Hey guys,
I've been talking some things over with my band in regards to our name, which is currently Mystery Machine, now myself and one guitarist believe this to be a bit immature, seeming like a band kids would be in and wouldn't be taken seriously. I personally believe you'd need buisness people to take you seriously to make it, however the other guitarist seems to think that making it based purely on music and how good it is, and the name should just be something you like and that music is all about not taking yourself too seriously. I'm just wondering what you all think? Is a name all that important or is it purely down to the music you make?
-Cameron
Mystery Machine sounds like crap. Don't bite, make up your own.
I think the name is important. A classy name can draw listeners even though the music is crap. And then, a good name stays in your head. The same goes to all art. Some people get famous only becaus they have a name that's dynamic. homer Simpson was Max Power for some time in one episode. That was a brilliant example.
Then a name can be a clich'e and eveyone will laugh at it. Hmm, some of my favourite bands have horrible names, like Genesis and Renaissance, but then some, like Yes and Jethro Tull have splendid names. Because they're personal and not too much of a cliché.
I've had a couple of bands. The first was called Gregor Mendel, because I thought that was cool. My mates later changed it because they thought it was stupid. Gregor Mendel was a monk who discovered the genetic heritage. Anyway, it thought it sounded heavy! We changed the name to The Heros of the Dawning of the New Dark Millenium, which was basically a joke, but so were our songs, but as you see, it's really a bad name.
Now my brother had a band called Cockerspaniels, but they're commonly known as Cockers. I played with them for some time too. Then we broe up, and he formed Susy-Anne Cornfield and the Bluesband, and they play blues with no Susy-Anne. The former is pretty crap as a working name. The second doesn it for me. They even have some listeners in Last.fm and are quite famous in locally in their 15000 people's city. My brother and I once performed under the name "Jazz Cauldron" which I'm really proud of. Fun case, it was a local bands night, and there were some 10 bands. 9 Heavy metal bands and one with 3 guys jamming swing and jazz :D We got the most applauds though since there were quite a lot of adults there. Actually after the sound check the organiser came and said that sounded really cool :)
There's a couple of examples of good and bad names. Oh and I forgot. Afterwards I grew bored of Heavy Metal and left the band. Before that we did a few gigs under the name "Death Motör Öil" which was also my idea. I was just trying to think of the worst name for a heavy metal band. They nowadays play under the name Death Motör Oil, or DMOil as their demo says. I was going to get a patent for it and get some money from then, but then I thought meh. Jazz Cauldron is still there though :) I love it.
About mystery machine, it does sound a bit naive, sorry. Think about this: Is your band really a machine that makes mystery? From a band like that I'd expect something like Hidria Spacefolk combined with Ozric Tentacles and Synopsis but with 80's drumkit.
I've been in a couple of bands (laspunk, ikari, 71red and Tortuga) and I only like two of those names now (Ikari and Tortuga).
Band names optimally are short, stick in the mind, are not just a one-schtick joke and are GOOGLEABLE. If you call yourself "the the" (which is an existing band I think), yeah, good luck having people find you online :P
Common words are bad choices. Something special is always better. That's why my current project is called Fixage. Not a common word, short, easy to remember ;)
Bands like The The were WAY before internet was around, so that doesn't really count.
As for the name, if your music is great, you don't need to worry about your name so much. There are new successes every day with good, stupid, ridiculous, awesome, fantastic, boring, or odd names of all sorts. The best band name in the world will not sell your music, but sometimes it's worth putting a little bit of thought into.
Also, googling a band name isn't necessarily that important - if you're good you'll get noticed by playing shows, and odds are you'll be looked up on myspace first anyway.
Mystery Machine makes me think of Scooby Doo.
"Why did you call the band 'The Beatles'?"
"It's just a name. We could've been called 'The Shoes.'"
The first is taken, so I suggest the latter!
http://www.homestarrunner.com/sbemail16.html
I don't necessarily think "Pearl Jam" or "The Police" are all that convincing as names. Without any word of mouth someone says to you "Hey lets listen to the police!" "Ooh, do you love Pearl Jam?" Sounds a bit odd.
Those names could have backfired & people thought they were dumb. Obviously the music trumps the name.
Does the name have an effect? Yesh. Word of mouth spreads about a band, and the first image someone imagines usually sticks. When I hear "Mystery Machine" I think scooby doo. That will stick for most people.
