Members badhabit Posted February 4, 2011 Members Share Posted February 4, 2011 Nope, not asking for ideas. Just a question and point of discussion. IYO, how much, or little, does a band's name effect their success ? I have to admit, most band names I hear ( including mine ) pretty much suck. Are all the good band names taken, IYO ? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Rezrover Posted February 4, 2011 Members Share Posted February 4, 2011 Your own creativity is your ticket to stardom... or failure. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members theGman Posted February 4, 2011 Members Share Posted February 4, 2011 I believe it is important to have a memorable, catchy name. Shows creativity. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Blackbird 13 Posted February 4, 2011 Members Share Posted February 4, 2011 I can't count how many people have responded positively to my group, "Broke By Sunday", based solely on the name. We've gotten booking agents to listen to us, we've gotten people to come out to shows, and we've gotten clubs to pay attention to a sales pitch, all on the name. I'm not saying it makes or breaks you.. but a good, catchy name certainly makes life in the band world that much easier! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Vito Corleone Posted February 4, 2011 Members Share Posted February 4, 2011 As a general rule, I think a band name is only as good as the band behind it. Some pretty awful names have gone on to sound legendary because the band is legendary and nobody things twice about whether or not "Creedence Clearwater Revival" or "The Cars" are actually good band names or not. They just ARE. Having said THAT, for a band that uses their name as part of their "first foot foward" when making contact with potential clients and clubowners, having a name that is both catchy and expresses a sense of what the band is about is probably a very big asset. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members mumpfic1 Posted February 4, 2011 Members Share Posted February 4, 2011 I really don't think it matters much once the band starts playing. Our band name was put to a vote and they voted for the name "Against The King" I used to hate the name of my band but I've got past it and it has not hurt us so what do I know. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members badhabit Posted February 4, 2011 Author Members Share Posted February 4, 2011 I only brought this subject up after reading some of the band names in the "Introduce Yourself" sticky. Without mentioning names, some are just horribly bad, IMHO. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members BJH Posted February 4, 2011 Members Share Posted February 4, 2011 In terms of bringing success or not, I'd say it's not that big a deal. There are plenty of successful bands that have mediocre to bad names. Conversely, I'm sure there have been lots of bands with good names that never got anywhere. All things being equal though, it's probably helpful to have a cool name. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members jeff42 Posted February 4, 2011 Members Share Posted February 4, 2011 IMO we have a name that doesn't fit. I feel like it DID fit when we were a Classic Rock band but now... nope. Many people have a hard time remembering it. Some people just call us TBA. It was the best one of like 5 or 6 suggested. We wrote them all down and that one was pulled out of a hat. The other names were REALLY bad. A little over a year ago we gave serious though about changing it. I even posted a thread about it. (look it up, I'm too lazy) Well, a year later and we have the same name. We couldn't agree on anything better. I think in the beginning it hurt us a bit but now we define what that name means to our crowd. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Cork Soaker Posted February 4, 2011 Members Share Posted February 4, 2011 I can't count how many people have responded positively to my group, "Broke By Sunday", based solely on the name. We've gotten booking agents to listen to us, we've gotten people to come out to shows, and we've gotten clubs to pay attention to a sales pitch, all on the name.I'm not saying it makes or breaks you.. but a good, catchy name certainly makes life in the band world that much easier! Completely agree. A catchy name gets your foot in the door, and just sounds good too! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members wheresgrant3 Posted February 4, 2011 Members Share Posted February 4, 2011 I'd like to say in the begining we put a lot of thought into "Nuts In A Blender"... but the truth is we picked it from several others out of a hat. It was just for 4 shows over the summer... basically a side project and as soon as I heard the name I said "this is the worst name on the planet". I remember a year or so after we started, creating some buzz getting some local press and I ran into my 75 year old former math teacher at a funeral and he asked me the name of the band... and I mumbled "The Blenders". I didn't want to get into a discussion over what "Nuts In A Blender" meant. But after a few years we stopped thinking of "Nuts In A Blender" as a band name... and started thinking of it as a brand! And we've been branding ever since. