Recently, my band decided it was time to change our name. Although we’ve been chugging along writing new music and even played a couple shows, it has been awhile since we’ve really done anything significant since two of the members quit several years ago. Thus, with the new three-piece lineup (<3 goes to Jake!) it’s time for a re-brand.
Also, to be honest, I was never a fan of the name “HalfTone” anyway… it just never felt “right” for a rock band.
Howevever, the main issue with choosing a band name is to do it right you need everyone to be happy with the name. Even in a democratic system of “majority wins”, you can end up in a situation where someone feels left out or doesn’t feel the brand represents them. Ultimately, we’re all adults doing this in our free time as a hobby, so we should all feel excited to put out our music under a name that we’re happy with.
We went through several rounds of scatter-shotting names to see what sticks. There were some names that were fun but ended up being too goofy for at least one of us - names like “Newt Punch!” - and maybe they would have been good if we were younger. There were also “cooler” sounding names like “El Morado” and “Burning Biminy” that were close contenders, but ultimately fell short after pitching it around to a few our friends.
In the end, we ended up settling on the name “The Punch Outs” as a reference to us all being adults with day jobs. We grind away that day at work, then at the end of our shift we “punch out” of work where we then loosen up our ties, roll up our sleeves, grab our gear and start rocking out. It’s a simple name (with some fighting connotations, of course), and one that all three of us can really get behind.
Our “debut” album Words was released on Spotify, Apple Music, Amazon Music, and other stores on January
P.S. yes, I know, it’s not really a debut album for the group, but it is the first under the new name…