Los Angeles – West Coast Sound – LA Against
NYC in the Spanish
We can’t in good conscience leave out one of the key factors that determine whether a band succeeds or not: its moniker. A band’s name not only says something about its creativity but is the first, best indicator of its aesthetic judgment. For example, I shudder at the thought of the conversations that led Slightly Stoopid to agree that, yes, of all of the trillions of word combinations in the English language — to say nothing of foreign words, or names from dead languages, or letter-and-number combinations — they decided on Slightly Stoopid. And for that reason, I will not be seeing them. If they have failed that miserably at that one formative moment, I don’t trust them to make good musical decisions. Ditto the band Does It Offend You, Yeah? First of all, the name is a punctuation nightmare, what with the question mark, let alone the fact that it’s not a name, but a sentence — and a poorly written one at that. And I suspect the band’s word-of-mouth action is less than if it were named the still-stupid but a hundred times better the Offend Yous. At least, you can say that without feeling silly. And dan le sac vs. Scroobius Pip? When it’s all said and done, and you’ve made your millions (or, more likely, thousands), gotten married, had a few (Black, Cool or Cold War) kids, what will you tell them when, as teenagers, they ask you about Coachella? You will have to say your name out loud, and I’d venture it’s gonna sound a little silly coming out of the mouth of a middle-aged man.
But then, we can’t all age as gracefully as Kraftwerk, blessed with brilliant ideas not only about band naming (short, memorable and loaded) but about the intersection of concept and music, of sight and sound. Their YouTube clip for “Autobahn” is a 10:27 trip fest that should be required viewing for the countless underdog musicians looking to make an impression despite the overwhelming odds against them. There are 127 other bands here. You are less than 1 percent of the total. What are you going to do to tilt the numbers in your favor? How are you going to make an impression? Study Kraftwerk, for one. Bone up on your Dan Deacon — he knows what the hell he’s doing, and has the numbers to prove it. (Don’t miss Baltimore’s Deacon! He’s my pick for breakout artist of the festival — and I’ve got the stats to back it up. This man should be famous.) Read. Calculate. Figure. Or leave me a comment below. I’ll be sitting in front of my adding machine, dull pencil tucked behind my ear, waiting to run some numbers for you.
Similar posts: nyc nightclubs
