What's in a name?

I've got a number for you:

One.

That's how many bands I've been in.

Impressive, huh? I'm not only here to give advice, I'm also here to make you feel better about your own lousy music career.

But I don't even tell anyone about it. It's not that I'm not proud to have been in the band, or that I don't like my former bandmates (on the contrary - I still think of them as some of my best friends). It's the name. It's embarrassing. And the worst part is, it was my idea.

The name?

Amethyst.

Good name for a Whitesnake cover band, isn't it?

The thing is, I didn't even want to use that name. I literally pulled it out of my ass. I thought there would be more debate about it, but there wasn't. It went something like this:

The band: We need a name.

My ass: How about Amethyst?

The band: Sounds great, let's jam.

OK, so it didn't quite go that way, but you get the idea. No forethought was involved in that suggestion, and the rest of the band members ate it up. Lucky me.

Because of this, I tend to think of band names. A lot. I've had many a boring job where I would spend hours just thinking of good band names. That's where I got the idea for the name of this blog, which is also going to be the band name I put on my recordings.

I was proud of this name. It comes from a Monty Python sketch, if you don't know. Plus, at least when I thought of it, there were no other Pantomime Horses in the music biz. I Googled the name and got a song title, but no bands. I thought I'd hit the jackpot.

Then I found out Amethyst's former drummer was in a band named Pantomime Horse. Then I re-Googled the name and found a person just like me - a one-man band - had taken the name, too.

Damn.

No matter. I like the name and I'm sticking with it. At least until the lawsuit comes.

At least I can still think band names.