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Blackbird 13 Posted February 4, 2011 Members Share Posted February 4, 2011 It's also worth mentioning that all the working party bands on this board can be abbreviated in a catchy manner. Nuts in a Blender becomes "Nuts", or even NIAB.. Petting Hendrix is PH.. There and Back Again is TBA.. Jumpstart is quick enough to say it works.. Broke By Sunday is BBS... ... things like that are quicker to say, and theoretically, gives your fans an "inside" thing to share. When they say "we're going to see BBS tonight".. other BBS fans will know what it means, and it fosters community, and as Grant said, it pushes along your brand. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members bnelly428 Posted February 4, 2011 Members Share Posted February 4, 2011 But after a few years we stopped thinking of "Nuts In A Blender" as a band name... and started thinking of it as a brand! And we've been branding ever since. This is exactly the point. It's not a band name. It's a brand. It's a reputation. Build it, breathe it, love it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members tim_7string Posted February 4, 2011 Members Share Posted February 4, 2011 Nope, not asking for ideas. Just a question and point of discussion. IYO, how much, or little, does a band's name effect their success ? Really hard to say. I have been in bands with names that were so stupid, I was actually embarassed to tell people! If you have a band name like that, I would keep working on it. I have to admit, most band names I hear ( including mine ) pretty much suck. Are all the good band names taken, IYO ? Face it...we're all recycling what people came up with decades ago. It took forever to decide on a band name with the band I just left. The other two guys in the group insisted on NOT having my name as the band name, so I said everyone should make some lists with names. We practiced for a couple of weeks and I kept asking if anyone came up with one. Nope. I said we need a name so we can get gigs, otherwise we're just wasting our time. A couple more weeks of practice. Nothing. Finally, I had enough and I ended up being the only one that made a list (40+ stupid names off the top of my head). I chose two that I thought had potential. Out of those two, the three of us only kinda liked the one. That was how we ended up with our name. Dumb, huh? In the end, it turned out to be a cool name after all, because it was three letters and there were three of us. Occasionally, we'd get people asking "Which one is O, which one is C and which one is D?," which made me laugh. I won't have this problem with my latest band, since it's just my name. Already picked out! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Vito Corleone Posted February 5, 2011 Members Share Posted February 5, 2011 This is exactly the point. It's not a band name. It's a brand. It's a reputation. Build it, breathe it, love it. Yes! A name you can "work with" is certainly better than one that doesn't do anything for you. When we decided to become more of a party band, we decided a name change was in order--one than would convey a sense of "party/energy" We tossed around a bunch of idea and one I came up with was "Jump Start". I certainly wasn't thrilled with it: yes, it conveyed the "party/energy" I wanted our name to have...BUT...it was rather generic sounding, there's a few other bands around the country using the same name, and it can get confused with a lot of other stuff: simply googling "Jump Start" is going to give you all sorts of other hits LONG before you come across our band. So it had some MAJOR drawbacks. But when I decided I liked it was when I started thinking of being able to brand it: when I hit on using the "Jump Start Your Party" tag line, then I thought "OK this could really work!" Then it was changing it more in one word "JumpStart" to make it seem even more energetic. Then things like the logo of people jumping and dancing came into place. It started to become a "brand" and, as such, makes it a much more valuable tool than just being called "The Dave Band" would be. