November 23, 2014

Due to a shortened holiday week, the pickings are a little slim in the club listings, so I'm taking this opportunity to do a Thanksgiving Retrospective of some favorites from the past. I have selected from Square Pig's first year in two categories: Names that are still Hands-Down Brilliant and Bands that have Been on a Bill with Your Mother Should Know. Here's what I had to say way back when:

Hands-Down Brilliant


Eighteen Individual Eyes
(from November 13, 2010) 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.

Out Like Pluto
(from November 20, 2010) 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.

High Class Wreckage
(from January 8, 2011) Yay! I've been waiting for these guys to show up. This name trips off the tongue, yet feels like an oxymoron. Full disclosure: I've seen High Class Wreckage twice. Their shows are reliably loud, dumb, full-on fun. Expect high-jinks and physical contact. (Technically, HCW was on a bill with YMSK, but before my tenure so I'm not counting it).

Garage a Trois
(from April 16, 2011) The perfect relationship in the garage-band capital. Way to pull off a foreign-language pun! (I'm also amused that the band is a four-piece).

Gazebo of Destruction
(from May 14, 2011) This one belongs to the opposing images school of band names. "Gazebo" is refined, elegant, civilized. "Destruction" is everything but. It doesn't hurt that "gazebo" figures in a couple of running family jokes.



 On a Bill with Your Mother Should Know

Ancient Warlocks
(from February 5, 2011) This appeals to my fantasy-novel side. Music and fiction are the closest to magic we can get: something out of nothing. It also evokes Spinal Tap and their tiny Stonehenge, and that makes me smile.

Black Plastic Clouds
(from November 5, 2011) As if black clouds weren't threatening enough! Any mention of black plastic reminds me of the ultimately ineffective weed barrier the previous owner of our house used in the front yard. We were digging pieces of black plastic out of the ground for years.


Curtains for You
(from December 4, 2010) Full disclosure: I'd heard of this band years before I saw them at the Columbia City Theatre (which has a stage with actual curtains), and the keyboard player has visited my house. But I think I would list them even if that weren't so. I like how the name references another era and aspect of American pop culture. (I tend to pronounce it "coitains" like the gangsters in old Bugs Bunny cartoons.) 


Pouch
(July 2, 2011) I've been hearing about these guys and liked the name from the start. Pouch is one of those words that's fun and funny to say. (I'm planning to go hear them at EMP today, so it seemed like a good time to drop them into the blog.) I hope to see more bands named for hand luggage.

October 12, 2014

Our endless summer is finally loosening its grip, but October is so beautiful around here, I really can't complain. I'm a day late blogging because yesterday, our 28th wedding anniversary, we eschewed the grubby rock clubs of last weekend for glitzy theater and fine dining. Possibly we'll be back in the bars later in the week because we're on vacation! I'm tempted by a show next Friday: Power Skeleton album release show, with Sun Giants and perennial favorites Ancient Warlocks, at Darrell's Tavern in Shoreline. I've listened to part 1, A-M, of Power Skeleton's 26 Songs about the Natural World. How can you not like improvs with names like "Ants (with Aphids)", "Hagfish," or "Motorcycle Helmet"? How often is metal this endearing?
https://www.facebook.com/events/527488070717779/?sid_reminder=8407279549980606464

Even more great band names:

Astro Tan
I'm always taken with how much can be done with the change of one letter -- from multi-passenger conveyance to the ultimate in safe tanning. I suspect you can get away with a low protection factor while working on your star tan.

Jungle, Empress of
OK, this is two bands on one bill, but I want to see the resume that includes this past work experience.

Metaphoria
Ecstasy for English majors.


The Owl Parliament
I love that "parliament" really is the correct term for a group of owls. For that matter, a group of humans is, yes, a band. So where's the band called Toad Knot?

Wreckless Freeks 
Creative spelling gives us one word that sounds like its opposite and one that looks a little freakish.

May 31, 2014

SHAMELESS PLUG: Your Mother Should Know (for which I play drums and do some singin') is part of a stellar lineup that also includes Ancient Warlocks, Tom Price Desert Classic, On the Ground, and Ian Grunfeld (of The Good Luck Number), TONIGHT at the High Dive, $5, doors at 8:30 p.m. This show is a benefit for and opportunity to learn about Seattle IWW, so if you care about labor and/or punk rock, you should check it out. In case you didn't catch that: only $5!

That was a substantial list of band names already, but here are this week's picks:

Absent Tiger
It's the tiger you don't see that you have to worry about. (Always happy to support another two-piece band, especially one with a female drummer!)

Creature of the Deep
This one has a nice B-movie vibe.  I particularly like that it's a singular creature, perhaps alluding to the unitary nature of a functioning band.

Crossbows and Catapults
The medieval theme points to rock band as adventuring party, battling monsters and wielding magic in search of great treasure.

Forever Came Calling
Three-word poem about a moment of transcendance.

Transcribing the Necronomicon
I've read just enough H. P. Lovecraft to know this is probably a bad idea.

June 16, 2012

Many thanks to Pouch, Antique Scream, White Orange, and Ancient Warlocks for a loud, heavy time at the Funhouse last weekend! Not a dud in the bunch, which is what you want when you don't get out often. And happy Father's Day to all the cool rockin' daddies out there!

Abducted by Sharks
In this reality, aliens bite your leg off.

Boaconstructor
A case of changing one letter to change the whole meaning: a snake who builds things, or perhaps the person who fastens all the feathers together into a stole. I like that it's one word, too.

Ennui Trust
Fun two ways! On paper, a safe place to store your boredom. Spoken, the motto on our money, with a key word missing.

Roaming Herds of Buffalo
How big is the stage, anyway?! An expansive band name that evokes the wide open spaces of the West.

Wookie Party
Vote Wookie! (Do their candidates pull people's arms out of their sockets when they lose?)

May 7, 2011

Four previous honorees -- Eighteen Individual Eyes, Ancient Warlocks, Ravenna Woods and Dog Shredder -- all had gigs last night, and I missed them all due to a previous engagement! I hope everybody had a rockin' night.

Less Than Equals
This one plays on words and numbers! It could describe a relationship, either personal or mathematical. And you could spell it <=. (No website, but Kurt Bloch is in it, so you know they're awesome). The mathiness makes it fit on a bill with:
 
Ocean of Algebra and Social Studies, which aren't on the same bill but should be. I hope they are more fun than 9th grade.

Rubblebucket
This one is just a joy to say. It is at once funny and heavy and gritty.

Wet Nightmare 
Speaking of 9th grade . . . This name conveys in two words all the wonder and horror of puberty.

February 5, 2011

All Bets on Death
Taxes are a close second.

Ancient Warlocks
This appeals to my fantasy-novel side. Music and fiction are the closest to magic we can get: something out of nothing. It also evokes Spinal Tap and their tiny Stonehenge, and that makes me smile.

Campfire OK
 Signs are great band-name fodder -- the fewer words, the better. This one has a nice positive vibe, but campfires can get out of hand -- exactly what you want with a rock show!

No Bunny
. . . till some bunny loves you. Sweet, sad, and existential all at once.

The Velveteen Lotharios
Hilariously cheap. (Knowing nothing at all, I guessed "lounge," and I was absolutely right!)