Good Band Names

I was with a group of wonderful musicians this weekend. Varied musical backgrounds and tastes. Varied musical inspirations and influences. And we arrived at the questions of…

Which band names are inherently really great…trying as best as we can to not associate the music with them.

Which band names are inherently not good, despite how much we might love the music.

There were lots of heated debates, everyone offering up answers they thought belonged in each category. Here are the ones that we’re pretty much unanimous…

The good ones…

Talking Heads

The Wallflowers

Our Lady Peace

Guns N Roses

The Verve

Stone Roses

Depeche Mode

Electric Light Orchestra

Phantom Planet

Stone Temple Pilots

The bad ones…

U2

*NSYNC

Toad The Wet Sprocket

Death Cab For Cutie

Haim

A very entertaining debate. And there are more that belong on each list. But in the end it’s impossible to separate the name from the music…because in real life the music can make any band name a perfectly accepted name. 

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Organizing The Beats

When we do the work of organizing complex rhythms, beats, notes and melodies it turns the chaos into beauty…and beauty is simple to digest for the listener.

I always think about this when I hear or play Michael Jackson. Every instrument serves a melodic and percussive purpose. Take one out and the groove is lost.

The easy smooth vibe of that music is only achieved by complexity being put together in such a brilliant way that no one notices and everyone simply enjoys.

Complexity is beautiful and beauty is simple.

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Taking Shot On You

If you’ve had any success there’s probably been a few people who took a shot on you early on…and probably along the way.

And now that you’ve had that success, what would it look like for you to take a shot on someone else?

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A Bigger Stage

It’s easy to think that ‘playing a bigger stage’ simply means more screaming fans. Just take the show that worked so well for a few hundred people and now play it for a few thousand people. Easy.

But the playing a bigger stage also means…a bigger stage.

A fifty foot stage in a theater or festival is a lot different than the twenty foot stage in the club. More space to move. More space in between the players. Harder to read facial cues but ample room for backflips and leg kicks.

It’s feels a lot different.

Your presence has to fill the room no matter the size…but your presence coupled with the size of the stage will equal the tactics you’ll use to be most effective.

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Workshop Mess

That’s one of the major highlights of the workshop.

Come try things, make things, get dirty, give it a shot. It’s not a beauty contest, it’s not on display and it doesn’t have to work. It’s a workshop. It’s a mess.

The mess isn’t a necessary evil…it’s a FEATURE.

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Only The Writing

Only the writing is on the top of the list. It’s what makes or breaks you. It is the most important thing. All the other stuff comes second. Writing great material is a prize in and of itself AND it’s what will carry you to and through the next open door.

The writing process is thankless and boring and doesn’t owe anyone anything. But when you land on a chord or a vibe or a melody and it’s just right…all of life gets brighter and more the way it should be.

Writing is not hard but coming up with something great is a combination of gymnastics, archeology, theology and black jack…and that’s not easy.

If you’re an artist scrolling Instagram you might not be doing what you should be doing.

If you’re an artist and you’re writing…that’s what artists do.

All the other stuff is important but only the writing is the most important.

Hum Love on Spotify and Apple