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members jeff42 Posted February 5, 2011 Members Share Posted February 5, 2011 Yes! A name you can "work with" is certainly better than one that doesn't do anything for you.When we decided to become more of a party band, we decided a name change was in order--one than would convey a sense of "party/energy" We tossed around a bunch of idea and one I came up with was "Jump Start". I certainly wasn't thrilled with it: yes, it conveyed the "party/energy" I wanted our name to have...BUT...it was rather generic sounding, there's a few other bands around the country using the same name, and it can get confused with a lot of other stuff: simply googling "Jump Start" is going to give you all sorts of other hits LONG before you come across our band. So it had some MAJOR drawbacks.But when I decided I liked it was when I started thinking of being able to brand it: when I hit on using the "Jump Start Your Party" tag line, then I thought "OK this could really work!" Then it was changing it more in one word "JumpStart" to make it seem even more energetic. Then things like the logo of people jumping and dancing came into place. It started to become a "brand" and, as such, makes it a much more valuable tool than just being called "The Dave Band" would be. Dave, FYI one of the names suggested when we were going to do a name change was JumpStart Party. It didn't do enough for anyone to be selected but wouldn't it have been funny (awkward) if I posted here last year saying we found a NEW name! It's almost just like Daves!!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Vito Corleone Posted February 5, 2011 Members Share Posted February 5, 2011 Dave, FYI one of the names suggested when we were going to do a name change was JumpStart Party. It didn't do enough for anyone to be selected but wouldn't it have been funny (awkward) if I posted here last year saying we found a NEW name! It's almost just like Daves!!!! Yeah, that would have been pretty strange! Totally unique (and still good) band names can be hard to find. We thought we had a unique (although not particularly good) name with our old name 5 O'Clock Charlie. Surprisingly, there are probably MORE bands around the world using THAT name than "Jump Start". When I did a search of that name, I found an R&B band in Denver using that name, a 40s-style big band in Texas and band more similar to ours in North Carolina (or thereabouts.) So I figured we have the region to ourselves, that's close enough. My hesitation with going with a totally unique name was that, depending on the name, might cause problems with the market we're targeting. "Nuts In a Blender" is a great name that really describes the band. And is great for the bar circuit. But will some people have an issue with hiring a band named "Nuts" for a wedding or corporate party? Some might. A friend of mine runs a Steely Dan tribute band. He originally called the band "Steely Scam", but changed it later on because he ran into potential clients who had a problem with having the word "Scam" on their event's promotional material. Stuff like that seems totally innocuous to me (and probably most other musicians who are more....um...world-weary?) It's easy to forget that such things are actually an issue for some people out there. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members BlueStrat Posted February 5, 2011 Members Share Posted February 5, 2011 No one has dumber names than metal bands. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members rodclement Posted February 5, 2011 Members Share Posted February 5, 2011 I can't count how many people have responded positively to my group, "Broke By Sunday", based solely on the name. We've gotten booking agents to listen to us, we've gotten people to come out to shows, and we've gotten clubs to pay attention to a sales pitch, all on the name.I'm not saying it makes or breaks you.. but a good, catchy name certainly makes life in the band world that much easier! Your band name is great! that does help, and if it sounds familiar to people...even better! Rod Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members jeff42 Posted February 5, 2011 Members Share Posted February 5, 2011 No one has dumber names than metal bands. yes. But some Metalcore band names are even worse if that is possible Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members badhabit Posted February 5, 2011 Author Members Share Posted February 5, 2011 A friend of mine runs a Steely Dan tribute band. He originally called the band "Steely Scam", Are you talking about Jerry Jennings ? I know Jerry . We've jammed together a few times . Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Vito Corleone Posted February 5, 2011 Members Share Posted February 5, 2011 Are you talking about Jerry Jennings ? I know Jerry . We've jammed together a few times . No I mean Ron Hall. He started that band, then left and started a 2nd Steely Dan tribute "Steelin' Dan". Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members badhabit Posted February 5, 2011 Author Members Share Posted February 5, 2011 Okay then. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Vito Corleone Posted February 5, 2011 Members Share Posted February 5, 2011 I've never worked with Jerry, but he's a great player. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members badhabit Posted February 5, 2011 Author Members Share Posted February 5, 2011 I've never worked with Jerry, but he's a great player. He certainly is . Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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