I've Finally Named My Band

I'm a big fan of classic and alternative rock. I listen to Rock RXP 101.9 pretty much exclusively these days (more so than my own playlists, in fact), and in the past couple of weeks they have been running the "Your Shot to Rock" competition for local bands in the area to enter.

Hold on a second. I don't want to confuse you here: I am, by no means, a musician nor am I musically talented in any way. I have no band to enter the contest. I am merely fascinated with all the new band names I am hearing. This is not a new fascination, I have always been this way. Every time I hear a cool band name, I ask myself the same questions:

• Where did it come from?
• Was it difficult to come up with?
• Did the band pick something else first and run into copyright problems?

and sometimes

• How was that never a band name before? (Case in point: Nirvana is such a great band name - so simple, so direct and even musical - how is it possible no one used that before?!)

I have never aspired to come up with the "Nirvana" band name of my day. I figure if there is something else that awesome and obvious, some group of hard-working musicians playing the local scene has already gotten it. I have also never aspired to make up a name like "Weezer" or "Foo Fighters" in the hopes that my mystical invention of words will catch on with a public audience (my husband would be much better at this and probably has a ton of possible band names up his sleeve that no one else has just because they aren't real words!).

I have always aspired to come up with something that has a story behind it, is unique and is odd enough to be a band name. This morning it finally hit me! I've had my band name for decades! Are you ready? Here it is:

Fudge Bunnies in Hand Baskets

That's my band name. And, for people who have known me for a really long time, this makes total sense! 

I went to catholic school for (almost) my entire school career. In junior high the urge to curse started to swell in me, but two things got in the way: 1. I knew it was wrong, and 2. I knew I would get in a lot of trouble if anyone (at school or home) ever heard me drop the F-bomb. Well as anyone out there who is adept in swearing can tell you, most times the reason why someone selects a curse instead of some other more suitable exclamation is to release some sort of emotion - anger, fear, surprise, joy, etc. I felt just saying "fudge" simply did not expend enough energy to express the appropriate emotion, or to feel validated after my outburst, therefore, one day I kept going and said, "fudge bunnies" and it felt a little bit better. Finally, I decided I needed a little more and in thinking about little chocolate bunnies in Easter baskets I came up with, "Fudge bunnies in hand baskets," and it was the perfect amount of syllables to expel whatever pent up feeling I had that caused the outburst in the first place!

From that moment on, "fudge bunnies in hand baskets!" was basically what you would hear me exclaim if I stubbed my toe, got scared, or anything else that required a full swearing. It has served me for years, even as a teacher with a classroom full of students and as I nearly killed myself tripping over the overhead projector wire in the front of the classroom just as the principal walked by and looked in! (Hilarious, by the way.)

And someday, this will also make a pretty sweet band name. Remember you heard it here first. The origin of the world famous Fudge Bunnies (that's what we'll be called as a nickname), was simply a frustrated little catholic school girl who needed to express herself!

So, I'm SURE you know what question I'm going to ask: 

WHAT'S YOUR BAND'S NAME? 

The conversation continues in The Escapist magazine's forums. See what people have to say about "What's your band's name?"