Band Names how long did it take you to decide?

Korvanica · 09-02-2012 5:02pm #1

My band is currently (and have been for the last 3 months) trying to decide on a name! And its driving me ****ing NUTS!!!!!

At this stage i don't care what we're called I just want to be able to tell people that im in "Insert Band Name Here"... Theres nothing worse than saying,

Me: "im in a band"
Them: " oh really what are ye called?"
Me: "eh.. we don't have a name...."

GAH !!!!

Did anyone else have this issue?

On a side note, any suggestions? (preferably a 1 word (3 syllable) name thats neutral (as in, it doesn't indicate what type of music we are)

MrStuffins · 09-02-2012 5:20pm

We were lucky and kinda got ours by accident.

I have no idea if it's a particularly GOOD band name, but for me I think the Litmus Test is this.........

When someone asks you "What's the name of your band?" and you can answer without cringing a little inside... then you're good!

09-02-2012 10:17pm

MrStuffins wrote: »

We were lucky and kinda got ours by accident.

I have no idea if it's a particularly GOOD band name, but for me I think the Litmus Test is this.........

When someone asks you "What's the name of your band?" and you can answer without cringing a little inside... then you're good!

The Litmus Test is a pretty good name alright

SuperGrover · 10-02-2012 10:47am

I've been involved in naming of bands I've been in over the years.

It doesn't really matter what you call yourselves once (as mentioned above) it doesn't make you cringe.

I'd also add to that, a name that requires no explanation or strange variations on a common word, so that people don't need to be told "but it's spelt with a k" type of thing. Just painful having to explain something every time and gives potential gig goers a bum steer if they're looking you up on youtube or searching for your FB page.

Bands I've been in over the years... Redhead, Press The Thingy, Conqubyne (my suggestion, someone else's convoluted spelling, lesson learnt at the time re explaining), Muff and now Proudfoot.

Anyway, anything you fancy as long as it's not a crap pun or a silly spelling variation is my advice.

EDIT - Yeah, The Litmus Test is not a bad name at all.

rcaz · 10-02-2012 11:10am

Big +1 on the explanation thing. Also make sure it's something you could easily imagine potential fans telling each other out. "Hey man, X are playing tonight!" vs. "Hey man, The Xing Ys and his Zs (but Z is spelled with a.... W) are on tonight!", which one gig is easier to remember?

I play in a band called Peaks, and when someone asks that "Oh cool what are you guys called?" question, 'Peaks' is a relatively difficult word to pronounce properly when shouting in someone's ear in a noisy pub or whatever. Maybe something to bear in mind.

SuperGrover · 10-02-2012 11:22am

rcaz wrote: »

Big +1 on the explanation thing. Also make sure it's something you could easily imagine potential fans telling each other out. "Hey man, X are playing tonight!" vs. "Hey man, The Xing Ys and his Zs (but Z is spelled with a.... W) are on tonight!", which one gig is easier to remember?

I play in a band called Peaks, and when someone asks that "Oh cool what are you guys called?" question, 'Peaks' is a relatively difficult word to pronounce properly when shouting in someone's ear in a noisy pub or whatever. Maybe something to bear in mind.

Business cards are a good idea. We got a couple of thousand done up, just the band name logo and the website. Have the chat, but also hand over the card. Good for pissed up people being able to remember the name of the band the next day too.

EDIT - good idea to leave a bunch of them scatterd around tables / at the bar so people can just pocket them if the notion takes them.

Splinters · 10-02-2012 1:32pm

I honestly wouldnt over think it, actual standout amazing names are few and far between. Plenty of very sucessful bands have truly awful names, but after becoming familiar with their music you just accept it or learnt to associate it with the bands music. Foo Fighters being a prime example, its a really **** name. Smashing Pumpkins is another, f*cking awful name altogether. Best advice is to pick any name/suggestion you can live with then concentrate on other considerably more important issues, your music, performance, recording, promotion etc

mdflanner · 12-02-2012 12:04am

i was in the same situation a while back and was sick to the teeth with the guys not even comming up with a name so one evening i wrote down all our names and took the first letter from each name and came up with JOAD and i stuck a Z on the end and hey presto THE JOADZ were born.

Malice · 13-02-2012 2:43pm

For the last band I was in I came up with a bunch of names over the course of a couple of days. The others didn't like any of them which is fair enough but they didn't offer any alternatives.

It got to the stage where we were being offered gig slots but still hadn't settled on a name. In the end I chose a name that didn't get an immediate chorus of dislike and we went with it. Lo and behold once the band broke up the others told me that they never like the name I had chosen. :mad:

raindog.promo · 22-02-2012 4:27pm

http://www.broadsheet.ie/2012/02/22/roger-mellie-would-be-proud/

I think:

"The Admirals of The Narrow Seas"

would be a great band name

Meaing: An admiral of the narrow seas is one who, due to drunkeness, vomits into the lap of the person sitting next to them.

Brilliant!

miniroar · 22-02-2012 5:16pm

we are were a three piece when we started whos first few gigs were paid for by beers so hence "3Mustgetbeers" was born!! I could'nt create a facebook page as this name so had to set up Must getbeers on fb, check us out!!

