Tag: power skeleton

Square Pig in a Round Hole-August 21, 2021

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Cartoon image of a pink square pig in a round hold

Naming 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 nightlife listings for abundant source material!

(Until live music returns, I am curating retrospective posts from past material. Dates indicate when the band was originally featured.)

SQUARE PIG IN A ROUND HOLE PANDEMIC EDITION #74

I’ve chosen a new theme of gardens, farms, and soil for the next couple of weeks. I found twelve candidates, so I will feature six bands each week instead of the usual five. Here’s the story: the backyard at Square Pig HQ has been many things over the years: children’s play area, urban farm (for two different collectives), neighborhood garden share, and weedy, uncultivated meadow. It is now in the process of being civilized! Neighbors will continue to garden in the sunniest portion, while the part nearest the house will get a nice stone patio and lots of native plantings for the birds and butterflies. Thanks to Trilobyte Gardens for taking on this project! As it happens, I first met the Trilobyte crew through their band Power Skeleton, an early Square Pig fave.

As ever, wash your hands, wear your mask again, get your vaccine if you haven’t already, and if you are able, please buy these bands’ music and merch while we wait for a better day.

Big Dirt
(December 16, 2018) Out in farm country, the dirt’s as expansive as the sky.

Crashdown Butterfly
(December 16, 2018) I’m guessing it doesn’t flit. Better reinforce those flowers, y’all.

Dirtnap
(June 29, 2019) It’s death, isn’t it? A cozy, comfortable end.

Dirt Worshipper
(December 18, 2010) The name is funny, and the band was apparently playing two gigs in the same night, which wins my attention and respect.

Earthworm
(June 22, 2013) Hail the lowly earthworm, which makes organic matter into soil. When our elder son was in first grade, he did a report on worms, recorded on tape and punctuated with various noisemakers from our vast collection. I appreciated worms before that, but after, I was a real fan.

Farm Hand Girls
(November 28, 2015) This one leaped out at me because my first paying job, other than babysitting and mowing the church lawn, was a type of tedious, grueling farm work that in that time and place was only performed by girls. Four summers in a row, decades ago now, never to be forgotten.

 

Two last things before you go:

  1. I am admin for The Rage Brigade, a Facebook group for conversation about fantasy, science fiction, superheroes, and music (and the intersections thereof). If that sounds like fun, come join us here.
  2. I share highlights from this blog in my quarterly author newsletter, The Storypunk Report, as well as news of what I’m writing and reading, upcoming events, and other goodies, including “Wizard in the Mosh Pit,” an exclusive short story just for subscribers. Click the link to check out the first ten issues and subscribe here for future issues. The July 2021 issue includes an excerpt from Barbara and the Rage Brigade. (Or just follow the blog for your weekly dose of band names.)

Square Pig in a Round Hole-May 30, 2020

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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 nightlife listings for abundant source material!

SQUARE PIG IN A ROUND HOLE PANDEMIC EDITION #11

Even if every bar is still a dead bar and there’s still no live music, we can enjoy a morning thunderstorm. BOOM! (If you need a live music fix, KEXP is posting sessions daily. They recently premiered this session with Square Pig faves Dead Bars.) If you are able, please buy these bands’ music and merch while we wait for a better day.

Power Skeleton

(October 19, 2013) I have it on good authority that October is Skeleton Awareness Month. I have a sore hip, so I’m quite aware of my own personal skeleton. When I eventually have my hips and/or knees replaced, I want them to put in a sound chip to make noise like a servo motor.

Shelter in Place

(November 9, 2019) This emergency directive is probably more pleasant to enact when the place in question is a bar, especially when the bar is called The Funhouse! [When I wrote this less than a year ago, I never dreamed it would become poignant.]

Sh*t Ghost

(July 17, 2016) Gross and funny and they have the most adorably disgusting logo.

Sidewalks and Skeletons

(June 22, 2019) More like trick-or-treat than end-of-school. Then again, no matter the time of year, everyone on the sidewalk has inside them a spooky, scary skeleton. (Happy coincidence: S and S is from Bradford, UK, the birthplace of my spouse’s grandfather.)

Skeletonwitch

(May 19, 2018) In case my new book [Daughter of Magic, released May 2018] does well enough to warrant them, I’m already planning sequels. One is likely to include as antagonist a skeletal hag called Old Mother Bones. This is her house band. [Book 2 Wizard Girl released in July, 2019. Book 3 Death’s Midwife was submitted to Not A Pipe Publishing this month and does, in fact, include an antagonist called Old Mother Bones.]

 

One last thing before you go: I share highlights from this blog in my quarterly author newsletter, The Storypunk Report, as well as news of what I’m writing and reading, upcoming events, and other goodies, including “Wizard in the Mosh Pit,” an exclusive short story just for subscribers. Click the link to check out the first six issues and subscribe here for future issues. (Or just follow the blog for your weekly dose of band names.)

Square Pig in a Round Hole-October 14, 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!

