Mad At The World released a new album in 2015! (not really)

This is truly annoying.  I was searching the internet for Mat at the World's discography information... and I ran across this.

https://bdhw.bandcamp.com/album/domination

Apparently this is some French hardcore band that has no access to the internet.  Why on earth would you want to name your second-tier band after a rock/metal band from the 80's?  Especially in this day when you can easily do an internet search to see if the name has been used by a band that has released several albums.  This isn't the only example of "band name appropriation" (there are tons of lousy independent hip-hop musicians who have done this).  I can almost understand it if your naming your group with some common single word name (Recon, Angelica, Rose...all examples of multiple artists using the same name), but some of them almost seem like deliberate theft (like MATW), and the German band calling themselves "Die Happy" (at least they have been around since 1994).

What are your thoughts?

I can understand doing a web search to see if someone else has used the name.  I also understand that, if the original use wasn't a big success in worldly terms, wanting to use a name.  Of course, there are still plenty of words and uncoined phrases that you can use. 

I'd definitely do a web search before naming a band, though.  Of course, I doubt you will find more than one Big Chris & D'Bare Bones Band.

That's not the Mad At The World we like.

I have had the same with Mastadon.
There'a band named Mastodon.
Their music is complete different.

alldatndensum wrote:

I can understand doing a web search to see if someone else has used the name.  I also understand that, if the original use wasn't a big success in worldly terms, wanting to use a name.  Of course, there are still plenty of words and uncoined phrases that you can use. 

I'd definitely do a web search before naming a band, though.  Of course, I doubt you will find more than one Big Chris & D'Bare Bones Band.

I would agree with that part, but man the original MATW had 10 album releases (with two of them being compilations of previous albums).  And they had to have moved tens of thousands of albums.  This seems like it would have been an easy check for a band starting in the 2010s.  It almost seems like an intentional rip off by the current hardcore band, or else they had the attitude that since they never heard of the original MATW nobody else will know them either.

rockerVu2 wrote:

That's not the Mad At The World we like.

I have had the same with Mastadon.
There'a band named Mastodon.
Their music is complete different.

At least with Mastodon they went with a different spelling than the band we love.

Quote :

I would agree with that part, but man the original MATW had 10 album releases (with two of them being compilations of previous albums).  And they had to have moved tens of thousands of albums.  This seems like it would have been an easy check for a band starting in the 2010s.  It almost seems like an intentional rip off by the current hardcore band, or else they had the attitude that since they never heard of the original MATW nobody else will know them either.

I get that; but outside of the Christian rock scene, who ever heard of MATW?  I had friends I used to work with back in the 90s that listened to solely Christian music who had never heard of MATW.  While they may have moved some product in church circles, they still remain an obscure blip on the overall radar of the new wave/rock/alt-pop realms that they jumped through.  If you didn't know that history, this could seem like 3 totally different bands to an outsider.

It could be worse.  There are four or five bands named Deliverance.  Do a search on CD Baby and see how many bands (not even metal) named Ultimatum.  If you aren't setting the world on fire with sales so that you are known, your name is always at risk. 

You can't copyright a common word, but you can apply for a costly trademark that prevents usage of that.  I doubt most bands want to spend that kind of money with lawyers to have a trademark.

alldatndensum wrote:

You can't copyright a common word, but you can apply for a costly trademark that prevents usage of that.  I doubt most bands want to spend that kind of money with lawyers to have a trademark.

I totally get that.  And I can totally see ending up with a band name that 20 other bands have used, especially if they never released any albums.  I run into that problem all the time when I'm searching for a band.  Someone recommended I check out a secular band named Sucker Punch, but gave me no link.  After doing a 10 minute search I found at least 4 different bands with some variation of the name....none of them sounding at all like what I thought the person was suggesting...had to go back and tell them that without a link to the bands facebook or webpage that their recommendation was pretty much worthless.
I just can't imagine that any band would put in the hours and hours it costs to create music only to end up with the exact same name as another band with nearly a decade worth of recorded music that could confuse their potential fan base.

alldatndensum wrote:

Of course, I doubt you will find more than one Big Chris & D'Bare Bones Band.

I'm actually starting up a new band and going to call it "Big Chris & B'Dare Bones Band"

I talked to Randy about the other band when I was looking for something to do some work for him. He said that there is another band with the same name. So that makes three total. He said it would cost too much to fight it.

deathisgain wrote:

I talked to Randy about the other band when I was looking for something to do some work for him. He said that there is another band with the same name. So that makes three total. He said it would cost too much to fight it.

That makes sense, and it is probably unlikely that fans of either band are going to confuse the two when buying albums or going to shows.

Well, that's awkward. I was going to name my band Big Bare and D'Chris Bones Band.

You could release an album of acoustic versions of your songs and call it "Big Chris: Deboned".

Well, it looks as though Gary's original thoughts about a new Mad At The World album is true.  There is now a crowdfunding drive for a new album featuring the Rose brothers (Randy and Roger).  Sadly, they are returning with their new wave synth-pop sound that they started off with and will eventually get around to a rock album.

I didn't care for the first two albums of MATW, so I am skipping this one.  I will wait until the record is done and see what it sounds like before I put any money towards it.