TedNewgent · 25-02-2012 12:16pm

what we did was write a load of random words and different ideas we had on pieces of paper and put them in a hat and we just picked one out and now we are called No Recession but all the advise above is great

Fandango · 25-02-2012 11:04pm

People tend to spend too long trying to think up some really clever name. Repeating other posts, it doesnt matter once its not cringeworthy. Easiest way is start with "The" and look around the room. Looking here, "The Printers", "The Cans", "The Monitors", "The Lighters", "The Lamps", "The Glass", "The Empty Cigarette Boxes and Ash Covered Keyboards"

You get the drift. Seriously tho, people put too much emphasis on their name, something catchy and simple and you'll be grand.

mymalovesme · 03-03-2012 5:54pm

I always liked the idea of Yer Ma .. simple, catchy and mildly amusing. Eg. "I was at Yer Ma in Whelans last night .. what a fantastic night" and so on..

raindog.promo · 03-03-2012 6:31pm

Yer Aul Wan

nigeldinho · 04-03-2012 8:49pm

Personally I don't think the name matters. It should be about the music. Nobody liked the names Led Zeppelin or Pink Floyd back in the day. My band is called TeddyBallet, cringeworthy at the best of times, but I couldn't care less. It's about the music for me, and people start to notice that after a while. We considered changing the band name, but sure whats in a name as the man says. Call yourselves 'arsebuckets' sure.

MrStuffins · 04-03-2012 9:01pm

nigeldinho wrote: »

Personally I don't think the name matters. It should be about the music. Nobody liked the names Led Zeppelin or Pink Floyd back in the day. My band is called TeddyBallet, cringeworthy at the best of times, but I couldn't care less. It's about the music for me, and people start to notice that after a while. We considered changing the band name, but sure whats in a name as the man says. Call yourselves 'arsebuckets' sure.

Names are very important because a lot of the time that's your first impression and you only get one of those!

For example, I remember my mate wanted me to go see a band and I was up for it, until he told me they were called "Lorraine". I decided not to go to the gig because they had possibly the worst name in music history!

Turns out they were sh*t anyway!

nigeldinho · 04-03-2012 9:05pm

MrStuffins wrote: »

Names are very important because a lot of the time that's your first impression and you only get one of those!

For example, I remember my mate wanted me to go see a band and I was up for it, until he told me they were called "Lorraine". I decided not to go to the gig because they had possibly the worst name in music history!

Turns out they were sh*t anyway!

I suppose yes that can be true alright, but at the end of the day, if your music is good enough, I believe you'll get noticed one way or another, good name or bad name aside.

MrStuffins · 04-03-2012 9:10pm

nigeldinho wrote: »

I suppose yes that can be true alright, but at the end of the day, if your music is good enough, I believe you'll get noticed one way or another, good name or bad name aside.

Very true. But I think a bad name can get you off to a bad start.

I think it goes both ways. I remember going out of my way to listen to "Zombie Cops" just because I thought their name was amazing!

nigeldinho · 04-03-2012 9:14pm

A name can too often be misleading either way, whether it's good or bad. I know a fair few bands with excellent names who are terrible, and likewise a few bands with terrible names who are excellent. I just feel the name shouldn't matter.

Esy · 08-03-2012 5:37pm

I just thought I'd add to the thread to make you all sick. I'm trying to start something new and met this quality singer on Monday in a bar just to break the proverbial ice. I believe it was within 20 minutes we had come up with a band name. *smug grin*

MrStuffins · 08-03-2012 5:41pm

Doesn't mean its a good one though

Malice · 08-03-2012 7:41pm

Esy wrote: »

I just thought I'd add to the thread to make you all sick. I'm trying to start something new and met this quality singer on Monday in a bar just to break the proverbial ice. I believe it was within 20 minutes we had come up with a band name. *smug grin*

That doesn't make me sick at all. In fact I think "smug grin" is a pretty crap band name. :pac:

Esy · 09-03-2012 4:51pm

MrStuffins wrote: »

Doesn't mean its a good one though

Hey! It's the band name to end all band names. Honestly though, out of all the band names I've had, it's my favourite so far. I actually really fooking love it.

Esy · 09-03-2012 4:51pm

Malice wrote: »

That doesn't make me sick at all. In fact I think "smug grin" is a pretty crap band name. :pac:

*ba doom tsch*

SuperGrover · 09-03-2012 4:52pm

Esy wrote: »

Hey! It's the band name to end all band names. Honestly though, out of all the band names I've had, it's my favourite so far. I actually really fooking love it.

Cool. What's the name?

Esy · 09-03-2012 4:53pm

White Whiskey. And yes, to repeat, we were in a bar when we came up with it.

MrStuffins · 09-03-2012 4:56pm

Esy wrote: »

White Whiskey. And yes, to repeat, we were in a bar when we came up with it.

What kind of music is it?

Esy · 09-03-2012 4:58pm

Dunno yet. We've no preconceived notion on how we want to sound. I've my style, she has hers and we're going to see what comes out when we work together.

raindog.promo · 09-03-2012 8:35pm

Esy wrote: »

Dunno yet. We've no preconceived notion on how we want to sound. I've my style, she has hers and we're going to see what comes out when we work together.

If it doesn't work out you could write a sit-com based around that storyline.

cloptrop · 13-03-2012 2:51am

raindog.promo wrote: »

If it doesn't work out you could write a sit-com based around that storyline.

Hahaha darma and gregg part two.

Band Names how long did it take you to decide?

Comments