How The Band Got The Name
The name of our band is still under a bit of contention and I wouldn't be surprised if we changed it further down the road. I personally like the name, but I am the one that selected it. I find the name fitting because I think the life of a Rodeo Clown has some parrallels to us. A quick disclaimer on my part. None of us are Rodeo Clowns and I don't think any of us even knows someone who is a Rodeo Clown. Perhaps Pete does since he is from Texas... I have never asked him.
My take is that a Rodeo Clown kind of flies beneath the radar in their world. Rodeo Clowns play an important part in their world, by putting themselves in danger. They are anonymous and they appear to have a lot of fun while they are out there. At the end of the day they can take off their "uniform" and do whatever they like. I like to think that they live life on the edge or perhaps on the fringe of soceity. To a certain extent, I think the three have many of these elments in various parts of our life.
A second source of inspiration for choosing Rodeo Clowns was Jack Johnson. He is one of my favorite musicians and he performs a song called Rodeo Clowns. The songs was either written or co-written with G-Love and Special Sauce. I first heard the song back in 2002. The song has many attractive elements that I would like to see in our music. The guitar is clean and has the percussive rythm patterns that Jack has in so many of his songs. It also has unique phrasing that is almost like rapping. The song effectively describes the bars/clubs that you end up in when you are on a surfing adventure in a third world country.
Initially the song was the initial impetus for the group name. However, after six months of dealing with Pete and Donnie, I began to realize that the name fits us quite well.
Comments
And here I was thinking you got it from the movie Shakes the Clown. In the movie's clown society, rodeo clowns were the tough guys who tormented party clowns. But the party clowns could always pick on the mimes.
My friend Mike and I think Shakes the Clown is one of the best movies ever made. We talked a friend into renting it and he hated it so much that he almost stopped being our friend. But if you like movies about alcoholic children's party clowns, there are none better.
[ Steve, Your story reminds me of the David Lynch film "Eraserhead". I had heard what a cool movie it was so I tried to watch, but I just couldn't handle it, and had to turn it off.
Its good to hear from you and I hope your band is doing well.
Just for reference, we have never mistreated and party Clowns to date, and yes we are definitely cooler than party clowns! -john ]
Posted by: Steve Nicholson | February 24, 2006 01:22 PM