Slightly OT - Help! We need a name for a band.

MikeClem · Post by **MikeClem** » Mon Jan 19, 2004 6:24 am

You'd think it would be easy to come up with a name for a mostly-trad band. Apparently not. We've been in heated debate for several weeks with no end in sight. Last night, we realized that our only hope was C&F.
If nothing else, it could be an interesting thread.
Any suggestions?

Thanks,
MC

brewerpaul · Post by **brewerpaul** » Mon Jan 19, 2004 6:34 am

How aboutStrings and Fipples?

mcfeeley · Post by **mcfeeley** » Mon Jan 19, 2004 7:04 am

MikeClem wrote:You'd think it would be easy to come up with a name for a mostly-trad band. Apparently not. We've been in heated debate for several weeks with no end in sight. Last night, we realized that our only hope was C&F.
If nothing else, it could be an interesting thread.
Any suggestions?

Thanks,
MC

Could you tell us a little more about the band? What instruments are played? General music selections that you're playing?

What names have you debated over so far? This would give us an idea of the interests of band members.

emmline · Post by **emmline** » Mon Jan 19, 2004 7:10 am

mcfeeley wrote:
Could you tell us a little more about the band? What instruments are played? General music selections that you're playing?

What names have you debated over so far? This would give us an idea of the interests of band members.

Composition of the band? Males/females, age range, other interesting factors any of which might help suggest a name...

GaryKelly · Post by **GaryKelly** » Mon Jan 19, 2004 7:29 am

Hmmm,

So little to go on... however:

Mo Slìtrad ?

spittin_in_the_wind · Post by **spittin_in_the_wind** » Mon Jan 19, 2004 8:11 am

GaryKelly wrote:Hmmm,

So little to go on... however:

Mo Slìtrad ?

That is so perfect!

Robin

ScottStewart · Post by **ScottStewart** » Mon Jan 19, 2004 8:26 am

I heard a name of a band the other day - The Hastily Assembled Bluegrass Band. Thought it was pretty cool. There was also an accapella quartet called Four Guys Standing Around Singing. But the Mo Slitrad sounds good.

MikeClem · Post by **MikeClem** » Mon Jan 19, 2004 9:06 am

Could you tell us a little more about the band? What instruments are played? General music selections that you're playing?

What names have you debated over so far? This would give us an idea of the interests of band members.[/quote]

Well, let's see... To start out, we're playing mostly Irish and Scottish traditional stuff - a mix of dance tunes, ballads, raucous pub songs, etc. We'll probably add in some original stuff (in the same style) when we get around to it. We never plan to play full-time and we'll probably never venture out of the region (southeast), but we do intend to do some recording. There are 5 of us (4M 1F), we all play multiple instruments and switch up quite a bit. Collectively we play 2 fiddles, 3 mandolins, 1 tenor banjo, 2 guitars, 4 whistles, 2 low whistles, 1 uilleann pipes, 1 Scottish smallpipes, 3 bodhran, 4 vocal. We really enjoy using the different combinations of instruments to vary the textures of the music. We've each been actively playing music for around 40 years, although most of us have only been playing Celtic for the last 4 or 5 of them.
Professionally, we're 3 engineers, 1 astrophysicist/graphic artist and 1 retired school teacher, although some of us have played music professionally in former lives. We've been playing together for several years, mostly for fun. As more and more people ask us about bookings, we're getting tired of saying "We don't really do that sort of thing." We finally just decided to go ahead and organize a performance-oriented group.

As for names, we started by looking at names of tunes, names of places, quotes and phrases from Irish and Scottish poets and authors. The problem is that every time we find something we can live with, a quick Google search finds a well-established band with that name and links to their latest CD. Arrrrghhh! I know we've overlooked something obvious, but just can't see it.

Probably more than you wanted to know, but that's us in a nutshell.

