Stage names

[Brian Krashpad]

Do you have one? What's the story behind it? Do others in your band(s) have noms de rock?

 

My stage name is the same one I use as my monicker most everywhere on the internet. It's origin is simple, it's my actual first name and a misspelled version of my main band's name, Crash Pad. A local friend of mine who is also a DJ and booker started calling me Brian Crashpad, but my legal last name starts with a K anyhow, so I decided to spell my stage name "Krashpad" so I could always be "BK."

 

Of course, this results in my band, in addition to being referred to as "Crashpad" (the band name is 2 words), now also being referred to as "Krashpad."

 

Sigh.

 

The other guys in Crash Pad have stage names too. Our informal tradition, honored as much in the breach as adhered to, is that each member takes the name of the band s/he left to join Crash Pad. Unless of course they want to do something else. Sort of a "default" stage name. Thus we have Chris Moosejaw and Drew Omglol, on guitar and bass.

 

Our drummer was previously in a band called "Anvl Chorus." Justin Anvil would've certainly worked as a name, though I had been calling him Justin "Anvil" Sanchez (his real last name) as a variation on the theme. However, he came up with something he likes better, Justin Combustion. Gotta love a rhyming stage name.

 

My side band, Hoyt and the HotHeads, is a roots rock band so they don't have the whole punk rock stage name tradition going on. I still use "Brian Krashpad" in that band though, as a way of cross-advertising for my main band. The lead singer and drummer in that band usually use their legal names, although the drummer sonetimes also uses the alias "Pat Lanips," which I've always thought pretty clever.

 

That's "Spinal Tap" backwards.

 

Our bassist in the HotHeads also (like myself) is in a second band that plays punk rock. Like me, he uses the same stage name in both bands. His handle is "Dan E. Bukkakke."

 

I'd just as soon not know the origin of that one.

 

 

Tell your tales of noms de rock, sisters and brothers!

 

BK

[Burgess]

I used to play under the name Redd Wyatt back in the mid/late 80s.

 

It's a silly and boring story. Basically the frontman of this band got stuck with this name. I'd no intention of being frontman but once the setlist was complete, guess who had the majority of the songs to sing?

 

[LateGreats]

I never gave myself a stage name, but some audience members had taken to calling me "you suck".

[JacieFB]

I use Jacie...it's "cutesie" for Jace from Jason. In Ramones fashion (Johnny, Joey, Marky, etc.)...I did it "ie" for the heck of it. The FB comes from Fussbudget...what my wife used to call me. I have Jacie spraypainted on my cabs and cases. It's a little more unusual than spraypainting "Jason" on there, in case of someone trying to steal equipment.

 

Funny one is a drummer I used to play with. I gave him the name Dan "Invasion". When he first played with me, he had like 10 cymbals around his drum kit....lookied like an "invasion" of flying saucers. Plus, he told us a story about him having sleep-sex with his girlfriend at the time. He woke up "in-doors", if you catch my drift. Even funnier, it was the back door.

[caveman]

Caveman

[jewbacca]

x

[Tedster]

I was thinking about using Elvis Sinatra.

 

HAHAHAHAHAHA...

[curlymo]

My stage name is sometimes my legal name, and other times it is CurlyMo (short for Curly M F'n which...and Curly is short for Curtis...my drummer likes to make up names), just depends on whose talking onstage at the moment. We've randomly come up with everyone in the bands stage names...our keyboard player has two: "Capt. Jack Sparrow" or "JWBS" (John Wilkes Booth Sparrow). He was the only one we couldn't think of a president for him to be one night...so we made him a presidential assassin, because he is the quiet one that you have to worry about...and his last name is Sparrow so we have fun with that. Drummer has all kinds of names, but usually it's "Capt. my Capt." or "Raif Hollister". Bass Player is "Wooter". Fun part is that the drummer and bass player are brothers so I always introduce them as the "Double Dose of the Dirty Dorris Rhythm Section". Our singer goes from her Charleigh to "Charles in Charge" or "Charlie Brown".

[Singin' Dave]

Stage names, nick names...yep we use 'em. Mine is my monicker here (pretty original for the front man - uh, yeah), Bassman is Johnbones (his last name is Johnson), Lead Guitarist is Mark Madness (his last name is Maciasz) and the drummer goes by either sheepdog (as he herds us home) or The Coach (he's a teacher)

[Monster Joe]

My stage name/nickname is Sancho.

It comes from a character in Orgazmo, the Trey Parker/Matt Stone movie.

We used to use it on CD covers and such, but I've returned to just using my real first name. We still mention the nick, and I usually use it on forums but here, someone beat me to it...

[MONGOOZ]

my nickname on stage is "The Dirtmaster"......

 

don't ask......

 

 

[Guitar Centaur]

Yes.

 

My stage name is "Sum Yung Guy"

 

[Guitar Centaur]

Originally posted by Burgess I used to play under the name Redd Wyatt back in the mid/late 80s. It's a silly and boring story. Basically the frontman of this band got stuck with this name. I'd no intention of being frontman but once the setlist was complete, guess who had the majority of the songs to sing?

 

I too, used a "Red" handle in one of my former bands. It was a bluegrass outfit that went by the moniker:

 

"Red Sphincter and the Anal Mountain Boys"

 

[MrKnobs]

Soundguy nicknames are popular too, especially in the old days. Without elaborating too much, let's just say that going by a short handle simplifies one's IRS situation at times.

 

I had a surreal experience not too long ago. I was selling off some old PA gear and an ancient spotlight through the local music paper.

 

Some crusty, road-mangled dude showed up at my place and was interested in the spotlight. We got to drinking beer (always offer a customer a beer to get their consumer resistance down) and swapping stories.

