearing the crowd chanting "bill, bill, bill......" between songs and it's pretty neat to see our t-shirts/hats sell out very quickly whenever we print them up. We have a pretty loyal nice size following and it is great to play a new venue and see loads of "BILL" shirts in the crowd. By the way......nobody in the band is a William/Bill.
I was in a band when I was in junior college back in central Illinois in the early 1970s. The name was "Second Saturday", which I came up with when I realized that the first play date (a friend's wedding reception) was going to be on the second Saturday after we starting rehearsing. ("Perfectly logical, Mr. Spock ...") We did covers of CCR, Stones, Beatles, Grand Funk Railroad, Bad Company ... quite an eclectic mix.
Although we mulled over changing the name at times (one tongue-in-cheek name proposed was "Grilled Trout"), the name stuck as long as we were together. (I played rhythm guitar, only had the 1967 Gibson ES-335TDC at the time). We had started writing our own songs when we broke up.
I stay in touch with the bass player who still lives in Peoria.
It is better, of course, to know useless things than to know nothing. - Seneca
Oooh, boy, inspiration? I don't know about that, but here goes.
1. I was stationed with the Air Force in Berlin from 1969-73, and eventually hooked up with four guys in the British (Royal) Air Force. I was the only "Yank" in this lot. As we were mindlessly throwing out names, and starting to get silly, I said, "Oh, screw it, let's just call ourselves 'The Beatles'." The singer, from Belfast, Northern Ireland, answered with, "That's wishful thinkin'," and the light went on. We became "Wishful Thinkin'" although (as always seems the case), about a year or two later, some one-hit wonder in Britain, going by that name, charted a song. Oh well, Wasn't us. Honest.
2. I'd been playing with several guys in Maine for a few months, and we were standing outside the local American Legion, getting ready to play a wedding reception. "You know, we really need a name," someone said. And we started the drill again. At one point, Dave, the bassist, said, "Knock, knock!" "Who's there?" somebody replied. "Lemons," said Dave. "Lemons who?" Then Dave answered, "Ah, go #@!& yourself." Made no sense, except we thought, "Hey, ah-go ...'Argo'" ... why not? Dave and I and any drummer we find have played under that name off and on for 30 years, and people think the name has to do with a constellation of stars, or Jason's ship. Little do they know it's a tag line from a very bad nock-knock joke. As one final aside on this name, Dave got created and somehow managed to work the letters into an acronym for American Rock and Golden Oldies.
3. Amd finally, Dave and I began playing a bunch of sit down, semi-unplugged acoustic blues-folk things together some years ago. Well, one night at La Sardina Loca (The Crazy Sardine, billed as the Easternmost Mexican Restaurant in the United States) in Eastport, Maine, we noticed camera flashes going off. During the break, some guy came up and complimented us, etc. "Geez, wha'd'ya call yourselves?" he asked. Being the smart-*** I am, I joking said, "Oh, we're just 'them guys.'" I had no idea he was the camera dude and had anything to do with the local paper. About a week later our picture appeared in the paper with a caption about "'Them Guys' being a sure cure for the winter blues." We both cracked up over that one, and we kept the name for our non-ARGO stuff.
My high school band was actually called Oasis! I thought the name was lame! Then we became Conjunction Junction, which wasn't that original, so then we became Somebody's Pet. After that I moved to California and started the Bobbleheads.
Names are hard, I hate it when I hear a band I like and the name is something like "FRED". Try googling that! Or "of montreal". I eventually found both sites and cds but still...
Our band's name for the longest time was "3 Ft. III". We were a power trio cover band about to play our first gig at a motel lounge and didn't yet have a name. We stood outside in the motel parking lot looking around for inspiration (you know the routine)... "The Billboards!" "Passing Car!" "Crack & The Windshield!"
Anyway... I look up at the canopy above the motel lobby's entrance and see the sign that says CLEARANCE - 10'7"... so I say, "Hey, what about Ten Foot Seven?" Our clever wise-guy of a drummer says, "We're a trio... Three Foot Three!" Ta-Daaa!
Our wild and grazy guy of a drummer later would explain (especially to women) that "Three Foot Three" was actually an expression of measurement... the cumulative measurement of the band members' uh, members!
My first bass was a Rickenbacker...
My best bass is a Rickenbacker...
My last bass may very well be a Rickenbacker
"Spurious Emissions" is the band I'm in with four other co-workers. We're all satellite communications engineers and our big gig every year is the annual sales meeting "booze cruise" around San Diego Harbor.
So, we picked a name that is completely innocuous if you're in the biz but to outsiders it looks a little questionable. Unfortunately "outsiders" also includes Human Resources who were unhappy with our choice of names and wouldn't let it be used publicly for a few years, probably because they didn't believe our explanation (which means they have dirty minds).
Fortunately HR was devastated with layoffs and the uptight one was cut loose so we reclaimed our name and went public last year.
Karma!
Alternate name: Transport Protocol and the MPEG Encoders.
My band in high school was a 5 piece southern rock band called "REBEL"......hey we're from the South whaddaya expect. That lasted about 6 mos. then I was in a group called "2plus2" 'cause there was 4 of us. We did mostly original stuff.
I was in a country rock group in the mid '80's called "Southbound" after the Allman Bros song.
I am currently in a band that we've kept going for about 13 years called "VINTAGE". Our original rhythm guitar player came up with that name 'cause as he put it "We're old".
No, really it's because we play mostly classic rock with a little country thrown in to please some of the locals.
I'd rather die while I'm livin' that live while I'm dead!
Greg, I think it is like 10 more then you get just the 'member' tag. Another increment of numbers and you are an 'Advanced Member' and another increment of numbers over 100 and you are a Senior Member...but don't hold me to this. I might have it backa--wards.
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Music is too important to be left to professionals.
Stan has it right. Keep posting, Greg. You get a new Rick with every 100 posts.
Not...
“I say in speeches that a plausible mission of artists is to make people appreciate being alive at least a little bit. I am then asked if I know of any artists who pulled that off. I reply, 'The Beatles did.”
― Kurt Vonnegut
“I say in speeches that a plausible mission of artists is to make people appreciate being alive at least a little bit. I am then asked if I know of any artists who pulled that off. I reply, 'The Beatles did.”
― Kurt Vonnegut
