Earlier this month, the dance-pop devotees of Starfucker announced
they are sloughing off their divisive band name and selecting a new one
from the pool of fan suggestions sent to newnameideas@gmail.com before
October 1. Of course, pop music history is rich with name changes both
seamlessly successful and infamously ill-advised, and Starfucker are
far from the first local band to go down this tortuous path, as the
following testimonials from Portland acts who have been rechristened
can attest.
Starfucker
“We’re changing our name because it just doesn’t make sense anymore.
We never thought Starfucker would make it as far as it has, and never
had any expectations of success. At this point we need to be able to
either put more into music, or just stop doing it so we can get
nine-to-five jobs to pay our rent. Right now we’re in this Bardo where
we don’t quite make a living off music, but we put so much energy into
it that we can’t put any time into a real job either. We just need to
get serious about one or the other. The name has been a problem for us
in a lot of ways. We’ve missed out on opening slots with bands we
really like, and we hope to tour Europe soon, where there is already a
Starfucker. Someone booked us once thinking we were the European
Starfucker.” (Answered collectively by the band)
Blitzen Trapper (formerly Garmonbozia)
“Eric [Earley] decided to change the name for aesthetic reasons. No
one could pronounce/remember ‘Garmonbozia.’ In those days we gave no
thought to ‘fanbase’ or brand recognition, so alienating people was
never a concern, although it’s probably true that the meager following
we had disappeared with the change… I think of Garmonbozia as the
experimental/pupa stage of Blitzen Trapper.” (Answered by Marty
Marquis)
White Hinterland (formerly Casey Dienel)
“My main motivation was that many who go by their given names are
singer/songwriters and I didn’t feel like one. At the time, a lot of my
work could easily fit into that category, but I knew that wouldn’t be
the case forever. Singer/songwriters (in my mind) are the storytellers,
the folksingers, the people who carry on the venerable tradition of
popular song. But I’ve never felt an obligation to adhere to that
tradition… instead of highlighting a persona, I wanted to train the
focus firmly on my work and my music. Especially as a female artist, I
felt this was an important distinction to make, as the roles dispensed
among us can be so narrow.” (Answered by Casey Dienel)
The Joggers (formerly Stateside)
“Although ‘Joggers’ is a shitty name, ‘Stateside’ was worse. We
discovered another band from Tennessee with the same name… may have
even exchanged a few emails with them, but decided very quickly we were
happy to let them keep it.” (Answered by Ben Whitesides)
Grey Anne (formerly Per Se)
“In the first place, ‘Per Se’ was a name that I took as a solo
musician, prior to forming my own band. I assumed a band-like moniker
so that I could recruit other musicians more easily, asking them to
‘play with Per Se,’ rather than asking them to ‘join the Anne Adams
band.’
“But at a certain point, when I was in fact reverting back to my
solo state, and I was writing all the blogs and doing all the
interviews and writing the songs, and the project was really
representative of my voice, I decided to take ownership of that
development, name-wise, and name it something that sounded more like
one girl, ’cause that’s what it had become.
“A friend once told me, ‘Don’t name your dog anything that you don’t
want to hear yourself say 100 times a day.’ I guess the same is true
for your band.” (Answered by Anne Adams)