 

Suddenly, he said, "Hey, are you MrKnobs?" And just as suddenly I realized he was "Sparky." Sparky was/is legendary in our field and here we had never met.

 

We had a good time catching up and he eventually bought all my stuff. I have no idea how much he paid me for it.

 

 

Terry D.

[MONGOOZ]

we just called our sound guy "dave"....

 

it worked

 

 

[DonaldDemon]

Nothing too entirely clever about mine. A friend of mine calls me a different name each time he calls and I do the same. After a while he got stuck with Carl and I got Donald. This friend and me had a band in college called "Demon Worm" and so I just saw the two names fitting together nicely: Donald Demon. It also has the same initial as my first name, Dennis, so it doesn't sound too weird.

My bassist is called Eggie because his last name is Egbert, and thats been his nickname since I knew him. He also goes by Eggman, Egg, and Crazy Eggie.

So I figured our drummer Ken needed a name to fit in and I gave him Kenbot because he is machine-like??

[Outrider]

Back in high school I started calling myself "Mad Dog" because I was probably the last person you'd expect to carry a name like that. by the time I graduated, it had caught on, and even most of my teachers called me by that nickname. "Mad Dog" seems pretty common/cliche now, but way back when in the late eighties, nicks/screen names weren't as common (no internet.)

 

My ex-guitarist, Bill cut his finger open on his guitar strings one night during a gig, earning his nickname "Bloody Bill", which sounds like a good pirate name, if you ask me.

 

We callled our drummer "Psycho Magnet" for a while, but then decided that we didn't want his exes stalking us, as well.

[fastplant]

Our keyboard player goes by "That Guy" www.sideshowband.com/thatguy Not Completely sure why.

[Strings74]

Dammit, I want a stage name now!

 

[MrKnobs]

I used to run sound for a band with a guitarist named Rob. He was a real sick puppy, got a sexual thrill from degrading women in various ways.

 

Not that there's anything wrong with that, I guess.

 

But he went by the name "Barnell" when he was playing. I asked him why he did that and he basically told me his pleasure was increased by the girls' stupidity in believing a white urban guy would have that name.

 

One night he hooked up with two credulous young ladies and the three of them were having sex in the back of his hatchback. Luckily it was a cold evening so the windows fogged up pretty quick.

 

When the break was over, "Barnell" was still at it and the bandleader had to go out to his car and bang on the roof.

 

Throughout the next set, the two JBF'd girls for some reason decided to stand right by the soundboard and gush on and on with loud, effusive praise for everything Barnell was doing on stage, from his playing, to his looks, his singing (which was terrible), etc.

 

I'll tolerate a lot of things, but one thing I won't tolerate is people standing right next to me and talking loudly while I try to mix.

 

I steamed quietly for a while, hoping they'd run out of vacuous remarks, or possibly have to run to the ladies' room to deal with leakage or something. No such luck.

 

Finally I got so mad I turned to them, got right in their faces, and yelled, "Oh for God's sake, his name isn't even Barnell, it's ROB! Now how stupid does that make you!"

 

Their faces flushed red, they turned and left without saying a word, right out the front door of the old dance hall.

 

After the set was over, Rob asked me, "Did you see where those two bitches went?"

 

I shrugged. "Nope. I'm sure you can find a couple more, though."

 

He laughed. "True that. I thought they were kind of disgusting, really."

 

Terry D.

[DonaldDemon]

Originally posted by Strings74 Dammit, I want a stage name now!

 

How about Finkelstein? Check Cheech & Chong's Up in Smoke for reference:

 

"You get a goddamn job before sundown or we're shipping you off to military school with than goddamn.. Finkelstein {censored} kid...son ofa bitch!"

[RupertB]

Originally posted by DonaldDemon How about Finkelstein? Check Cheech & Chong's Up in Smoke for reference: "You get a goddamn job before sundown or we're shipping you off to military school with than goddamn.. Finkelstein {censored} kid...son ofa bitch!"

 

"and get that banana out of your ear!"

 

I had a bandmate who, when it was time to name the band, seriously wanted "Finkelstein {censored} Kid". He was voted down. *whew*

 

In the duo I play with the running joke is "who will they introduce themselves as tonight". It started with "Starsky and Hutch", "Laurel and Hardy", something new every gig and its just gotten weirder ever since. "Sacco & Vanzetti?":o

[DonaldDemon]

Originally posted by RupertB "and get that banana out of your ear!" I had a bandmate who, when it was time to name the band, seriously wanted "Finkelstein {censored} Kid". He was voted down. *whew* In the duo I play with the running joke is "who will they introduce themselves as tonight". It started with "Starsky and Hutch", "Laurel and Hardy", something new every gig and its just gotten weirder ever since. "Sacco & Vanzetti?":o

 

That's a great name! Well, I would have used it only beause I love that part of that movie so much. I would love to use a different band name every night but its bad buissness for an original rock band:(

[one4rich]

I've always just used my real name, because I'd known guys that made up names and I always thought they took themselves too seriously. I never worried about my name sounding "cool" or "dorky" or whatever, I just the used the one I was given. Besides, If I ever made it, I wanted people from my past to know that I'd made it. "Sombitch! Rich made it!"

 

It worked to my advantage once, though. I was playing in a club, and the singer introduced me after a song..."that was Rich Dickerson on lead guitar!" and a chick I'd known several years prior comes running up..."where's Rich Dickerson on lead guitar?" which was nice. She'd been playing pool and hadn't even seen me onstage, and I hadn't seen her either.

 

Getting re-accquainted was very enjoyable.