Neither snow nor Thanksgiving nor Harry Potter movies will stay the Square Pig from her appointed rounds!
3 Inches of Blood
Disgusting yet precise. Who's going to clean this up?
The Bitter Roots
Whether the mountain range or the wild plant, this name evokes a distinct corner of the planet that means a lot to me, so it makes the list.
Horse Feathers and Hooves and Beak
Once again, a lineup makes the list as a unit. These two belong together. Must be a Harry Potter mood, but they both make me think of hippogriffs. And separate or together, they're funny.
Texas Hippie Coalition
Any hippies in Texas have to stick together, and they have my best wishes.
With These We Seize
What have we here? Clever rhyme + Vague pronoun = Band name that sounds like a commercial slogan. Gotta love it!
Naming a band is an act of concentrated creative expression. Square Pig in a Round Hole exists to reward five favorite band names each week. Winners are listed alphabetically. Selection is wholly unscientific and subject to whim, with a bias toward wordplay, humor, and local flavor. In most cases, I won't know anything about the bands at the time of selection. Thanks to the Seattle Times club listings for abundant source material!
Saturday, November 27, 2010
Saturday, November 20, 2010
November 20, 2010
Difficult to narrow the choices to just five!
Cootie Platoon
This band combines the juvenile "cootie" with the deadly serious "platoon" in a goofy juxtaposition that includes the wonderful assonance of two double o's. Fun to say, hilarious to picture.
Freelance Whales and Miniature Tigers
I couldn't choose between these two, so I decided to honor the lineup, which is made only more perfect by the venue, The Crocodile. I like the combination of wild animal with incongruous adjective.
Howlin' Houndog and the Infamous Loosers
I'm partial to the old-fashioned "and the" construction, especially when one or both parts are creatively spelled/misspelled. Now that I've sneaked a peek at a description of the music, I like it even more. Anyone who mashes together the Sonics, Captain Beefheart, and the Velvet Underground as influences gets my vote.
Out Like Pluto
I like Pluto. I'm sorry it got demoted from the planet club. On the other hand, it's so far out, maybe it doesn't want to be in our lame club.
"The Story" Guy and His Band
This is sweet. It's not even so much a name as a description: an unnamed "story guy" -- what story? what guy? -- and his unnamed band. The artless naivete wins me over. And the secrecy -- they don't seem to have a website.
Cootie Platoon
This band combines the juvenile "cootie" with the deadly serious "platoon" in a goofy juxtaposition that includes the wonderful assonance of two double o's. Fun to say, hilarious to picture.
Freelance Whales and Miniature Tigers
I couldn't choose between these two, so I decided to honor the lineup, which is made only more perfect by the venue, The Crocodile. I like the combination of wild animal with incongruous adjective.
Howlin' Houndog and the Infamous Loosers
I'm partial to the old-fashioned "and the" construction, especially when one or both parts are creatively spelled/misspelled. Now that I've sneaked a peek at a description of the music, I like it even more. Anyone who mashes together the Sonics, Captain Beefheart, and the Velvet Underground as influences gets my vote.
Out Like Pluto
I like Pluto. I'm sorry it got demoted from the planet club. On the other hand, it's so far out, maybe it doesn't want to be in our lame club.
"The Story" Guy and His Band
This is sweet. It's not even so much a name as a description: an unnamed "story guy" -- what story? what guy? -- and his unnamed band. The artless naivete wins me over. And the secrecy -- they don't seem to have a website.
Saturday, November 13, 2010
November 13, 2010
I find most of the really creative, entertaining band names under Rock/Pop (possibly because Seattle is a city of rock bands?), so it's a rare pleasure this week to honor a couple of bands in other genres. This week's awards go to:
Eighteen Individual Eyes
I have delighted in this name for months, so I'm thrilled they came up this week. The inclusion of "individual" makes it for me -- it's not just "eighteen eyes" but "eighteen individual eyes." Is this an eighteen-eyed creature, each eye functioning independently? Eighteen one-eyed creatures? A nine-piece band? It's also fun to say -- all those vowels just roll off the tongue.
Hobo Nephews of Uncle Frank
My first winner from the Country listings! (I will have to keep a closer eye on Country; when Rock starts to take itself too seriously, Country keeps its sense of humor). I think I like this one because uncles and nephews are automatically funnier than fathers and sons. I also enjoy the specificity of Uncle Frank. And for some reason, "Hobo" adds humor to anything these days.
Kung Foo Grip
Back to childhood and those GI Joe commercials! The spelling adds to the humor, especially as they happened to be playing at Chop Suey. Thank you, Hip-Hop, for stepping up.
Low Hums
Another first -- a band I've actually heard. I caught the end of their set at Reverb and can attest that this is a case of the name fitting the music perfectly. A deep bath of sludgy distortion -- ahhh!
Puget Sound System
Local flavor + wordplay = A Winner! We are so lucky to live in a place where the largest body of water is a sound.
Eighteen Individual Eyes
I have delighted in this name for months, so I'm thrilled they came up this week. The inclusion of "individual" makes it for me -- it's not just "eighteen eyes" but "eighteen individual eyes." Is this an eighteen-eyed creature, each eye functioning independently? Eighteen one-eyed creatures? A nine-piece band? It's also fun to say -- all those vowels just roll off the tongue.
Hobo Nephews of Uncle Frank
My first winner from the Country listings! (I will have to keep a closer eye on Country; when Rock starts to take itself too seriously, Country keeps its sense of humor). I think I like this one because uncles and nephews are automatically funnier than fathers and sons. I also enjoy the specificity of Uncle Frank. And for some reason, "Hobo" adds humor to anything these days.
Kung Foo Grip
Back to childhood and those GI Joe commercials! The spelling adds to the humor, especially as they happened to be playing at Chop Suey. Thank you, Hip-Hop, for stepping up.
Low Hums
Another first -- a band I've actually heard. I caught the end of their set at Reverb and can attest that this is a case of the name fitting the music perfectly. A deep bath of sludgy distortion -- ahhh!
Puget Sound System
Local flavor + wordplay = A Winner! We are so lucky to live in a place where the largest body of water is a sound.
Saturday, November 6, 2010
November 6, 2010
Square Pig in a Round Hole debuts today! I hope to have some fun and perhaps offer support to people doing live music in this virtual age. Everyone's a winner -- selected band names are not ranked, but are listed in alphabetical order for want of a better system.
This one makes the list because of the surprise ending to a cliche.
I've been seeing this band name for months, and it always makes me laugh. The wordplay and the image it evokes put it on the list.
This one is fun to say aloud, and it has an appealing neighborhood-level local vibe.
Brutal, badass and hilarious all at once.
Local flavor, and I've always liked the word "ruckus," so what can I say? A winner. Go, White Center!
Support creativity and local music!
Karen
Support creativity and local music!
Karen
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