I need help on picking a band name?
- Thread starter arc101
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Some help from you from someone who has probably seen more band names in print than everybody else in this thread combined:arc101 said:
* Avoid numbers unless they have a very specific meaning which is immediately clear to anyone looking at it. "Four To Doomsday" is a poor name. Four what? "Sham 69" on the other hand instantly makes sense.
* A one-word band name is probably already taken. The more words in your name, the less chance someone at least marginally successful has already got it. MySpace's band search facility is an excellent tool for finding out who already has your name. I'm willing to bet you get a lot of hits for both "Blind" and "Buzzkill", they're both poor names because hundreds of bands are guaranteed to have them.
* Pick a name that suits the style of music, or that potentially makes sense to your intended audience. People should ideally read the name and have at least some very vague idea of what they might be in for musically, or some vague idea about what your band might be about ideologically. Think about your target audience and plan accordingly.
* Don't name your band after a person, i.e don't call your band "Goldie Hawn" or something. This creates confusion and is annoying. Radio DJs in particular will hate you because it fucks up their filing system.
* Don't call yourself "free beer" or anything else that gives punters staring at a flyer a misleading impression of what they might be in for. Fans will love it, but promoters won't go for it, and promoters are who you have to convince to book your band.
* Make sure your band name means something, at least to yourself on some kind of level. One day, if you ever achieve any sort of success, some smartass interviewer is going to ask you why you called yourselves that name, and you don't want that to be an awkward moment.
* Band names with swearing or controversial content may look cool and grab attention but may also lose you gigs and promotional opportunities in equal measure. Only a certain type of band can get away with calling themselves "Anal ****" (and yes, that one's taken).
* Avoid "statement names". More than half a dozen words and you're trying too hard.
* Don't call yourself something that is ambiguous when speech is compared to text. The reason why Led Zeppelin dropped the 'a' out of "lead" the metal was not to be trendy and cool violators of the English language as widely suspected by anyone over 30 at the time, but because they didn't want people pronouncing "lead" in the same way you pronounce "leading you down the garden path".
* Don't call yourself a name that is similar to other names people are calling their bands right now. The way to be noticed is to be different, not the same.
Hope that helps.
If you want to call it Four to Doomsday I'm assuming it's at least somewhat metalish, so I would call it "The Iron Brigade". The Iron Brigade was a Union brigade that suffered the heaviest percentage of losses of any fighting force in the American Civil War. Seeing as you're located in England, that might not be a great name for you, but it does sound sort of cool.
This is very good advice as well.DeadSp8s said:
Those are different. Similar names are allowed legally. Also, depending on the sound you guys have now, your guitarist's ideas might not be that bad.arc101 said:
I had a metal band called "Engines of War" we liked it. You could always go for something like rockalotapus. I don't remember where i heard about that name, it think it was an old friends band or something, due some research or something.
If you guys become totally famous and take my suggestion I want free tickets to your concerts.
Democratic Despotism
Four Lakes to Doomsday
The World Folds Tonight
The Ritalin Junkies
Ponzi Scheme
No Exculpation
The Deciders
Misunderestimated
T-Bone for Fifty
The End of Here
Democratic Despotism
Four Lakes to Doomsday
The World Folds Tonight
The Ritalin Junkies
Ponzi Scheme
No Exculpation
The Deciders
Misunderestimated
T-Bone for Fifty
The End of Here