Help us Pick a Band Name

Favor to ask:





I play in a middle aged rock
cover group and we are about to resume our live performance activities (for fun
– not delusion). We have gone through a pretty exhaustive process
in picking a name for the group. We started out by riffing amongst
ourselves for a while – ‘til that got old. Then we put down
27 suggestions on a piece of paper – and each of us rated each
name. The top four names (veritable jewels, I might add) are here
below. You would be doing me a solid if you would rate them in order of
preference 1 (most favorite) to 4 (least favorite) by Wednesday.





Thanks – I owe you one.

• Casual Rex (obvious reference)
  
• Pedalcar Bandits (just
  like the way it sounds)
  
• Nine 8 Central (that great
  phrase from the lexicon of American TV viewers) and
  
• Fromanyone or Frommanyone (kind
  of a double or triple entendre play on E pluribus Unum [from many one] and also
  “from anyone” [since we are a cover band and the songs can come
  from anyone])
  

1. Pedalcar Bandits -Funny image and memorable...might be clearer though if Pedalcar is broken into 2 words?? Pedal Car Bandits
2. Casual Rex -I miss the reference but it sounds OK and is memorable
3. Nine 8 Central -OK but I did not immediately recognize it as TV time; feels more like a train or railroad reference
4. Fromanyone or Frommanyone -if it needs explanation, probably too clever

Good luck with the resurgence!
My newly turned 66 year old band buddy is itching' to start us up again (sigh) It never goes away!

Pedalcar Bandits.

Exactly as you've written it (sorry Barry!)

Just excellent; rolls off the tongue and is memorable!! Like it!!

Thanks you guys.

Barry - not sure how they do it in Canada - but "Nine, Eight Central" is a phrase that was tagged to every programming announcement for network tv shows in the USA for a very long time. Might still be - i dont watch much network tv. Suffice it to say - it is a wholly recognizable element of the American English lexicon. It means that the program will be aired at nine o'clock eastern standard time - eight o'clock central standard time. Obviously - the name would definitiely loose some oomph outside of North America for sure - and possibly outside the USA - if they do not use it in Canada. Fortunately - our prospects for a world tour - seem slim. So we have that going for us - which is nice.

Stateside this one is leading the polls (along with Casual Rex). Neither are my favorites. N8C has image problems - and CR is not as clever as that other choices, IMO.

Alas.

SunDog wrote:...Barry - not sure how they do it in Canada...

The same as Americans. That's how we make more Canadians!

No, I understand the term (we get all the US networks). We have a similar thing with Newfoundland time which is always 30 minutes out of whack with the EST, but that's almost entirely seen only on the CBC. The private networks don't bother since everything is simply broadcast at local time. The only exceptions are live events, like sports, the Oscars, or the the Olympics...

What I was referring to SunDog, was the way the name was presented. Nine 8 Central, just doesn't immediately register what it refers to. If you have to explain it, it isn't effective. Pedalcar Bandits is just plain funny, and more important, memorable! It has a definite image which the other names don't.

Got it. Figures that you guys get those TV stations.

Interesting things that I am learning about imagery (bass player in our group is a graphic artist - extremely talented). Apparently the cardinal rule of design (especially for logos and such) is to discard the first idea that pops into your head. It is automatically assumed to be too obvious.

Probably true of logos, I've done my share over the years too. But not necessarily of names; how in heck would you do a meaningful logo of "Nine 8 Central"???

Interesting that you say that. We are stumped on that front. N8C has by far the most top votes from the over 50 people outside of the band who have responded. PCB has the fewest. N8C also the top ranked name in the process that we went through internally (followed by from, then pcb then cr). Our only reservation about that name is that no obvious visuals spring to mind for it. For CR and From, we have several really good tacks on visual imagery.

But Pedalcar Bandits is by far the best of those names.

Warrn wrote:But Pedalcar Bandits is by far the best of those names.

Yes - that is exactly what I am hearing from the two other respondents on this site, my 23 year old son, one person on facebook - and our drummer. All five of them agree with you emphatically.

I think I personnally had it rated 3rd on my preferences. Incidentally - my choice was the other one that got rated low by the masses. It had more first place votes than PCB, though - but also more last place votes.

