Mr Nice Guy and the Mothers of Invention
so i've recently started playing a little guitar with a colleague of mine. she has a thick sticky-sweet voice that could have been made by bees. what she is doing wasting her time with me and my hack chops is a mystery. anyway. we have the occasional carnegie hall gig lined up, including one tonight, but ... no name! we've been playing under our own real names, which are: PSYCHE.
i kinda want to come up with a band name, mostly because coming up with band names is something i do all the damn time. i also make up biography titles all the time. biographies are fun. they all fit a specific formula: _____, the Mr Nice Guy Story. so for example: "My Knee Hurts, the Mr. Nice Guy Story." or "Naps are for Pussies; The Baby Nice Guy Story." or "Remind Me Again Why I Married You: The Mrs. Nice Guy Story." but band names have no rules. anything goes!
you'd figure once i finally had an actual band (ok, cringe-inducingly earnest folksy duo) i'd have a name at the ready. wrong! we can't agree on anything. here are some of my favorite (rejected) band name candidates, some more serious than others:
- Hymen and Funkgarble
- Awesomeface
- The Letdowns
- Polly Andry and Her Various Suitors
- Stewpan
- Overpeck Township
- Temecula
- Led Zeppelin
- Omega 3 and the Fatty Acids
- The Buttermilk Channel
- Hobo Hurricane
- Hillbilly Magic
- Old News
And my all-time favorite made-up band name for my nonexistent band, which has mystifyingly gone unclaimed for several years now (someone please take it and use its powers for good):
- SQUIDJACKET
Here are two actual names that high school friends' bands had: Trousersnake (so very excellent) and Canadian Border Patrol (which used to play with a huge canadian flag hanging behind them. after they started getting gigs at Gazzari's (R.I.P.) and the Whisky and the Troubadour, they shortened it to Border Patrol. pretty good actually.)
I'm taking suggestions. Anyone got a good band name?
posted by mr. nice guy at 12:15 PM
39 Comments:
You could borrow the name I've been reserving for my son's band: The Prodigious Shitters (though it may not suit you quite as well).
How about "cringe-inducingly earnest folksy duo"? Too long?
hmm, egohound. that does have a nice ring to it.
I like my friend's new concept band name, "Canadian Tuxedo" which apparently means all band members will be wearing blue jeans with blue jean jackets, aka the Canadian tuxedo, and doing only covers of Canadian rock. Can't wait to see them.
Apoptosis?
how about "please hold me."
also, do you know about this:
http://www.bandnamemaker.com/
(and others like it.)
yes laurie, i saw that. but it seems so ... impersonal. i want an ORGANIC band name. not something generated by a soulless computer that doesn't know how to ROCK. (or at least strum plaintively)
I've always been partial to "The Tromboners."
Mr. Nice Guy and the Wankyjohn McPeckerpulls
(One of my favorite all time MNG phrases).
I have two for you:
1. skillkrane
2. camel toe rodeo
camel toe rodeo! dutch comes through in a clutch even though he's using some old internets powered by a parapalegic hamster in a rusty wheel.
I just wanted to let you know that reading your journal always makes me laugh. I was feeling all down today and I read a few of your entries, within a minute I was giggling uncontrollably. My co-workers are still wondering about that.
Thanks
Temecula has a nice ring to it (unless you have been there that is). Any city good enough for Tyrese must be good enough to have a "cringe-inducingly earnest folksy duo" named after it.
BTW (By the Whey? - it has a folksy ring, when people ask you if you have a band you can say "Whey" in your best Valley girlese), I came over from amalah's blog during the "Claudia affair" and have not found my way back.
Hahahaha from the band name generator:
*Slow Grammar and the Almighty Bazooka
*Mock of the Stoked Deity
*Evil Euphoria
*Straight Gnome
Although this one is probably better for the *blech* folksy music:
*Shingle of the Solo Jade
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amish methlab
My fantasy all-girl punk band is called "The Little Black Triangles." I write song titles for us all the time. Most recently "I wanna get it on with Santa."
