Ongoing History Daily: Another look at the origins of band names
It’s time again to investigate where various bands got their name.
- Arkells: Their name comes from Arkell Street, which is in the west end of Hamilton Street near McMaster University.
- Portugal. The Man: That comes from a book that singer John Gourley was planning to write his father and the many adventures he had.
The Killers took their name from a fictional band in an old New Order video. - The phrase “cold war kids” came to bass player Matt Maust when he toured Eastern Europe after the fall of communism and saw all these kids hanging out at a park in Budapest.
- And if you really want to get super technical about it, the name of alt-J is the Greek letter “delta,” which is looks like a triangle and is used as a mathematical symbol for change. To type it on a screen using a Mac, you use the keystroke alt-j. Try it sometime.