MC

MikeClem · Post by **MikeClem** » Mon Jan 19, 2004 9:22 am

ScottStewart wrote:I heard a name of a band the other day - The Hastily Assembled Bluegrass Band. Thought it was pretty cool. There was also an accapella quartet called Four Guys Standing Around Singing. But the Mo Slitrad sounds good.

Those are pretty cool. I used to play in a jazz quintet called "Four Bad Dudes and Harold". When I suggested something along those lines, Denny (DRC) threw a tipper at me.

MC

FJohnSharp · Post by **FJohnSharp** » Mon Jan 19, 2004 10:06 am

Pluck of the Irish

Cathy Wilde · Post by **Cathy Wilde** » Mon Jan 19, 2004 10:43 am

Shoot, that sounds like a virtual ceili band!

Okay, in the interest of public service, here are a few band names I can't ever get our guys to really commit to (and thus, we continue to labor along, as we have for nearly a decade in various forms, under the same unspellable, unpronounceable Irtrad-type name everyone professes to hate) .....

While You Were Out
Can O' Spam Ceili Band
The Festering Carbuncles
The Spotted Wallops
The Ripsnorters (The Ripsnorter Ceili Band?)
The DaddyWhack Ceili Band
Roaring Mary (and what a great reel for your signature)
Finn & the McCools

..... and my personal pet fave, loved so many years and so often the winner in our sporadic "Yeah, we should change our names" discussion that never really bears fruit ..... sigh ..... boo-hoo .... God, I hate to let this one go .....

The Floggin' Eejits

Good luck!

cat.

Chiffgirl · Post by **Chiffgirl** » Mon Jan 19, 2004 11:49 am

I have always, always wanted to name a band "Sportin' Paddy." Mostly because it sounds slightly off-color when you say "Hello folks--we're Sportin' Paddy!"

Chiffgirl · Post by **Chiffgirl** » Mon Jan 19, 2004 11:50 am

I have always, always wanted to name a band "Sportin' Paddy." Mostly because it sounds slightly off-color when you say "Hello folks--we're Sportin' Paddy!"

The Weekenders · Post by **The Weekenders** » Mon Jan 19, 2004 11:52 am

Mike:
Your band sounds pretty similar to ours in terms or rep, instruments, age, etc etc. And we went through a lot of grief over the name thing, to the extent that one guy quit the band when we voted for the WhiskyTones. He had other issues, I guess, but it shows you how bad it can get if EVERYBODY is not committed to finding a name. In our case, several of the fellas played passive-aggressive, saying "oh, I don't really care" then made a huge pile of joke names without serious intent of finishing the job.

The guy who quit ended up liking my idea of "Last Night's Fun" if thats any help. Other rejected names in the final cut: The Dogwhistle Band (named after the smallpipes!), Molly & the Deadbeats (we have a woman member), my favorite "The Ain't Patricks Band" (none of us are Irish), the "Hangovers", and the "Red-Faced Band" (we have some Scots in the group).
Yes, we do drink.

Celtic names sound like a better idea than in reality, unless you are so damn talented that people will put up with it. To this day, I hear people pronounce Lunasa about three different ways..

I voted for WhiskyTones because its a one word name, easy to render graphically (see avatar) and a true representation of how we practice and play... The objection to is was that is sounded like a retro lounge name (they had already rejected The Weekenders, which I offered, for the same reason). I thought retro to not be such a bad thing, and I thot the name was cheerful, ultimately.

It can be a painful process. Good luck!

fancypiper · Post by **fancypiper** » Mon Jan 19, 2004 12:03 pm

How about "The Lilting Banshees"? I just learned the jig yesterday.

We went through a bunch of names, finding out several other bands had the same name we chose, so we just named it after the lady in the band, Naomi.

Chiff and Fipple Forums

Slightly OT - Help! We need a name for a band.

Slightly OT - Help! We need a name for a band.

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Re: Slightly OT - Help! We need a name for a band.

Re: Slightly OT - Help! We need a name for a band.