September 14, 2013

Heard the good news this week that ReverbFest is being resurrected as the Macefield Music Festival, October 5 in Ballard. It'll be a bit smaller but still sounds great -- Young Fresh Fellows are in the lineup! We're in.

Meanwhile, there's plenty going on in the coming week. These band names deserve recognition:

The Littlest Viking
Children's movie-title trope: "The heartwarming story of a Norseman who loots and pillages his way to the top in spite of his diminutive size." I love the quick turn from cuteness to ferocity.

Meteor vs. Dinosaur
This will probably end badly . . . unless the dinosaurs are prepared with a gravity tractor to move the space rock before it hits the atmosphere.

Milo and the Understudies
I always appreciate a good deployment of the classic X and the Ys format. And then it's The Understudies, with all the second-stringness and muted hope for stardom that implies. If that weren't enough, Milo is the first name of the best villain I ever wrote. (And I've just learned this is a band of siblings, which I have to support).

Mr. and Mrs. Something
Yeah -- that couple you always see at that one place, where they serve those things.

The So So Glos
The repeated long Os make this name practically sing, and I always have a soft spot for any whiff of loser culture. 

September 7, 2013

September arrives and school begins with a light show and thunderous percussion! If summer must end, glad to see it go with a bang.

Bleeding Rainbow
So much going on in so few words. A sneakily violent reference to a PBS children's show? A proud announcement of the metaphorical color of one's blood? Or did the tie-dye run in the wash?

Into It. Over It.
If it goes this fast, it's not my fault I'm so often late to the party, fad-wise. What a relief! (How appropriate it would be if this band is a one-hit wonder).

The Knowgooders
A nice mash-up of "know" and "no good" and "do-gooders."

Tim Fantastic and Styrofoam Meat Trays
It's long and it makes nonsense of the mundane. What's not to like?

Queen Kwong
Once you see it done, it looks easy, but I never thought of this -- did you?

August 31, 2013

It's a fine weekend for Bumbershoot and any other live music you care to partake in! We're taking it easy around Chez Square Pig -- the youngest of our resident youths had wisdom teeth removed yesterday and has been pumped full of wisdom and good drugs. But even though I'm staying home, I can still applaud these great band names:

The Bloodclots
This fits the theme of the weekend (see above reference to oral surgery). This seems about perfect for the not-squeaky, not-clean side of rock & roll.

Dirty Pots
A seriously grungy image!

Polka Service
If you can have a folk mass or blues vespers or a church rock band, why not a polka service? (I guess this is a real thing, but it's ripe for satire).

Robotic About Us
I'm partial to science fiction imagery generally, and I'm considering writing a robot romance, so this speaks to me.

Runt
As one who was always the youngest and smallest, I tend to favor the runt. The word itself has the monosyllabic punch of some of our best swear words, and fits nicely in Seattle's loser-pride movement.

August 24, 2013

Once upon a time, there was group of kids who occasionally got together and jammed. They sounded pretty good and talked about putting on a show or playing for a dance, but were unable to come up with a name for their band. Possibly for this reason, they never played in public. And yet, how many times have I heard someone say they were going to start a band in order to use the great name they'd thought of? (This also rarely comes to fruition). As I've said before, naming a band is an act of concentrated creative expression almost on a par with writing a great lyric or riff. Trust that when the band is ready, the name will come -- or will have been waiting all the time.

The Apostrophes
The grammar nerd in me celebrates the correct use of this and all punctuation marks. I had also just selected another band name that contained an apostrophe, so there was a sense of destiny.


Bonded by Blood
Fueled by Fire
These two (on the same bill) get in for the same reason: alliteration. I also liked that both names had the same form: two-syllable verb (past tense) "by" one syllable noun. Because of this parallel form, I was ready to believe this was actually one band with a long name -- and I would have chosen it for that reason, too.


Cambrian Explosion
A reference to geologic time and events in an artifact of popular culture -- by definition fleeting -- is a sweet irony.


O'Brother
Here's that apostrophe referred to above. I like the expression of disbelief or resignation transformed into a name.

August 17, 2013

I find that I have nothing to say this week about anything but the band names, so here goes:

Frog Flag
This one gets in because it's short and fun to say, with lots of alliterating fs and gs. Let your frog flag fly!

God Hates Fads
Oh, what a difference one letter makes! That tiny change probably makes it true.

Marmot vs. Mammoth
Not an even match-up at all. Mammoth puts his foot in the marmot hole, he's going down. Love all those repeated m sounds.

More Machine than Man
Can't pass up a good Star Wars reference. And again with the alliteration!

A Sea of Glass
This automatically calls to mind Shelby Earl's fabulous, catchy, feel-good pop song about willingly enduring a lopsided, possibly abusive relationship. Swimming in a sea of glass is a beautiful, horrible image.

August 10, 2013

Happy birthday to my brother and bandmate, Neal! If we can get other people to haul our gear, let's still be rocking in our 90s!

This week's post has an opera and mythology theme, in honor of Seattle Opera's current Ring cycle, a heroic pull for all concerned (audience included) and a huge, awe-inspiring success.

Advent Horizon
The expected savior approaches, but it's too late. Everything will be dragged into the black hole of Wotan's hubris.

Horse Opera
Too easy! Last night's performance of Gotterdammerung (AKA "Crepuscle for Wotan") featured an actual horse onstage.

L'orchestre D'incroyable
'nuff said. The Rhine floods, Valhalla burns, but the orchestra always has the last word.

Merciful Zeus
Different mythology but any flawed deity fits the theme.

Viva Diva
After a thrilling performance as Brunhilde in Tuesday's Die Walkure, Alwyn Mellors came down with a virus and the heroic Lori Phillips stepped into the role for Siegfried and Gotterdammerung.  And owned it. Viva diva, indeed!

August 3, 2013

After an entire month of dry, sunny, warm-but-not-hot weather, people were complaining about one day of rain. What do they think, that it's suddenly not Seattle anymore? Then again, it wouldn't be Seattle if someone weren't complaining about the weather. I'm thankful it's still a town that also rains down wonderful band names. In a rare sweep, the first four are all on the same bill.

Agony and Ivory
I remember the summer when "Ebony and Ivory" was ubiquitous on pop radio. This is by far the best reference I've seen to it. I kind of want to start a band called Ebony and Ecstasy just to make it complete.

Lark vs. Owl
In a mixed household of morning people and not-morning people, I know all about this conflict.

Mean Recess
You gotta walk that lonesome playground; you gotta walk it by yourself . . .

My Machete
Sounds like some kind of comfort object. Maybe to carry during a mean recess . . .

Slow Bunny
Oh, dear. In a species that has only two things going for it -- speed and numbers -- this guy doesn't stand a chance.

As Seattle Opera begins Wagner's Ring of the Nibelungs, honorable mention goes to The Valkyries. I can't think of a better name for an all-female heavy-rock outfit.