I think the task of writing a good band name isn't to try to sound "grown up" or hard edged, but maybe to come up with something ambiguous or universal, or a nice mental image. I would avoid pop culture references. People can have all kinds of ideas what a "Pearl Jam" is and that creates conversation. So the name helps or hurts, sure.
A band in our country is called "fokofpolisiekar" (link (http://www.fokofpolisiekar.co.za/)) which translates directly to "fuckoffpolicecar", sorry for the bad language :( mods, anyways, I'm not sure about their music, but they are famous.
Two sayings that come to mind here are:
1. "If it ain't broken, don't fix it."
2. "If the shoe fits..."
"Mystery Machine" isn't really immature, although it does make me think of Scooby Doo, for obvious reasons.
But, like everyone else is saying, names like "Pantera", "Metallica", and "Shadows Fall" aren't what got those bands signed (even though I happen to think that Shadows Fall is an awesome band name! :D ). Even bands with crappy names get signed; "Crossfade", "Hinder", "Submersed", "The Donnas", etc.
Coming up with band names is really hard. Because once you think of something that sounds even reasonably cool or catchy and original, that you and the rest of the band agree on, you'll sooner or later come to find out that it's probably already taken (or was taken).
EDIT: Case in point - I was going to use "Ab Irato (http://www.myspace.com/abirato)" as a band name, but as you can plainly see, it's taken.
No matter how original you think a band name is... dammit.
P.S. I think Lordi is a kickass band. Not for the name but I do think it works on two levels:
"Lordi"
Its irreverent.
It sounds good phonetically, and creates a new meaning from the word "Lord"
http://youtube.com/watch?v=POO33XjtAws
that's because it's lord in Finnish ;D
ahahaha.
and yet i still find it clever on some level
Lordi sucks, face it! Now there is even euro-metal, wtf.
Yeah there's euro metal. There's also French rap and Japanese Rock and Roll. What's your point? We live in a pluralistic society. Did you think that genres only inspired people on the continent where it was invented?
Quote from: evenwolf on Tue 24/04/2007 15:11:02
Did you think that genres only inspired people on the continent where it was invented?
Many (most?) of the important bands in the origins of Heavy Metal were British.
And i think a name is indeed important, but Mystery Machine doesn't sound that bad.
Yes, there is japaneze rock and roll (which is even listenable) and french rap what is actually quite good, but Lordi isn't any band woth mentioning. I mean cmon, if there wasn't Eurovision, lordi would be very unknown band. Good bands work themselves up step by step, and name isn't everything. Besides, Lordi isn't any bands name, its just some stupid word that is meant to be cool like those masks...
I don't want to argue about that. But I would suggest that you listen some more Lordi than just Hard Rock Hallelujah, and you would notice that it's actually pretty good hard rock, and there's no denying that. And besides, Lordi is actually the name of the singing monster guy who also composes everything. I know it's a joke, but the guys take it seriously. And true, even Abba wouldn't be known without the eurovision. Most probably Celin Dion would be just another boring singer. And Lordi did work up step by step, they released 3 albums before they even were accepted to ESC. 5 Years back no-one would have voted for them. I bet if you ever find artists like Alice Cooper or Kiss, you will notice that they were worth listening, and Lordi intentionally doesn't differ from them that much.
Alice Cooper and Kiss had their own time, Lordi doesn't, it just tries to imitate. Yes, i haven't listened much Lordi but face it, only Finland knew about it before Eurovision. But ok, I won't argue anymore, you pretty much got me :)
Yeah don't! And then name a band that does not intimidate someone else or sound like something before it. That's where the name comes. The name is what you remember. Not "that band that sounds like Nirvana" but "insert some crappy crunge band here".
I knew of Lordi before the Eurovision, and that's coming from a man with quite different taste in his music. I respect them, on some bone-deep level, for living their show. And it's true what Tuomas said, there's more to them than their "euro song".
But to add to the thread, a name really is important, since it is the label you're "selling" your music under- even if you don't actually sell it. A good name relates to the music a band makes, and it can also define the band in some way. Who would take a metal band with a tenn-sland band name serious, even if their music was good?
