Tag: st rage

Square Pig in a Round Hole-August 20, 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!

As usua14054183_1354569261239712_4324214653806303752_nl there were many engaging band names in the newspaper and I managed to pick five. The one show I know I’m going to (because I’m in it) was not in the club listings, but rather in the Books section. On Wednesday, August 24, I will read from my novel THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO ST RAGE and perform acoustic arrangements of songs from the book with Your Mother Should Know, Seattle’s only St. Rage cover band. The show starts at 7:30 p.m. at the Common Good Cafe at University Temple United Methodist Church. But enough shameless self-promotion! What about those five band names?

Acoustic Exile

If you’re playing acoustic punk rock, I imagine you might feel like an exile from both communities. Which is as punk as it gets. (And wow, I feel right at home with this, having played in an acoustic living-room band in the past and getting ready to play acoustic arrangements of garage-rock songs in a few days. It’s a very friendly exile.)

Champagne Honeybee

Classy and sweet with a sting. Or an upscale paint color AKA “yellow.”

Everybody Panic

What comes after the failure of Plan Z.

In God We Rust

Hard to remember during our brief, glorious summer, but the joke about Seattleites is we don’t tan, we rust. Our God rains.

Surf Monk

I picked this one because I like how it sounds like surf punk while evoking an image of a Fransican friar hanging ten. The reality is even better: “A Surf band that plays the music of Thelonious Monk, as well as referencing some iconic bass lines that “mash-up” with Monk’s famously obtuse melodies.”

 

Square Pig in a Round Hole-August 13, 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!

To everyone who was wondering when summer would come: here it is. I don’t want to hear anyone complaining about the heat. If you’re sweaty, find a bar, grab a cold one, start a mosh pit and all be sweaty together. If you’re not sure who to see, choosing by band name is a time-honored method. A few suggestions:

Karate in the Garage

I like this from a sound perspective: the two nouns have all the same vowels and most of the same vowel sounds, lending this a nice, flowing assonance. But there’s more! In the YA novel The Gospel According to St. Rage (by Karen Eisenbrey – who’s that?) the titular teenage garage band ends up practicing under the auspices of an after-school chamber music club. Bandleader Barbara quips, “A garage is a chamber.” Apparently it is also a dojo.

People under the Stairs

This could be a horror situation, but I read it as a comment on affordable housing. How much could you get a month for the closet under the stairs?

The Sharp Teeth

I enjoy band names that are body part, with or without an adjective. I like this one because teeth (sharp or not) absent a predator are not much of a threat unless you step on them. But put them in a working jaw, and watch out! (When my brother asked me earlier in the week if I’d ever blogged about The Sharp Teeth, I didn’t know I would come up one short because one of my picks was a past honoree. Glad to have a sub ready to enter the game on short notice!)

Space Shark

This one gives off a great sci-fi cartoon vibe, and also goes well with The Sharp Teeth. You’re safe until the helmet comes off.

St. Terrible

Is this a St. Rage tribute band?! Yeah, probably not. Maybe they should book a show together, though. I like the pairing of the holy and the destructive.

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.)