On stage names

A lot of artists I really like have stage names.  The Hives all have them (from Nicholaus Arson to Chris Dangerous), as do Electric Six (including Dick Valentine and The Colonel).  Even local synth-pop band Freezepop has lead singer Liz Excitement.  It's a good way to make the band seem more exciting, I guess, more like larger-than-life characters.  I can dig it.

Since I mentioned that I'd be trying to put together an act to do for that open mic night I found, I've started thinking about coming up with my own stage name.  It sounds silly, but I am putting together exactly what I said - an act.  My idea of a fun show pays attention to the fact that the whole thing is a performance.  As I've probably talked your ear off at one point or another, I love it when bands do interesting things when playing live, things that make the show different from just listening to an album.  Anyway, that's why I'm focusing on the showmanship of this thing, not just the music.

So, I need something that'll be unique and memorable, yet also "me" in some way.  Liz Excitement presumably brings just that to the stage, but when I think of what I'd bring, the only thing I can think of is "self-deprecation."  Not only is Jordan Self-Deprecation a bit of a mouthful, it's also a paradox; to call myself that would be to imply that I was good at self-deprecation, which would make me the opposite.  I'm better off finding something that relates to the kind of act I'm doing.

I'm not doing the standard singing-and-playing-acoustic-guitar type of show.  For one, I don't have an acoustic guitar, for another, I can't sing.  What I think I'm going to do is something that I can tie several of my interests into.  I'm hoping to create a few of my own songs in that chiptune genre, with electric guitar backed by pre-programmed 8-bit drums and synths.  It's not the most impressive thing when it comes to skill with playing live, but I'm trying to make it interesting and fun.  I'm also considering working my speakerhead into the act - its voice changer may help my lack of decent singing voice.  Or it may make it worse.  Who knows.  Either way, the whole thing has a very electronically-driven feel.

The name that I've been kicking around in my head is Super 8, as sort of a stage name and just a band name for my solo projects.  I like the retro sound it has, as well as the "8" that it shares with "8-bit."  On the other hand, it's derived from a film format, and the fact that this is an audio act rather than video makes it a little incongruous.  Still, a large part of the performance will be visual if I'm wearing my speakerhead...  I'm really not sure.  I'll keep thinking about it.

Today's song:  Continuing the electro/dance theme, here's one from a synthpop band I really like.  Again, great song, great video.

Royksopp - Happy Up Here

Today's thing:  I worked more on the song from yesterday, changing the drums in one part and recording more guitar, as well as arranging a little more bass.  I'm hoping to get lyrics together within the next few days, since it'd be really awesome to play that one for the open mic thing.  We'll see.