Personally, I like names that have a good, solid ring to them, and might contain a story. Insofar, Mystery Machine really isn't bad: It has a heavy background, though, and now I find myself picturing you in Shaggy-style. ;)
Quote from: Tuomas on Tue 24/04/2007 19:54:28
And then name a band that does not intimidate someone else or sound like something before it.
Even something as extravagant as Lordi (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lordi) (Finland 1992) has evident antecedents, like GWar (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GWAR) (Virginia 1985) or all those spectacle bands of the 80es like Kiss (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kiss_%28band%29) (New York 1973).
I think that Kiss is a horrible name for a band like Kiss, it's easy to say and remember, but it doesn't fit to the music as well as Black Sabbath (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_sabbath) (UK 1968) Iron Maiden (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iron_maiden) (UK 1975), Motörhead (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Motorhead) (UK 1975) Mayhem (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mayhem_%28band%29) (Norway 1984), In Flames (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/In_Flames) (Sweden 1990), or Children of Bodom (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iron_maiden) (Finland 1993). Even Opeth (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Opeth) (Sweden 1990) is a better name
By the way, Mystery Machine makes Heavy Metal (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heavy_metal) or we are stealing the thread?
I think the real question should be: are you good enough to wear a name as unmeasurably awesome as Mystery Machine?
Well the image of Scooby Doo kind of works for us, being a psychedelic band. Originally we thought it'd be a good nod to a cartoon we love as well as being something the audience can automatically relate to, but now I just feel, considering it's quite obvious name sake that it makes us seem a bit unoriginal. I never really thought of it sounding remotely metal, nor like it should have 80s synth drums. We're long haired guys that play a lot of psychedelic stuff, having grown up on our parents record collections, although we all listened to different stuff, myself to Black Sabbath, Led Zeppelin and Frank Zappa. Josh mostly on Genisis and Pink Floyd, and Evan on The Beatles and The Doors. So we have some pretty neat influences, and you can hear how they come together to create an original sound, the influences are there but it's not too derivative. So the name Mystery Machine and it's image fit, but I thought we could have done better, something original and less jokey. The other names we've been bouncing around are Mansfield, Mary's Sister, Watchers Of The Sky and Cheap Party.
And to answer Modgeulator, yes we are :D
I think a name is an important aspect of a band. Because if you have memorable name, you'll get some attention just for that. My friend's band name is "BedWetters" and they are getting really known around here. But come on .. bedwetters. Try googling for that.
Also, the name should LOOK cool when written on a shirt, poster etc.
My own band is named "When The Glory Fades" .. WTGF with the obvius joke WTgF (with 'g' being really small) ;) It's lenghty but that makes it stand out. Like recently we had a live with bunch of other bands and on the poster our name was the entire width of the poster, so it was the first thing you noticed.
I'm going to name my next band, if I should do such a thing, Prophets From Phoenix .. I think it sounds cool.
You know what I'd like to hear? Some Chinese Country-Western! :D Now that'd be something.
Anyway, Cameron, something I just thought of today. You've been debating this issue of changing your band's name from "Mystery Machine" because it's supposedy immature.
There is a local band here in Shawano, WI by the name of Mr. Slate (http://www.myspace.com/mrslate). For those of you who don't know; Mr. Slate is the name of Fred Flintstone's boss. I personally think it's one of the most retarded band names I've ever heard, and initially I thought they were going to be a bunch of ass clowns. But despite that, Mr. Slate is probably one of the area's most popular local bands. All the metal heads around here like Slate.
So, mention it to your bandmate(s), if you haven't already come to a decision.
Mansfield is a cool name.
Cameron, after reading your band sum-up all I can say is: Stick to Mystery Machine. It sounds spot-on.
Reminds me of the band "God Machine", they made some fascinating music about 10 years ago. One of their songs was about a "Dream Machine". Personally I think "Mystery Machine" is too long and not very nice to pronounce, it sounds like the beginning of a looong explanation. How about Imachination or some wordplay on mystery and machine to make the name shorter and more powerful?
But hey, come to think of it, don't take advice from me on this, at age 15 I was playing in a band called "Wet Dream Material", I since moved on to "Wardrobe".
Round here we have two bands, called Half Price and Free Booze. So on the flyers it says "Half Price!! Free Booze!!" which I thought was quite clever.
I don't really like them as band names though.
Ginger Bastard Baby.