From The Archives: What's In A Name?
Phil Simon
2004-04-30
What 's in a name? That which we call a rose
By any other name would smell as sweet.
(William Shakespeare Romeo and Juliet. Act ii. Sc. 2. 1)
Ol'' Billy Shakespeare. He didn't know anything. I suppose that he lived before the Internet, before the concepts of advanced marketing, before direct mailings and SPAM, poor Billy didn't know how important a name was.
What is the first thing that someone hears about a band? Before the music, before the logo, before the band bio, it' is the band's name. Let's talk a little bit about band names. I cut my teeth in this business helping a band in the Pacific Northwest as their agent and not really their manager. They were innovative- a six piece band with 2 drummers, bass, 2 guitars, and lead trumpet. They were the first band that I heard that mixed hard rock and improv jam music. They were a sort of Grateful Dead Kennedys. But I believe that the biggest problem that they had initially was their band name- International Anthem. Most of their fans referred to them by the abbreviation IA. But seeing the band's name on a marquis or a poster did not give anyone an impression of the band's music or style. It didn't evoke any sort of image, as International Anthem does not really set the stage for your imagination. It doesn't tell you about the band, the music, the imagery, the style, or the substance. It doesn't tell you anything. They were a great band, however. I believe one of the best band names in the history of Rock n Roll in my opinion, strictly as a marketing tool, is RUSH. What does the band name tell you? The name is short, concise, to the point, measured. Its meaning conveys swiftness, but not hurriedness. Measured speed for the sake of efficiency. The band is not named Tarry, or Hurry, or anything that implies carelessness or frivolousness. Rather the word and name implies adjectives and descriptions that also match the music. Another great thing about the band's name is that it is ambiguous. Many great band names are ambiguous. In this case it is synonymous with an intense feeling brought on by something outside of you. Whether or not you interpret it as drug related is up to you, but the connotation is that you may get the same effect from their music. A feeling of intensity that overwhelms you just by listening to their music. That message is delivered that the listener will get that feeling, that rush. All of that is implied by the band's name. That ambiguity is something that you find within the jamband community. Though I know very little about the band, I felt that the name Smoke the Prophet (a jamband out of CT a few years ago and perhaps still) has a great ambiguity. Prophet is a good word for a band's name as it implies that the band's music is a prophecy itself, that there is some importance that is going to pass to the listener through the very music. Smoke is another great band word as it is evocative- it's setting implies everything from dark bars to giant stadiums. There is also the great ambiguity between this obvious imagery and the drug culture terminology regarding smoking your own stash. This great play on words makes the bands name memorable and sets your expectations for where their music might take you. Understand that this imagery from your band's name will stick with you. I worked with a band; a pop rock band out of Boston called the Banjo Spiders. They were a great four-piece guitar rock band, but when I called clubs, I could tell if they didn't listen to the demo disc we had sent. They would say, "Great bluegrass band but we don't do bluegrass." Of course there were no banjos in the band, and they were far from bluegrass. But it would be difficult to expect people to not expect that from their name. That is why the Jazz Mandolin Project makes a ton of sense, and is an excellent name for a band. The name tells it all. Your band name should be infinitely comfortable, a group of words, or a single word that rolls off the tongue, rings the air around you and makes you feel psyched about the music to come. If it makes you stumble, or if when you tell it to other people they don't get it, or can't spell it or pronounce it, forget it. The Tom Hanks move, the Wonders, is a good example, though fictional. The band was called the One-ders, a play on words. For the beginning of their exposure, everyone called them the O- Needers. Because reading the marquis, you didn't get the joke. Because people are not exposed to your joke for as long as you may be in the band, you might have only one second, one instance to grab their attention- they may not get it. In the Hollywood interpretation of the rock band, the band changed their name and quickly ascended to stardom as the Wonders. Ridiculous story, but the point is still valid. Don't make your band name confusing, make it simple, easily repeated, and easy to remember. If you inject some sort of difficult to understand spelling or some such funkiness, you will only make it harder for people to gain access to your music. One of the first things that I would do when considering a band name is to do extensive research on whether or not there are bands existing with that name already. Go through every search engine you can find. I worked with a band called Mishima. Now you think that is likely to be a completely original name but it turned out there was a band called Mishima in Canada. So they became Mishima USA. Unbelievable. Next, you should realize that your band's website is going to be an incredibly important tool for you. Check to see if your band name.com exists already. If not, you are golden because you can get that domain name for yourself. But if it is already taken, consider altering your band's name just a little to find out if you can find something more compatible. For instance, I was going to name my booking agency Simon Says. But the publishing giant Simon and Schuster owned the website at simonsays.com. Instead I went with Simon Says Booking, which when you added .com was empty so far as domains went, and I easily grabbed it for myself. People automatically assume that your band name plus .com is also your website. Don't end up like ulu and have to have your website at .net Speaking of ulu. Understand that if you are going a slightly unusual name like that, people are going to ask the origin of the name. Have a prepared answer, whether fact or fiction. Ulu was asked so many times, that they decided that they would give a different answer every time they were asked. Understand that your band name is a part of your marketing plan. Embrace it, and the imagery that comes with it. Take the band name Uncle Sammy for instance. It is a name with a patriotic set of imagery that goes with it. The mind naturally conjures up images of Stars and Stripes. Now that is not to say that the band has to have a patriotic message to the music. But parts of the marketing plan should naturally correspond to the imagery that is conveyed to the recipient. Uncle Sam posters or a WE WANT YOU symbol or banners that contain red white and blue would be an extension of the band's name. If you don't like that as a concept, then you shouldn't have that band name, simple as that. For instance, the Grateful Dead was far from a macabre band. But, understanding the concepts of marketing their music and image, they had images of skulls and skeletons and other imagery that matched the name that the musicians had chosen for themselves. I always like the method that David Letterman used to pick band names in a joke on his show a few years back. He had dice printed with random nouns and adjectives printed on the sides, and he would role the dice and get band names. My favorite one was completely random but just seemed to have a ring to it. The Stomach Monkeys. While I don't think that I would use it for a band name, you easily could. Certainly there is a lot of imagery that you could come up with regarding monkeys, or stomachs for that matter. And I can't believe that anyone else would be called the Stomach Monkeys. And I'd bet that www.stomachmonkeys.com is up for sale... Please, a few words of advice. Don't put the words Funk or Groove or Jam in your band name. Been overdone and it makes you seem like an idiot. You might as well substitute the word suck. So forget ol' Billy Shakespeare. Your band won't sound as good with a stupid name, so spend some time, think it through, and name your band something that you can live with, something that you can use, and something that helps to convey your message.
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