I’ve been on vacation this week, and spent part of the time recording two songs by St. Rage, the fictional teenage garage band featured in my debut novel The Gospel According to St Rage. (Thanks to Your Mother Should Know for sitting in for the fictional musicians.) In the book they record and release a 4-song EP, but three other songs are mentioned. We recorded one of them over a year ago: “Something of Mine,” which is about blood donation. Once these last two are finished, all three can finally get out into the world. It seems appropriate that I have an appointment to donate at Bloodworks NW this afternoon.

Blood donation precludes going out and standing up for hours, but I hope these well-named bands all draw appreciative crowds:

afterspace

Enjoying the typographical play: there is “space” but no space after “after”.

Bird Concerns

Food; water; mate; safe nesting space; clean windshield to mess up. Have I missed any?

Devoured by Flowers

From horror to beauty, the rhyme makes it an almost acceptable way to go.

ECHO OHs

Sonic and visual echoes built into the name!

Preyer

Comes across as more spiritual than predator, but someone else still gets eaten. (Also on the bill: Square Pig faves Power Skeleton!)

 

 

Square Pig in a Round Hole-July 17, 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 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!

The list is shorter by one than usual, reasons being 1) I picked 6 but had already done 2 of them before; 2) I’m a day late as it is due to a fun weekend wine tasting trip; 3) there’s a long bonus list of fictional band names “below the fold.” These are the real ones:

Abandoned by Bears

The phrase “. . . by bears” is more commonly preceded by “eaten” or maybe “raised.” This kid is so annoying, when he gets lost in the woods, even the bears leave him alone.

Angsty Teens Seeking Money for Pizza

This was an almost automatic choice, purely based on length because I have a perverse fondness for long band names. But I also applaud the bald honesty of what these kids might be busking for. (And then I discovered they’re a Seattle two-piece — band after my own heart.)

Cozy Slippers

Contrast! This is about as far as you can get from going out late at night to stand in the pit and hear a loud band.

Sh*t Ghost

Gross and funny and they have the most adorably disgusting logo.

***THE FOLD***

The following band names are fictional. To celebrate the launch of my debut novel, THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO ST. RAGE, I had a virtual launch party that included a drawing for prizes. To enter, guests were asked to submit one made-up band name, which would be featured in Square Pig.

Dragonfly Mind

This one gives me a groovy peace & love psychedelic vibe. (Submitted by Sherri Hoseini.)

Fleeble Flibes

A brief work of nonsense poetry that manages to evoke one of my own fictional bands, The Greebles. “Lawn dart core from the Heartland.” (Submitted by Tobias Cron of Square Pig fave Power Skeleton, Fleeble Flibes won 3rd prize, a free download of the St. Rage EP and inclusion in the sequel to GASR.)

Maggie’s Maidens

Just guessing, but this sounds like an all-girl Celt-Punk outfit. (Submitted by my aunt, Sherrey Meyer.)

My Menstrus

“Nu metal.” I admire the frankness (and the pretentiousness).  The dudes are all squirming. Good. (Submitted by poet Andie Berryman, who also came up with My Bloody Vagina (emo) and  My Bloodied Tampon (Goth). “All three will have a revival tour every bloody month.”)

Poltergeese

This one came in after the contest closed, but I liked it enough to award it honorable mention. Spirit poultry flapping and honking whenever you go into that room. (Submitted by Steven Eric Scribner.)

Recorded Recollection

This is a terrific intersection of music and law. “Invites nostalgic fans to recollect Recorded Recollection records AND under FRE 803(5) is an exception to the general rule against admissibility of hearsay statements in federal court proceedings.” (Submitted by Jennifer Chung, who is studying for the bar exam.)

Sanctified Jubilee Shitheads, The

Another late entry, this punk gospel choir has them slamming in the pews. (Submitted by my spouse Keith Eisenbrey, so it would have been disqualified from the prize drawing, anyway.)

Sour Orange Pie

This is apparently an actual recipe (which sounds delicious). Elegantly psychedelic, this one took second prize, a free ebook, free EP download, and inclusion in the sequel. I let the submitter pick the genre, with which I completely agree: jazz-fusion/avant garde a la Sun-Ra. (Submitted by Suzanne Winter.)

Special Guests

“Think of how many gigs they’ve already lined up w/o even knowing it!” Touring with TBA. (Submitted by Nan Hussey, one of my invaluable beta readers.)

Terrier Fetch

For dog lovers. “This is the game our Border Terrier plays instead of the more usual fetch, which involves the return of the thrown object. Terriers do not return the object. Period.” So terriers are punks. This one took first prize, a signed paperback, EP download, and inclusion in the sequel. (Submitted by Audrey Bennett, a fellow writer who claims she never wins anything, so I’m happy to break that streak. And she’s a high school teacher, so she knows my target readership!)

The Three Bad Habits

“Band members dress in nun costumes.” This would be hilariously unwieldy and hot. The other meaning is even more ridiculous, because what band has only three bad habits? (Submitted by Amy McKendry, longtime member of my writing support group.)