Cover Bands - why can't they think of good band names?

[Jefe]

Why is it so hard for some people? And why so many cheesy cliches?

I joined a cover band about 9 months ago. We're trying to get a big enough set list to start playing out at bars. A few months ago, the bass player realized that the name they had picked more than two years ago was already taken by another local band. (I'd rather not give any band names right now, in case any of my bandmates start googling around and find this thread).

Now, their original name was a total cliche. Corny, and completely forgettable, IMO. So I was glad to see it go. I started thinking of other possible names, as did the other band members. No one likes my names.. maybe my ideas are too "out there" or something. Everyone else's names are either too corny, or so cliche that the name is already taken by another local band!

I guess it's because of the nature of cover bands. We're playing other people's songs, not originals, so the idea of an original band name must be foreign to these guys.

I'd just like the name to be catchy, memorable, etc.. but that is apparently too much to ask. At this point, I have given up on thinking of names myself, and just google the names they think of to see if it's taken already. *sigh*

 

[Telesavalis]

depends on what style/genre/era of covers you play.

 

[fezz parka]

I think "MoeLarryTheCheese" would be a good name.

 

[Jefe]

We do rock covers, Beatles to Weezer to ZZ Top to Van Halen. Some pop & alternative stuff here and there.

 

[D_Schief]

Not trying to make fun of your predicament, but nothing beats picking a band name for bringing out all of the possible friction in a band!

 

[Jefe]

Not trying to make fun of your predicament, but nothing beats picking a band name for bringing out all of the possible friction in a band!

Lol, please feel free to make fun! Now that you mention it, there appears to be other things causing friction in the band, and this name-choosing stuff is making that friction all too obvious... bringing it to a head.

 

[bargoedboy]

My old Trio used to be called the Good the bad and the Welshman

 

[G60syncro]

We do rock covers, Beatles to Weezer to ZZ Top to Van Halen. Some pop & alternative stuff here and there.

How 'bout "BeaZZer Halen" then?

 

[McGlamRock]

Lol, please feel free to make fun! Now that you mention it, there appears to be other things causing friction in the band, and this name-choosing stuff is making that friction all too obvious... bringing it to a head.

Are we in the same band?

 

[String Tree]

Jefe I thonk you have an opportunity here.
Start a Website like: CoverBandNamesThatDontSuck.com

Pay a fee, buy a name from your list that doesn't suck.

 

[backalleyblues]

Just hash out your differences at Waffle House, I'm sure you'll come up with some hotcake ideas that the band will flip over!!! Like this one...

"Smothered And Covered"...

Corny, but probably not used...

Franc Robert

 

[RollingBender]

I would venture a guess that a number of the bands that you are covering have cheesy or cliche'd names.

Don't sweat the petty things....

 

[e-merlin]

Jefe, maybe it's you? If you dig the music and dig your bandmates, go with it. Take it to every extreme you can. No reason to be so uptight about a band name. Or maybe suggest one.

All this in good fun, of course!

 

[Big_Bend]

Just be glad that one guy in the band (prob the singer) doesn't insist the band should be named after him.

That always makes things fun.

 

[63dot]

Because a top 40 band tends to cover different genres it's hard to come up with an appropriate name. It's easy when you are Slayer or Megadeth and you have a certain set music that you do.

Top 40 bands that I liked that played back in the day decades ago in my region were Free Fare, Lovers and Strangers, an incarnation of The Young Presidents, and The Cubes. They could play just about any popular song from the 1950s to 1980s note for note and sound exactly like the singers portrayed and hit all the harmonies. It's actually really hard to keep a very fast moving set list and live up to the demands of an audience who expects you to be a free jukebox.

Some bands try to play others' songs but end up being terrible at it and end up writing their own stuff but then may become the next U2 or Metallica. But the vast majority of all-original bands get very few gigs and usually disband after a short stint. I was one of those all-original snob musicians back then and wrote a lot of songs, recorded, but played out very little. If I had it to do all over again, I would do both and write and record at home but play out and get many gigs, and big ones at that, doing top 40 cover songs.

 

[Jefe]

Jefe, maybe it's you? If you dig the music and dig your bandmates, go with it. Take it to every extreme you can. No reason to be so uptight about a band name. Or maybe suggest one.

All this in good fun, of course!

lol.. I don't think I'm being uptight about it, am I? If there's already a local band using the name that we wanted to use, then we need to think up a new one, don't we? At this point, that's my only criteria - that the name isn't already taken by another band in our immediate area.

I've suggested several band names - at least 20, all shot down. Some of the other names that the other guys have come up with were actually quite good, but were shot down by the other guitarists who is actually a bit uptight - he hates any name with a sexual inuendo, for example, because he's "got teenagers". Hell, I have teenagers too, but they like some of the more risque names.. because they're teenagers!

 

[Jefe]

Just be glad that one guy in the band (prob the singer) doesn't insist the band should be named after him.

That always makes things fun.

I'm sure he would love that, actually. As it is, he only likes the names that he comes up with.. he doesn't care for any others.

 

[Green Lantern]

Some bands try to play others' songs but end up being terrible at it and end up writing their own stuff but then may become the next U2 or Metallica. But the vast majority of all-original bands get very few gigs and usually disband after a short stint. I was one of those all-original snob musicians back then and wrote a lot of songs, recorded, but played out very little. If I had it to do all over again, I would do both and write and record at home but play out and get many gigs, and big ones at that, doing top 40 cover songs.

It's 2012 now. There are so much more possibilities than there were decades ago. Reaching people has never been easier than it is now, as evidenced by all of us having this conversation with the greatest of ease. If one knows how to market and sell themselves online well, they could quite possibly reach way more people with their product than they could busting their asses going from gig to gig constantly.

For example, here's a guy doing an original song who never even left his bedroom and became pretty huge. He was just great and sold himself really well, so he went viral. I mean, he's pretty hard not to pay attention to.



And once you're at that level, getting gigs isn't a thing.

 

[63dot]

It's 2012 now. There are so much more possibilities than there were decades ago. Reaching people has never been easier than it is now, as evidenced by all of us having this conversation with the greatest of ease. If one knows how to market and sell themselves online well, they could quite possibly reach way more people with their product than they could busting their asses going from gig to gig constantly.

For example, here's a guy doing an original song who never even left his bedroom and became pretty huge. He was just great and sold himself really well, so he went viral. I mean, he's pretty hard not to pay attention to.

And once you're at that level, getting gigs isn't a thing.

Technology has helped things greatly and there was this young teen who started his rap career from YouTube and I saw him on the Today Show. The odds of going viral with a song and then having others buy it is still very, very rare. That being said, it was close to impossible to make it in the days before the computer. The fact that the next group of young stars has no idea how hard it is keeps them in this crapshoot and guarantees a steady supply of artists/bands to choose from.

 

[sacizob]

I'm in a cover band and the band's name is the same as mine. My band mates picked it. You can never be kicked out of a band that has the same name as you.