Bon Voyage Starfucker, Hello New Name

So I wrote this for LocalCut. But it won't be posted there:
Isn't it strange how surprised you can be when things that you've heard rumblings about actually come true? Like hearing that Starfucker might change its name and then seeing - via a Facebook status-update and a MySpace bulletin - that the rumbling is indeed true. Yes, at 12:46pm today, Starfucker announced that the quartet is changing it's name:

<blockquote>Hey Friends--
Everyone knows our name sucks...so here is your chance to give us a new one.
The best thing about this new-name game is that we want YOU to help us come up with it.

There are two ways to vote for Starfucker's new name.

*Email your idea to:
newnameideas@gmail.com

OR

*Vote in person at the merch table at any show on our upcoming tour

This will be our last tour as Starfucker!
Come out and help us usher in a whole new era of.....awesome-band-name-yet-to-be-determined.
One vote per fan please.
And of course there are fabulous prizes! If your name is selected, you will get tons of cool shit!!!
Deadline for ideas is October 1st.
</blockquote>

Let's address this concrete info upfront: Send your suggestions in by October 1st.

Let's face it, a name change isn't entirely unwarranted given that the group is no longer the solo project of Josh Hodges. This past weekend's Microfest was a great indication of such. Last time the one-day festival was held is was just Josh Hodges and the wall of sound he created from behind his drum kit with a guitar, keyboard and plenty of feedback, still relegated to sweaty basements. Now two and a half years on the band has expanded into a quartet, is currently in the midst of a national headlining tour, recently appeared in Spin and has licensed songs to IBM, Target and Weeds - all of which are indicators that the name isn't holding them back as much as one would initially expect a name like Starfucker would.

Sound on the Sound mentions in <a href="http://www.soundonthesound.com/2009/09/08/starfucker-looks-for-a-new-name-embarking-on-last-tour-as-starfucker/">it's post on the topic</a>:
<blockquote>
What does suck, we’re sure, is your name not being able to be said on the radio, all ages venues not booking you because of your name, loosing revenue and potential ads because of your name, and having parents not allow kids to attend your show thanks to your name.</blockquote>

All valid points, but Starfucker was never about potential revenue or ads, at least not in the beginning. Lifted from a friend's Chicago-based zine of the same name, Starfucker was about fun. An outlet where fun triumphed ambition. And by adopting the name Starfucker it pretty much guaranteed that fun would always be the project's reality and probably its only reality. The name would prevent the accession to pop radio and the shelves of Walmart.

And one must remember, there is another metal band named Starfucker. Portland's Starfucker has in the past put US in parenthesis after it's name to denote a difference. Could this have anything to do with that? I kinda hope so. It'd help buck any claims of selling-out that will undoubtedly be raised, even if only in the minds of some fans rather than typed out in ranty blog posts.

Or could it really be as simple as that the band name sucks?

There's also the fact that they're opening it up - not just announcing the name change ala the band featured in <a href="http://blogs.wweek.com/music/2009/09/08/congratulations-old-believers-structured-calisthenics-and-a-doormans-wisdom-seattle-wa/">the tour diary earlier today</a>. Eskimo and Sons' name switch didn't come with public input. It came with a farewell/retirement shabang followed up months later by the assembled musicians (minus original drummer Dylan Reed) playing low-key shows under the banner of Congratulations. Hey - that reminds me: the name Eskimo and Sons is free now, isn't it? Maybe Starfucker could just assume that - haha. Back to the case in point, if the name change has any corporate overtures, having an open submission system seems like the antithesis of that. Less suits, more "we the people."

So does the Starfucker's name change mean the game is changing?

>> I'm sure we'll know soon. Shawn will probably leave a comment on LocalCut. I never gave this rumor a second though because there's long been rumbling of a membership overhaul and other jazzy things that have never come to fruition. And truth be told, I don't think I want to know. That's why I've never asked Josh. That's why I won't. I don't want to believe that ideals have been compromised. And maybe that's not the case. But for the possibility that it is, ignorance is bliss and choosing ignorance can sometimes be wise.

Comments

[DAVID BLAKE HUTCHINSON]

Just Blake. Stopping by to say hello! Hope all is well with you. Pyramid??? I kinda like it.