September 25, 2011

I'm posting a day late because we chose to spend the last nice day for a while at Mt. Rainier. It was a beautiful day for a walk in the woods. Today, not so much, but maybe a good time to go indoors and hear a band or three.

Don Peyote
A masterful example of a play on words that must be spoken aloud for the joke to register.

Duckmandu
Ducks, like chickens and pigs, are always funny. This has the added pleasure of alliteration with that second D.

The Grindylow
 I like that it's only one of them.

Woodgrain
Completely independent of this band, my kid once used Woodgrain as a screen name in an online fighting game, in an effort to come up with something absurdly boring and non-threatening with nothing whatever to do with the game. I have to hope these guys were thinking along similar lines.

Your Cell: Yourself
Taking self-awareness to a whole new level.

September 17, 2011

I've been corresponding with an aspiring novelist whose story partly revolves around a rock band that's been together for over twenty years. I suggested, as a way to better understand her characters and their backstory, to consider what they called their band before they came up with the current name -- back when they were 20, playing for 10 or 15 people in a dive bar on a Wednesday night. How many names did they go through and how many fights did it cause? Because I can't imagine most bands came up with a winning name first time out of the box, and that's part of the story. By whatever process, these bands came up with winners:

Anhedonist
I like this because it can be taken a couple of ways: one who is not a hedonist -- not anti, just . . . not. Or (because some people like to use the article "an" with words that begin with "h") it could be the article and the noun run together -- one who is an hedonist. I expect it's up to the listener to decide.

Insect Surfers
Insects on surfboards: cute. People using giant insects as surfboards: trippy. People surfing waves of bugs: ew.


Magic Bus
I'm an old Who fan, and I've always loved this song, so I couldn't pass this one by.

Write This Down
The irony is that at a live performance, you can't understand most of the words.

YO! Majesty
This is exactly the right attitude toward monarchy. 

September 10, 2011

When we get summer in Seattle, it's perfect. We just have to wait till the first week of school, is all. This late in the season, it cools off in the evening, making us more willing to go indoors and hear some music!

Cast Iron Maidens

Illicit Jug Cartel
These two share a bill and caught my attention for the same reason: an ominous phrase turned down-home and humorous by the change or addition of one word. Nicely done.

Pig Destroyer
Do they launch the pig? I just hope they're not after square pigs . . .

Pinehurst Kids
Local flavor down at the neighborhood level. I wonder if Pinehurst kids are the same as AS#1 kids -- incredibly loud and more numerous than you believed possible (in the words of a former Nova HS student with experience of new crops of 9th graders arriving en masse from AS#1).


Tang and Toast
Space-age breakfast of champions.

September 3, 2011

In honor of Bumbershoot, I checked the festival schedule as well as the club listings in my never-ending search for creative band names. This week's picks:

Buildings on the Moon
I'm glad I'm not the only one thinking about this topic. I'm thinking spaceport, but I heard that a pizza chain (Domino's?) wants to be the first pizza restaurant on the moon. It'll probably go right next to Starbuck's.


Dead Man
Dunno if they had this in mind, but this is the title of a truly great, deeply weird film starring Johnny Depp.


Fitz and the Tantrums
Dumb and clever at the same time, in one of the standard formats.


Free the Robots
Otherwise, they will rise up and become our overlords.


Hobosexual
Delightfully juvenile. Also, as a member of a rock duo, I like to support other duos.