I love interesting, off-the-beaten-path band names. And in today’s get-your-attention economy you’ve pretty much got to do all you can get eyes and ears on what you’re doing. So here are few recent finds with fun, out-there monikers.

As soon as I saw Megan From Work as the band name I knew I was going to check it out. It just conjures up a perfect image filled in by whatever work experience you’ve suffered from work. Anyone referred to as being that person ‘from work’ really says a lot about the connection or lack thereof. The band just put out a long-player last October and Girl Suits is great but now they’ve got a brand new single that to my ears moves into a slightly new sonic space. “Life Into a Movie” has an 1980s pop sheen not unlike The Motels or ‘Til Tuesday. Aukland New Zealand’s Dead Famous People have got an interesting story, getting started in the 1980s being briefly signed to Billy Bragg’s Utility Label. But nothing much happened then. More recently they’ve gotten back together to record new and old material and re-release a few lost gems. “Looking At Girls” from 2020’s Harry just springs out of the speakers with a bright energy. “Traitor to the Cause” from 2022’s Lost Person’s Area is biting and condemnatory in an unexpectedly pleasant poppy way. Their new record Wild Young Ways promises to resurrect a host of lost material and from the pre-release material I’m the loving singalong-worthy “Little Flashes of Yesterday.” Like Everything but the Girl or Allison Moyet with an acoustic guitar.

Northville, New York’s Frown Town’s vocal sound reminds me Canned Heat’s Alan Wilson at times and at others Elliott Smith. That’s range. It’s all there on the band’s new album Dark Green Curtains. The presser claims the record is a folk rock effort drawing on both Elliott and Paul McCartney and I can hear that. “Stranger to Everyone” and “Rich and Famous” definitely sounds like Smith/McCartney musical love children. “The Note” has the folk covered.  There’s also a great rendition of Jo Stafford’s 1952 hit “You Belong to Me.” Miami Florida has produced Mustard Service, a band with an unusual name and an arsenal of weirdly cool tunes. Previous album Zest Pop had tracks like “I’m Sorry I Hit You With My Flip Flop” and “Get F*cked.” The new record Vice City Magic has a tighter rock sound on “Big Time” and “Going Nowhere.” Except when the songs blow out into a big spacious 1970s vibe going a la ELO.

Stuttgart Germany’s Travelin’ Man is not a far out name but when you combine it with the band’s kooky material, it’s really something else. Most of what you’ll hear on their twenty song LP Let Others Do the Thinking is pretty gritty dark nightclub rock and rolling. It’s a solid garage feel, with just a touch of the Velvets showing up regularly. But the standout track is the goofy, propulsive “My Buns Are Burning.” It could mean anything, the more far out the better.

Nothing like an out-there name to stick in your mind. Along with some hooky tunes, of course.

Photo ‘Grand Theatre, Rocky Ford, Colorado’ courtesy Thomas Hawk Flikr collection.