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Getting Back in, Asking Opinions...


AJP

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After a long while off, gonna start booking pretty much as many solos as possible. My question is this... have any of you guys/gals "renamed" yourself as a solo act? I don't mean a first/last name change, but a "play on words" kind of thing? I ask because my first & last name is... well.... dorky. Gonna do the VistaPrint business card thing again so now would be the time. Also when the venue puts it up on their marquee, it looks... well.... dorky. Something like "Drew's Tunes", "Andy on Keys", but nowhere near as bad ;-). Man, I suck at coming up with this {censored}!

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I know of someone that has come up with a moniker - I guess it works okay for him but in all honesty, I don't even know his name. Not sure how great that is.

 

I know of other guys that insert dexcriptions into their names - that seems to work well for them. Stuff like Frank "the folk guy" Foster (not a real example).

 

How "bad" is your name? Maybe you can use your first name and then your last name's initial. That system worked well for Kenny G :) Or perhaps your first two initials and your last name. like AJ Pearson. Then everyone can call you AJ.

 

There are also names that you think wouldn't work, like Kardashan but that hasn't hurt Kim's Twitter numbers.

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A dorky name isn't necessarily bad. If it is catchy enough to make people remember it, it might work. Weird Al Yankovic is pretty dorky. Andy Prayner isn't really that dorky, but it isn't as easy to remember either.

 

How about Handy Andy? OK it sounds like a cartoon name - forget it.

 

Sorry, I guess I'm not being much help. Changing a name is a very difficult thing to do.

 

 

 

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I think it's a good idea, unless your former name is well known in the area. A name that's easy to pronounce and remember makes sense to me. Even better would be a name that creates an image. There's a DJ that goes by "the hurricane" and he lives up to that name be being very active and entertaining. And people call him by that name too, so it's been working great for him. OTOH, there was a solo that went be "the fall guy" and, well, he just wasn't that good.

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Thanks, all, for the insights. I think the AJ - something thing makes the most sense. No real risk in colliding with an already well-known brand ;-). Whiskey Cliff used to call me "Dandy Andy" when I'd solo in his Cleveland Express Blues Band, at dive bars, at 15 years old. Jeeeeez, my daughter's age. And Studz Buckley... DEFINITELY a close second.

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Names are over rated. They are only as good as the band is. There have been some pretty horrible band names over the years that no one thinks of as bad because the band is good. Grand Funk Railroad, anyone? The Turtles? Would ANYBODY here choose those names? But today we don't think twice about them as being either good or bad names. They just are. Just come up with something easy to remember and be good, and you should be good to go!

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Many years ago i had a bandmate ask in all seriousness who this "TBA" band was that was listed as playing in so many places ---- sometimes two or three venues the same night!

 

I don't know why, but that reminds me of a long ago conversation a bandmate had with a very attractive lady. We were in Switzerland at the time, and he asked about the car she drove. She answered it was a (phonetically) BAY EM VAY. It took him quite a while to realize the car was a BMW.

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