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 #38

I ended National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo) with almost 27,000 words of a new fantasy novel. That’s far from 50K, so I didn’t “win.” But since my goal was only to end up with a sloppy draft I could make good, I feel like a winner, anyway. My previous projects have or will soon be published, so this one has a good chance.

There were enough literary themed band names left for one more week, including a bonus sixth name. Next week I’ll choose an exciting new theme. As ever, wash your hands, wear your mask, maybe read a book or ten, and if you are able, please buy these bands’ music and merch while we wait for a better day.

Salinger
(January 8, 2011) I re-read Catcher in the Rye last week, so I couldn’t very well leave this band out. There’s a lot of rock & roll attitude in the book.

Squirrel of Shame
(September 8, 2012) Years ago, I read The Children of Odin to my kids. One of my favorite figures was Ratatosk, the Squirrel of Discord that runs up and down the World Ash Tree. I’m guessing this is his brother.

Starsailor
(June 6, 2015) This one hits both my literary and science buttons. My fascination with space travel began with Apollo 11 and only increased once I learned to read and discovered science fiction. It wasn’t until I studied a little Greek in college that I learned what a beautiful, poetic, dare I say romantic name NASA chose for U.S. space travelers. Astronaut literally means “star sailor.”

Tequila Mockingbird Orchestra
(May 26, 2012) I like names like this that don’t come into their own until you say them aloud, and then suddenly there’s a literary allusion smacking you in the face.

Terraform
(January 8, 2011) It’s hard to pass up a good sci-fi connection. I think I’ve mentioned before that I came to rock music and science fiction at around the same time, and I’m still into both. This name particularly strikes me now because I’m writing a piece that involves terraforming and had to learn about it recently. [Guess what? I’m working on that book again.]

Told Slant
(May 28, 2016) Where was this one when I did the literary theme a couple of weeks ago? Never mind, here they are now, having taken Emily Dickinson’s advice re: truthtelling.

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