February 16, 2013

After yesterday's meteor and asteroid events, may I just say: Space rocks. Sorry. On with the band names . . .

Aaron Daniel's One Man Banned 
It's almost too easy, but the pun of "banned" for "band" continues to work. I'm also sensitive to the usage because I'm part of a longstanding musical improv outfit called Banned Rehearsal, which has been not-rehearsing since 1984. Shameless plug: we'll be playing the Chapel Performance Space at Good Shepherd Center on Friday, February 22 -- our first public outing since 1997.

Chaotic Noise Marching Corps
This actually seems to describe the Banned Rehearsal aesthetic, though we do not generally march. I like the apparent oxymoron of chaos and noise combined with the implied order of a marching corps. Also, one of the guys lives on my block and went through elementary and middle school with one of my kids, so there's some neighborly pride here.
 
Feed Me with Teeth
Well, obviously, but on the other hand, what? A short sentence that twists all over the place. I also appreciate the assonance of the repeated double e.

Mouse on Mars
My instant reaction was memory of the Fun Forest, which I consider a good thing. In my mind, this name melds the roller coaster Mad Mouse with another ride called Flight to Mars. So, Seattle nostalgia plus my usual Mars-mania -- an easy pick.

Robot Uprise 
I don't think I've ever seen "uprise" used this way, or maybe at all. Is it a verb -- something a robot is being ordered to do? Or is it a noun, a shortened version of uprising? What do our robot overlords say?
 

February 9, 2013

What a privilege to live in a region that produced both The Sonics and Mudhoney, and continues to incubate a lively and creative music scene that really doesn't care what the rest of the world thinks. Let them come to us.

This week's picks ended up having a food-and-martian theme. I don't plan these things, folks; just lucky, I guess.

Boss Martians
Men Martians and Machines
I love it when my R&R and SF interests come together. I don't suppose I'll ever get over my Mars kick.
 
Fruit and Vegetable
Sour Scream and Salsa
These two really should have been on the same bill. Not just food and allusions to food, but the classic Noun and Noun band name structure. Yet they are also opposites: while both chose foods that are commonly spoken of together, one pairs staples of a balanced diet; the other, yelling condiments . . . into which the healthful foods could be dipped! I also like that Fruit and Vegetable are singular, as if this is a duo of (interchangeable) Veggie Tales characters. Sour Scream and Salsa provides abundant sibilance, and I gotta say, mariachi metal is an intriguing new genre.
 
Hellbelly
Too much sour scream and salsa? I love that something as simple as changing the vowel sometimes works magic.

February 2, 2013

Happy Groundhog Day! I'm very excited to go hear The Sonics and Mudhoney tonight! Musically, I missed the '60s because I was a child, and the '90s because I had children. Most kind of these two bands to do a show together for my convenience! They are among the few I've blogged about after hearing their music. Here are some I've yet to hear:

Acapulco Lips
I was sorry to miss Red Ribbon's show at the Rendezvous last week, moreso when I learned the name of the opening act. On the page, it looks like silly nonsense, but has to be read aloud to really sink in. On top of the wordplay (for me, at least), it brings to mind Walt Kelly's Pogo strip, in which "Octawocktapockers done got Albert!"

Impossible Bird
Come to think of it, everything birds do seems impossible. They fly, soar, swoop, and flock without even thinking about it; snag mosquitoes out of the air; perch on branches and power lines without losing their balance; see colors that are invisible to us; migrate incredible distances. I'll stop there. Birds are awesome.

Rose Windows
Do they transform the venue into a cathedral? This would also make a good stage name.

The Shivering Denizens
I can't believe I haven't included this one before. I'm always happy to find the word "denizens" in use, and "shivering" seems like just the right adjective.

Train Wreck
Can't look away! A spectacle even when all goes wrong. Also, I tend to notice train references, due both to my lifelong fondness for trains, and to my folk-music project, Train Case.

