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Why is picking a band name so bloody hard?


Newfoundfreedom

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My band, the one I started, was 330ml. I happened to be supping a can of something or other at the time and thought it was a cool name.

My current band, one I've joined is Kill My Night, as the antithesis of Make My Day. I think it's a slightly unfortunate idea, but it's a German band, in Germany, so maybe the sentiment doesn't matter so much.

I'll leave you to decide what sort of genre they both were.

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Don't worry @Newfoundfreedom, this is not just a band thing. Even with something far less important, and no copyright worries people have problems coming up with names. I run a few charity pub quizzes and asking people (not regular quizzers) for a team name is like swimming through mud. The worst is when someone thinks of something stunningly original (like Norfolk n' Chance) 😒

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17 minutes ago, Mykesbass said:

Don't worry @Newfoundfreedom, this is not just a band thing. Even with something far less important, and no copyright worries people have problems coming up with names. I run a few charity pub quizzes and asking people (not regular quizzers) for a team name is like swimming through mud. The worst is when someone thinks of something stunningly original (like Norfolk n' Chance) 😒

Myself and a friend won the free pint sympathy vote one evening with the name "Two Men and a Pint"

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I once spent more time than I wanted to looking into this issue, because five of us in my then band couldn't agree on the name, and whenever we found one we were even luke warm on, it had been done.  Always a great excuse when somebody becomes very keen on a name you think is terrible - sorry, it's been taken.  I do that while you can get away with a rubbish name (I mean, Rush, how bad a name is that?) it does need to let the potential audience know what sort of thing you're playing

Comes down to "passing off" and whether there is any chance of your death metal band from south London being confused with the ska band from California, and  whether they have an established reputation that you are likely to tread on.  So we went with the one band name we all thought was pretty good as there was no likelihood of confusion, and importantly nobody with that name had ever released an album.  Then we were in the pub and a much better name  which hadn't already been taken came out of a drunken conversation,  so we went with that.

Currently in a band with a name that has been used, many, many times, although the top Google result shows them to be a bar band from the USA, so we're not anticipating a law suit any time soon.

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14 hours ago, Newfoundfreedom said:

I missed a practice with the first band I was in, and they picked a name while I was away, which I absolutely hated,  but they'd already painted the bass drum skin and everything. I used to cringe every time anyone asked me what our band was called. 

What was your band called?

smiley

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