This has been a very interesting process. We have a gig on 5/1 - so we are picking one tonight. Will let you guys know what color smoke emerges. Thanks again for your input.

Just found this site.
Very kewl, and lots of great imagery for logo creation!

Here is the link to our facebook page - please check it out and let me know if you like what you see. We have a demo song up there somewhere. You may have to scroll down a little to see it.

SunDog wrote:Here is the link to our facebook page...

No can find.

+1 for Pedalcar Bandits. Great name.



Such a difficult thing, band names. Been through it twice in the last few months. One band is now 'May Contain Nuts' the other 'Xerocks'.

PaulS wrote:'May Contain Nuts'

Not unlike this Forum.

https://www.facebook.com/pages/nine-8-central/114610041913629

Sorry - forgot to include the link.

By the way - the demo song on the wall is courtesy of my Westone Genesis I (through a Rivera M-60). I think the tone is very nice. My guitar part is the one that is in the opening riff.

Sorry John, I've tried playing the clip with both Firefox and Internet Explorer and both of them froze! ("Not Responding")
There's either something wacky wif the clip or there's an incompatibility with Windows 7??

Strange. It works with my firefox and my vista explorer.

Drag. I was looking forward to your input.

I just tried again, with the same result. I'll have another go when I next fire up the Windows XP laptop, maybe that'll work.

I just listened to the whole thing again. Let me know if xp works.

Feel free to comment about the rest of the page.

Cool cover, nicely played! Can I offer some constructive criticism... the vocals need work as they seem a little thin; perhaps multi vocal??

Hey Barry... the link worked beautifully on Snow Leopard....

Hey! Success!! Turns out it was a Windows 7 "thing".
For some reason it didn't want to play any videos, anywhere. The reason? Who knows, it gets confused coming out of multiple "hibernation" modes I guess. Only one cure: Reboot! (Thanks Microsoft for continuing to make my life so-o-o frickin' interesting! You'd think this nonsense would have been eliminated after how many versions?)

Anyway, on to the demo! You made a reference to "on the wall"? I couldn't find that one, but I did hear (finally) "Free Falling".
The tempo took me back a bit at first, wasn't expecting it to be as fast as that. However, it grew on me.

The recording is a bit jangly but good instrumentally. On my laptop the mix sounds a bit thin. Vocal chops are good John!
(EDIT: Try fattening up your voice with a some reverb or have your second vocalist double you)
For what it's worth, I'd like to offer a (hopefully) constructive comment:
Because you upped the tempo, I think it makes the song a bit more "manic" to my ears. I think the vocal needs to respond in kind with more of an edge to it; maybe a bit more aggressive growl if you like.

The Tom Petty original version is more dream-like and floating with the emphasis on the word "free-e-e" and "fa-a-a-lling" (duh!). John Mayer's version is downright comatose so we won't go there.

There's always a hazard for singers when you speed things up. When the lyrics are written to be sung slowly and with feeling, you run the risk of flattening everything out when you try to cram in the words to a faster tempo. The danger is that you can be reduced to a monotone delivery. Cudos for changing it up, but in your version, those key words are quite clipped with no sustain, emotion, or variation. I think I'd prefer to hear something like an "in yer face" attitude there. i.e., That woman is out of my life! Thank God! Observe my middle finger you beeatch!
I'M FREE!! HEAR ME??! FREE-E-E-E-E!

Keep it up and good rockin' my brudda!!

Those comments are very helpful. Thanks for taking the time to share your insight.

This first recording was just a live shot to show the format of the version to some guys who live in Massachusettes and New Hampshire - with whom the drummer and I will be playing a show in Salt Lake City this summer. When Roger did the FB page we just wanted to put something up - and we felt that this version sounded ok enough. We have a show to do a week from tomorrow - then we are going to go ahead and do up a real demo.

I will definitely keep in mind your comments when we have the next session. Thanks, again.

Ah, pedal car bandits. Or a variant.

The polls have been closed for several weeks. Pedal Car Bandits is up for grabs - seems it was a very popular choice in this sector. Claim it - it is yours.

Any takers?