January 26, 2013

Blogging near the end of a busy day! It's probably a good thing we didn't go out last night, considering all the stuff we had to do today, but I was sorry to miss On the Ground, The Badlands, and Pouch. Next time, perhaps. Tonight, it's Neal Meyer's Cage/Joyce program at the Chapel Performance Space -- something I've been looking forward to. These names caught my eye this week:

Miss Rose and her Rhythm Percolators
I've been meaning to point this group out for some time. Today I met someone who knows them well, and there I was with a space to fill! It's an old-fashioned name befitting the style of music they play -- I'm told when they play the Sorrento, you expect Bertie Wooster to stroll in. So we have the classic format -- leader's name and his/her plural noun. "Rhythm Percolators" is both rhythmic and cheery, as well as old-timey. Sounds perfect for what they do.

Mordacious
Oh happy day when made-up words are easy and fun to say! What have we here? Morbid + Audacious? Mordant + Bodacious? Choose your own meaning.

Seacats
Kind of hard to picture -- the cats I know don't like to get their paws wet.

Tacoma Finish
Last week I dissed Tacoma, but I'm really rather fond of the place -- especially as an incubator of early garage rock. So if you can put a Tacoma finish on your music, that can only be a good thing.

This Soil is Diseased
Yow! I suspect this comes directly off a sign somewhere, a perfect metal name: complete sentence with notes of death and corruption.

January 20, 2013

I can hardly believe it, but people have begun to complain about the weather! In Seattle! All right, yes, the fog is getting a little old. But I remember a winter some years ago when it was foggy for three weeks straight without even a sunbreak. And I lived in Tacoma. So, you know, it could be worse. (I won't even mention the S word). Cut through the fog with some good astringent punk rock and you'll feel better.

Falling Awake
Is this about drifting into consciousness without really realizing it, and everything makes perfect sense until you go to sleep again? Or that moment when you've been drifting off to sleep, feel like you're falling, and jerk awake?

HugLife
What a difference one letter makes. So warm and fuzzy!

Kim Jong Illin'
Resident wet blanket points out that this is too out-of-date to be relevant anymore. Don't care. It's still clever and funny, and in a year or two, it'll be retro.

Lo' There Do I See My Brother
Formal and old-fashioned and too many words -- everything I love in a band name.

Red Wanting Blue
Do political opposites attract, or just need each other as foils? Does red want blue more than blue wants red? Is it a rom-com or a tragedy?

Special recognition for an event name I couldn't make up if I tried:
The King County Executive's Awards for Excellence in Hip Hop

January 13, 2013

I'm a day late due to a very busy Saturday of wildly diverse activities: helped lead a spiritual retreat in the morning, then into the sparkly purple minidress and over-the-knee boots for a party at Teatro Zinzanni in the late afternoon and evening. Naturally, I caught a cold; lucky I didn't get whiplash. But there's always time to celebrate great band names:

Books on Fate
It sounds like it's going to be Books on [some audio medium] and then takes a turn for the cosmic.

Coho Mountain String Ticklers
"Tickle" is the perfect verb for how bluegrass players get sound out of their instruments, and also how this name affected me.

Holy Bourbon Church
My temperance foremothers would be shocked, but what time are the services?

Microscopic Suffering
Seen through the right lens, even tiny suffering fills the field of view.

Transmissionary Six
Automotive meets evangelical.
 

January 5, 2013

It's a new year, Your Mother Should Know is learning new songs and should have a new recording out soon, and the intrepid bar-band community continues to inspire and delight with an apparently bottomless well of names.

Dead End Alaska
It's been said that the Pacific Northwest is where the restless souls, wandering black sheep, and other riffraff of the nation end up when they've roamed as far west as they can go. Those for whom even Seattle is not weird enough head north. This band name sounds like the end of the line even for them. If it's not a real place name, it should be.

Fainting Goats
Isn't this an ice cream place? And then there's Stumbling Goat Bistro, where I had a fine meal recently. It's hard to imagine what would make a goat faint or stumble -- they're surefooted and eat everything, including blackberry vines. But we like the unimaginable in this town.

O-Face
Full disclosure -- a relative is a co-founder of this group, formerly of Whidbey Island, now based in upstate New York. I like the name for its implicit raunchiness and explicit innocent silliness. (And the new EP is pretty good, too).

Powdered Water
Heh. Like the astronauts drank . . .

West Coast Improvement Company
How do you improve the Best Coast?