Tag: dead bars

Square Pig in a Round Hole-January 20, 2018

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Square PigNaming a band is an act of concentrated creative expression. Square Pig in a Round Hole exists to reward five favorite band names each week. Winners are (usually) listed alphabetically.

Selection is wholly unscientific and subject to whim, with a bias toward wordplay, humor, and local flavor. In most cases, I won’t know anything about the bands at the time of selection. Thanks to the Seattle Times club listings for abundant source material!

Not quick enough to get tickets to the Seattle Pop Punk Festival before day 1 sold out, I have enjoyed reports from afar. Almost a third of the bands are past Square Pig honorees: Botherations, Date Night with Brian, Dead Bars, The Drolls, and Stuporhero. Meanwhile, these non-festival bands made the cut this week:

Chronological Injustice

Either ageism or being born in the wrong century.

Final Body

Hint: it’s the one we die with.

The Go Aways

Lesser Seattle and the spirit of Emmett Watson live on!

The Mercy Ray

A gently beaming smile, or Tesla’s “Peace Beam” by another name?

Wrong Way at the Roundabout

When traffic gets tangled, don’t get mad; get out and dance. I also like how the alliteration isn’t obvious in the spelling.

Square Pig in a Round Hole-July 22, 2017

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Square PigNaming a band is an act of concentrated creative expression. Square Pig in a Round Hole exists to reward five favorite band names each week. Winners are (usually) listed alphabetically. Selection is wholly unscientific and subject to whim, with a bias toward wordplay, humor, and local flavor. In most cases, I won’t know anything about the bands at the time of selection. Thanks to the Seattle Times club listings for abundant source material!

Show of hands, who else went to the Eastlake Block Party? Take that, Capitol Hill! (Full disclosure: I played an early show at Victory Lounge with Your Mother Should Know and was home by 9:15 because I can’t do that many late nights or stand as long as I would have needed to catch Dead Bars at midnight, as much fun as I know that would have been. I’m sure there were plenty of younger, hipper people to carry the load.) None of this week’s band-name picks were at either block party, so I’m spreading the love around.

Alice Drinks the Kool Aid

Takes a sudden turn from surreal children’s book to real-life horror via cultish metaphor. I don’t want to imagine what happens to her.

Mhostly Ghostly

Only a little bit spooky. Has fun with rhymes and spelling.

Noonmoon

. . . in June? Darn, a month too late, but I still like it. A midday moon sighting always feels like a gift.

The Seafloor Cinema

Now I’m thinking of going to movies at the Neptune back when it was the repertory house. The aquamarine walls and oceanic decor made it feel like you were underwater.

The Selfimportantanators

This one is too long and nigh unpronounceable, and I respect that.

Square Pig in a Round Hole-May 27, 2017

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Square PigNaming a band is an act of concentrated creative expression. Square Pig in a Round Hole exists to reward five favorite band names each week. Winners are (usually) listed alphabetically. Selection is wholly unscientific and subject to whim, with a bias toward wordplay, humor, and local flavor. In most cases, I won’t know anything about the bands at the time of selection. Thanks to the Seattle Times club listings for abundant source material!

What could be better than a holiday weekend with summerlike weather? How about a holiday weekend with summerlike weather that begins with the Dead Bars release show for their album Dream Gig? (I was the 50-something woman in a hat sitting by the doors at Barboza, singing along to “Earplug Girl” and “D-line to the Streamline.”) Also great to finally hear Ramona before they leave town, as well as Beverly Crusher and BOAT. As if that weren’t enough . . . band names!

The Birthday Massacre

Anyone who has seen what a 1-year-old can do to a birthday cake knows what this is about.

Bummer

Wrong

I might have considered either of these alone, but finding them on the same bill put them over the top. Two negatives create a positive time.

Sour Mash Hug Band

I suspect this name arose from the most endearing typo.

TV Broken 3rd Eye Open

The mundane leads directly to the psychedelic.

Square Pig in a Round Hole-April 8, 2017

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Square PigNaming a band is an act of concentrated creative expression. Square Pig in a Round Hole exists to reward five favorite band names each week. Winners are (usually) listed alphabetically. Selection is wholly unscientific and subject to whim, with a bias toward wordplay, humor, and local flavor. In most cases, I won’t know anything about the bands at the time of selection. Thanks to the Seattle Times club listings for abundant source material!

In spite of an iffy laptop battery and April acting like a moody teen, the Square Pig persists! Standout band names this week include:

Bob Fossil

Jazz hands turned to stone.

The Crüd Güns

Nonlethal but disgusting weaponry. It’s funny even without the umlauts, which take it over the top.

Ghost Town Whistlers

Simultaneously cheerful and creepy.

Nothington

Everybody’s favorite small hometown they can’t wait to leave. (Appearing tonight at El Corazon with Square Pig faves Dead Bars!)

