March 28, 2015

How cool is it that The Sonics got written up in The New Yorker? And they're playing next Thursday with Mudhoney at the Moore -- killer lineup of killer lineups! That's only one of many great shows I'm likely to miss this week, though I hope to get out Sunday for Canals of Venice's mini-musical, Martha Jane.

Meanwhile, these names stood out from the crowd:

!!! (Chk Chk Chk)
A sound effect spelled with punctuation is already pretty great, but including the translation is a nice courtesy. "Chk chk chk" is exactly the processed hi-hat sound used in dance music since the disco era.

Butterflies of Death
You've no doubt heard that a butterfly flapping its wings can lead to a hurricane on the other side of the world. Specifically, these butterflies.

Craft Spells
Artisanal magic from hipster witches.

Hippo Campus
I have long imagined a Sandra Boynton cartoon of a college for hippos. Now they have a band to play for their house parties.

The Velvet Teen 
Once seen, it seems so obvious, but somehow I never noticed that "velveteen" has the word "teen" embedded in it. Will this kid become Real as the fuzz gets loved off? 
 

My fiction and blogging projects collide in "St. Rage,"  the 13th release in the Pankhearst Singles Club. This story of an all-girl teenage garage band with superpowers is short, it's funny, and it's only $ .99. If you like "St. Rage," please like St. Rage on Facebook and go listen to their first demo, "Huge Guy in the Mosh Pit."

I play drums in a band called Your Mother Should Know. Our album Rocks and Glass is available now on Bandcamp.

February 15, 2014

It's that weird time of year when we've just had snow but it's starting to look and feel like spring; when Seattle high schoolers, two weeks into a new semester, take a week off to recover; when the year no longer feels new but I still have to think before writing the date. On the upside, a Monday holiday offers the rare opportunity to go out on a Sunday night! Make the most of it.

BowieVision
This technological marvel brought to you by Ziggy Stardust. Always in style.

(he thinks he's people)
Why do I assume this is aimed at the drummer? (I also like the parentheses. There's generally not enough punctuation in band names.)

Hoax Foot
I read this as a translation of pseudopod, a favorite term from high school biology. (In what I understand is their first outing, this duo is playing on the aforementioned Sunday night on a bill with former Square Pig honorees Pouch and Canals of Venice. Enjoyed a solo set by one of the members last summer, so I'm looking forward to it!)

Propagandhi
Excellent name pun! Politically slanted promotion of non-violent resistance -- what's not to like?

Slutever
So appropriate that they played on Valentine's Day!

March 2, 2013

Coming right up: Your Mother Should Know with Canals of Venice, Dead Bars, and Red Ribbon! Tuesday, March 5 at Comet Tavern, doors open at 8 pm, music starts at 9 pm, $6 cover. Very excited about this show. YMSK has an oddly wonderful new set -- no two songs alike -- and I'm eager to hear the other bands, two of them for the first time. As usual, seeing us in the listings sort of distracted me from my blog research, but I found five worthy names to write about:

All Get Out
Folksy idiom -- "That band was noisy as all get out!" -- or emergency order -- "All get out! The bar's on fire!"? You decide.

Bacon Grenade
If this isn't the name of a hangover breakfast, it should be. Or maybe it's the thing you toss in to distract the guard dogs.

The Blank Tapes
Nostalgia trip! There was a time in the not-so-distant past when we devoted a certain part of our budget and storage space to blank tapes. We haven't bought one in ages; even the used tapes have all been ripped or are steadily being replaced. But this band name triggered memories of a well-used recording medium that was a great convenience in its day.

Paper Rout
I hope this is not just a typo in the paper, because I really like it this way but I'm not finding any web presence. Is this where the paper bag punches back? Or where you win, but only on paper? Funny the difference one letter can make.

Pollens 
Timely, considering the season. (Apologies to all hay fever sufferers). I like this because pollen is a collective noun already and making it plural is amusing overkill. But I'm sure that botanists (and hay fever sufferers) are concerned with the variety of pollens out there.

February 23, 2013

Out past 10 two weeknights in a row -- Banned Rehearsal performance last night and Your Mother Should Know practice the night before that. I don't know about this life in the fast lane. I'm feeling sleep-deprived, so I'll keep this short. Fortunately, the band names fell readily into a theme. See if you can guess it.

Excuse You
I know this line as an alternative momism to "What do you say?" When adults say it to each other, it gains a layer of sarcasm while still sounding polite.

Go Radio
It's been a long time since I did much music listening on the radio, but I love those moments when I'm switching the CD in the car and a fragment of another world comes over the airwaves. Long live radio.

Lagwagon
I think I had this car.

Sweet Talkin' Jones and the Muscletones
I try not to play favorites, but this is my favorite. It has the classic X and the Y structure, and it takes the "-tones" trope in a punning direction. And it rhymes. (Broad hint).

Town Hall Brawl
I think I'll stay away from the contentious meeting, but I'll be happy to read a detailed account the next day!

And of course, the theme is names with rhymes in them. I found Excuse You and Town Hall Brawl on the same bill early in the listings, and the rest chose themselves.

Coming Soon: Your Mother Should Know with Canals of Venice, Dead Bars, and Red Ribbon! Tuesday, March 5 at Comet Tavern, doors open at 8 pm, $6 cover.

August 11, 2012

I'm breaking with tradition a little bit by including two bands that I actually heard (!) but that did not appear in the club listings. The Ancients and Tyrannosaurus Grace both played terrific sets at the Rat and Raven last Thursday. Andrew James Robison opened with an exciting acoustic set, followed by Your Mother Should Know doing whatever it is we do. (Catch Andrew at the Funhouse this Sunday, with Black Plastic Clouds and Canals of Venice).

The Ancients
I probably wouldn't pick this name out of the listings, but it fits perfectly the band's wildly theatrical Adventure Metal genre. These guys would be right at home with a tiny Stonehenge on stage.

The Hooten Hallers
I like how the name spoken sounds like a raucous good time, but written looks like the denizens of Hooten Hall, no doubt some Wodehousian country manor.

Howth
Castle Dwellers
These get in as a set. They're on the same bill at the Sunset on Sunday, and happy chance in the listings creates a reference to Howth Castle, back to which we are brought by a commodious vicus of recirculation in the first lines of James Joyce's Finnegans Wake. It just so happens that this very night, August 11, 2012, my brother and partner in rock and roll, Neal Kosaly-Meyer, performs -- from memory -- John Cage's "Writing for the Second Time Through Finnegans Wake" in honor of the 20th anniversary of Cage's death. Chapel Performance Space at Good Shepherd Center, 8:00 p.m. It's gonna be a great show!

Tyrannosaurus Grace
This is one of those names that just sounds right. I don't know what it is -- some kind of Wesleyan dinosaur, I guess -- but I like it.