I actually agree with the "Polly Landry and her various suitors" I would so go see that band. Or "Twinburger"
Personally, i think "Squidjacket" is pure genius!
thank you, MD! i mean, what does an acoustic-guitar-noodling soul-patched honky have to do to get a little squidjacket love around the interweb campfire anyway?
and zygote diggity: our cleverness will never be fully understood by the unscrubbed masses. know it and let it make you feel superior forever. it helps me through the day, anyway.
How about "Bomb Shelter Melons"? Made it up when I worked at a food co-op.
I was saving this for myself, but I'll let you have it:
Jeeze Louise
i LOVE "that fucking guy." genius. problem is, with that name you'd never get a gig on letterman
Vegan Dinosaur and the Astounding Navels
Okay, coupla rules for band names:
1) No more than one or two words. Unless it's something really good like "Polly Andry and Her Various Suitors."
2) If the name has to be explained, it's not a good name.
3) Band name should mean somethin' to the band or reflect your musical style. Ideally, both.
4) You gotta have stage names, too. You could be "Hack Gittarplayer" and your partner could be "Dulcet Tones", for example.
5) Band name should slip easily off the tongue of whatever addlepated yahoo the venue has introducing you guys. Anything with more than three syllables is therefore out.
Name possibilities:
Honeycomb (there can't be anything folksier than that)
Muldar and Scully
Freebird
Money for Nothin' (on second thought, maybe not. People should pay to see you. Or least be charged a fee to be let out of your concerts. Kidding. Just kidding :-)
Scrooge & Marley
Evergreen
Holly and Ivy
Uptown, Downtown
I was going to add "Vinnie Three Fingers Owes Me a New Meniscus" but that's just too long ....
--RLR
Mr. Felcher and the Horrible Accidents
The Brad Pitt Stains
Okay, I'm done now...
I like Omega3 and the Fatty Asses. I am just saying is all.
Pockets of Resistance...you know that if Dave Barry thinks it would make a good name for a band...then is MUST rock:)
College bands' names that I thought were cool in 1989:
Gestalt
Oscar's Gone Wild
Now I can't decide if they sound too liberal-arts-philosophy-major-snotty-pretentious or if they are indeed, still cool. You decide.
Naming your band is easy! You just have to take whatever's your inspiration, brainstorm a bit, put a few words together and viola, the names will flow. Here are my kid-inspired band names:
1) Razortoe (child has freakishly fast-growing nails)
2) Cartruck
3) The Ancient Suckers (in the couch)
4) Mr. Poop-poop and the Skunky Buns
5) Intentional Tantrum
6) [this is the] Very Last Book
Good luck MNG!
God, I cringe at even suggesting something in the face of the brilliance I see here, but before I saw Camel Toe Rodeo I was partial to:
Biscuitcity (Name of the road I grew up on)
Funky Cubano
Urban Tripe
I realize that none of these may apply, but can't wait to hear what you choose.
I have it. I was saving it for my band, but you can have it. It is:
Muccus Plug
I used to love to play the "If I was in a band..." game, my current favorite is The Poon Tangerines.
John and the Galts?
Nero and the Wolfes?
Gutter Slut Tranny Team and the Super Skank Crusaders?
My friends college band went through several names. The two I recall most vividly are "Elephantitis" which was obviously awesome and "Mulitfarious Tonal Assault" which they shortened to MTA. I think they also went by "Nacho" and then the "Marones" when they morphed into a Ramones cover band.
wow - this is still going on?! that's awesome! camel toe rodeo ha! squidfingers rocks too. great logo potential (for stickers, duh). whatever will you choose!
Don't ask me where I came up with this, but:
Aldo Nova
Hazy Oatmeal Dream
I know! "mom fart"
ADD and the Distractions
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