Paws

I’m a fan of one-word names that single out a body part, non-human in this case. (This also allows me to plug Paws and Claws, the new animal-themed anthology from Cake & Quill, for which I donated two stories and a handful of haiku. All proceeds to an animal charity! More info here.)

Square Pig in a Round Hole-March 11, 2017

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Square PigNaming a band is an act of concentrated creative expression. Square Pig in a Round Hole exists to reward five favorite band names each week. Winners are (usually) listed alphabetically. Selection is wholly unscientific and subject to whim, with a bias toward wordplay, humor, and local flavor. In most cases, I won’t know anything about the bands at the time of selection. Thanks to the Seattle Times club listings for abundant source material!

Support local music! Even if you can’t get out to many shows, give your favorite bands some love and buy their records. I can unreservedly recommend two albums that were released yesterday: Shelby Earl‘s The Man Who Made Himself a Name and Dead Bars‘ Dream Gig. They are nothing alike and I love them both. What would happen if Shelby hired Dead Bars as the backing band for her 4th album?

Back to the business of band names:

avians alight

Birds on a wire or birds on fire?

The Cheap Cassettes

First noted (by me, anyway) in 2015, the cassette renaissance continues. They must still be cheap, but can you buy a decent tape deck? We’re lucky to have one from the ’70s. The tape stock stank, but the hardware was solid.

Depths of the Sunset

Bickleton Sunset 1I grew up in the high desert of Central Washington, where we regularly experiences wraparound sunsets. Difficult to photograph, but this painting by my neighbor captures some of the depth.

The Fabulous Roof Shakers

Any name that starts with The Fabulous will capture my notice. This one goes to a place that promises joyful noise.

Genders

I grow more convinced there are 7 billion genders in the world. Here are some of them.

Square Pig in a Round Hole-October 1, 2016

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Square PigNaming a band is an act of concentrated creative expression. Square Pig in a Round Hole exists to reward five favorite band names each week. Winners are (usually) listed alphabetically. Selection is wholly unscientific and subject to whim, with a bias toward wordplay, humor, and local flavor. In most cases, I won’t know anything about the bands at the time of selection. Thanks to the Seattle Times club listings for abundant source material!

Today I spent several hours in line with many, many, many Bruce Springsteen fans in order to get into Elliott Bay Books and do this:

ymsk-with-bruce-springsteen
Bruce Springsteen with Your Mother Should Know

We were pleased to also represent Dead Bars and St Rage. I added a signed copy of The Gospel According to St Rage to the box of gifts for the Boss. But I’m still all about the band names, so here we go:

100day delay

Although it seems extreme, this is actually long enough to get something significant done while you wait. How will you use your 100 days?

Mandolin Orange

What can I say? I love music puns. I could also believe this as a decorator paint color.

PIG

I have written about other bands with “pig” in the name; of course I have. This one is as pure as it gets. I don’t need to know its shape, or that of the hole it is in.

Slow Elk

You don’t see highway signs warning of fast elk. Why is that?

We Are All Astronauts

Oh boy! When do we launch? (Or is this one of those Spaceship Earth things?)

Square Pig in a Round Hole June 4, 2016

· Leave a comment ·

Square PigNaming a band is an act of concentrated creative expression. Square Pig in a Round Hole exists to reward five favorite band names each week. Winners are listed alphabetically. Selection is wholly unscientific and subject to whim, with a bias toward wordplay, humor, and local flavor. In most cases, I won’t know anything about the bands at the time of selection. Thanks to the Seattle Times club listings for abundant source material!

My first post on this site! I’ve been writing a weekly blog about band names since late 2010. For previous posts, go here.

Arbor Labor Union

It’s an awkward mouthful, and I respect that, as well the right of the workers who keep our trees healthy to organize.

 

The Briefs, Topless

Undergarments and the lack thereof! Because of my weekly close reading of the club listings, I’m always imagining dream gigs based solely on names that belong together. These two did the work for me by appearing at the top and bottom (really!) of a show last night with Square Pig faves Dead Bars (who will soon release an album titled Dream Gig). You can’t make this stuff up.

 

Horseshoes and Hand Grenades

Two fields of endeavor where close counts.

 

Shadowy Men on a Shadowy Planet

I’m a sucker for a name that’s maybe just a little too long. I also appreciate the hybrid noir/sci fi vibe.

 

St Rage CoverShameless self promotion! My debut novel, The Gospel According to St. Rage, will be released in paperback and ebook by Pankhearst on July 14, 2016. Preorder the ebook now: http://getbook.at/gospel

Meet Barbara Bernsen, Former Invisible Girl. 

Barbara isn’t your typical high school junior. She’s been invisible since the third grade. But when a magic hat brings her back into the light, Barbara is ready to take on the world. First priority? Start an all-girl garage band. Miraculous super powers were never in her plan, but sometimes you get what you need. Bullies and school shooters don’t stand a chance. 

Yes, we all love Wonder Woman, Black Widow, and Jessica Jones, but Barbara is the hero her high school deserves. 

 Truth. Justice. Rock & Roll.