The Song Fight Bulletin Board

Hi all,

I have an album coming out in the fall, and it's coming along nicely. As it is taking shape, I am becoming increasingly uncomfortable with the artist name Jim of Seattle. Within the Song Fight community it hasn't mattered to me much what I call myself, but now that this will be appearing in record stores etc., and is more "official", I'm thinking this might be a good time to come up with something that took me more than 12 seconds to come up with.

To me, JoS sounds generic, oddly pompous, and worst of all, like I'm somehow trying to ride the coattails of the Hendrixes and Cobains of my hometown's history, which I'm most definitely not. "Seattle" has such connotations of grunge and hip-osity that I worry I sound too much like I'm trying to convince people I'm part of that whole thing. In reality, the name came because when I submitted my first song here, "Gonna Be Your Man" in 2003, it didn't occur to me that I needed a name until I constructed the email sending the mp3 off. And then yeah, about 12 seconds of thought. I tried Ants (Invisible) for a while, but I hate that even more for multiple reasons.

So how does the JoS moniker really sound to you? Am I just being paranoid? I really have no idea how it comes across, and if I'm going to change it, now's the time. The only concerns I have with changing it are 1) It obviously has to be better, and 2) A lot of non-SF people know of me from my song "Welcome to Windows". My real name (Jim Owen) has such a clunky ring to it that I think it's immediately out. Thoughts?

Band/artist names are tough. How about just a stage name that's a combination of your real first or last name with a fake last or first name?

The important thing about a name is being confident saying it. What most people think... is not important. In fact, they probably won't think what you think about it. Don't overanalyze yourself. And whatever you decide, say it in the mirror about 50 times to cement it.

You've been Jim of Seattle for a while. You might want to initialize it and come up with a backronym - that's always an easy strategy.

Manhattan Glutton wrote:The important thing about a name is being confident saying it. What most people think... is not important. In fact, they probably won't think what you think about it. Don't overanalyze yourself. And whatever you decide, say it in the mirror about 50 times to cement it.

You've been Jim of Seattle for a while. You might want to initialize it and come up with a backronym - that's always an easy strategy.

Paragraph 1: Good advice, though I haven't looked at myself in the mirror in maybe 5 years.
Paragraph 2: Er huh?

So how has it sounded to people over this time? Generic, pompous, coattail-y?

I don't associate the name nor you to the famed "Seattle sound" since there are multiple sounds and I don't think that way. So JoS has always meant...this is Jim, and he's from Seattle. Not pompous and certainly not coattail-y. But it seems you need to get away from it, and that's just fine.

Jim of Seattle wrote:Er huh?

A backronym. You know, like take "J.O.S." and make up something that goes with it aside from "Jim of Seattle". For example: Jokes of Sweden. It allows you to keep your identity but change it at the same time!

Jim of Seattle wrote:So how has it sounded to people over this time? Generic, pompous, coattail-y?

Maybe a little hokey. And somewhat humble, since you make some good stuff.

But then again, I absolutely hate my name, so...

If you don't like your moniker, why stick with it? At the end of the day, the person you need to please the most is yourself. And you don't want a Smashing Pumpkins situation where you are stuck with a name that you don't care for.

Then again, you may already have that situation on your hands. Your "Welcome To" song has earned a bit of notoriety that you may want to ride.

Just use the "porn star name" method. Take the name of a pet and add it to a street you have lived in. Tex Beaumont, Sid Denison and Genevieve Johnson all swear by this method.

I've always thought of Jim of Seattle as being fairly generic. i go back and forth a lot on this, but if you are releasing a solo album and plan to support and promote it, you might just want to use your real name to keep things simple. Unless it is an equal partnership kind of band, then you should come up with a group name.

Caravan Ray wrote:Just use the "porn star name" method. Take the name of a pet and add it to a street you have lived in. Tex Beaumont, Sid Denison and Genevieve Johnson all swear by this method.

Hmm, Skipper the 40th?

Owen St. James

Jack the Skipper.

Niveous wrote:Owen St. James

Funny you should say that. I only moments ago thought of Owen James as a name. But for some reason it makes me think of a soul singer.

I've always had three band names in my head that I liked should I ever need a band name. Now none seem right. Plus, except the second one, they imply a whole multi-personed band, which there is not.

Brand New Obstacles
Hush the Landlord
Gentleman Farmers

Then there is always the time honoured anagram methhod:

eg: Toejam Filets

I always thought JoS was a perfect fit, ironically drawing attention to the grunge and hipness. Only the uncool would try to align themselves so awkwardly — who calls themselves "of a city" anyway? — so surely you must be winking with that name. How can you be pompous if you're winking? I also like how it's just your first name, like what, you're the only Jim in Seattle? If you had your last name it'd be pretentious. But just your first is unassuming and honest and dare I say cute.

I kind of like "Jim Cruise".

Because you're not Tom Cruise and you're not Pablo Cruise. You're Jim Cruise.

Or for the sake of not being sued by Scientology, maybe change it to "Crews"

Sim of Jeattle
James and the Giant Sky Needle
Plight of the Seattleite