Comments on: Bands named after band members that aren't the lead vocalist

Question: Bands named after band members that aren't the lead vocalist

paisley — Thu, 18 Aug 2005 21:33:15 -0800

I'm looking for examples of bands named after members of the band that aren't the lead vocalist.

I went to see the B. B. King Bluesfest here in Denver the other night. One of the performers was Kenny Wayne Shepherd. I've certainly heard of him, but never really listened to his music or seen him perform. So I was somewhat understandably confused when the lights came up and there were two guys onstage - one playing guitar, and one singing. I figured out quickly enough which one was Mr. Shepherd, but I got to wondering how many performers are named after a member of the band that isn't the lead vocalist. It used to be fairly common, but it's certainly not the norm now. The Earl Scruggs Revue is still around, but they've been around since it was common, so I've decided they don't count. I'm after relatively recent examples, so let's limit examples to groups formed within the last twenty years or so. Also, strictly instrumental performers don't count.

By: drpynchon

drpynchon — Thu, 18 Aug 2005 21:36:40 -0800

Van Halen.

By: thewittyname

thewittyname — Thu, 18 Aug 2005 21:42:42 -0800

Well, they're not really a band in the we-tour-and-make-albums sense, nor do they really have a lead vocalist, but the Max Weinberg 7 band from the Conan O'Brien show comes to mind.

By: Chuckles

Chuckles — Thu, 18 Aug 2005 21:55:47 -0800

Laddies and Gentlemen, welcome to the stage,
those bad boys from Boston,
the funkiest band in the land,
the incomparable,
J. Geils Band

By: buzzman

buzzman — Thu, 18 Aug 2005 21:57:40 -0800

Ted Nugent.

By: jjg

jjg — Thu, 18 Aug 2005 22:02:39 -0800

Kool and the Gang (bass player)
Echo and the Bunnymen (drum machine)
The Alan Parsons Project (producer, not even in the band!)
Zumpano! (drummer)

By: Eamon

Eamon — Thu, 18 Aug 2005 22:15:21 -0800

Manfred Mann.

By: Eamon

Eamon — Thu, 18 Aug 2005 22:16:32 -0800

Oops, I should've read the whole question.

By: jjg

jjg — Thu, 18 Aug 2005 22:17:34 -0800

The Spencer Davis Group (guitarist)
Bonham (drummer, but not the one that first comes to mind)

By: kirkaracha

kirkaracha — Thu, 18 Aug 2005 22:19:01 -0800

The Aynsley Dunbar Retaliation
Santana

By: jjg

jjg — Thu, 18 Aug 2005 22:25:04 -0800

Two more (albeit outside your 20-year window):
The Dave Clark Five (drummer)
Fleetwood Mac (drummer and bass player)

By: First Post

First Post — Thu, 18 Aug 2005 22:26:55 -0800

Montrose, Was(Not Was), I'll probably think of more in the middle of the night...

By: mai

mai — Thu, 18 Aug 2005 22:40:13 -0800

Mingus was a bass player and he had a band, right?

By: drezdn

drezdn — Thu, 18 Aug 2005 22:43:58 -0800

Rod Torkleson's Armada

By: kenko

kenko — Thu, 18 Aug 2005 22:44:54 -0800

Don't think jazz groups are in the purview.

By: kenko

kenko — Thu, 18 Aug 2005 22:52:16 -0800

Vander/Top (drummer and bassist).
Robert Fripp's Exposure was released under his own name, though he does not perform any of the vocals on it.

By: kenko

kenko — Thu, 18 Aug 2005 23:07:18 -0800

Older:
Nick Mason's Fictitious Sports; the lead vocalist is Robert Wyatt IIRC.
Joe Byrd & the Field Hippies
Jeff Beck Group

Newer (so the answer will actually be useful):
Hughscore (named after Hugh Hopper, bassist, after a merger with a band called Caveman Shoestore)
Many of Barry Adamson's releases feature vocals not by him. I think he only started providing vocals himself recently.

By: mischief

mischief — Thu, 18 Aug 2005 23:24:20 -0800

Blackmore's Rainbow

By: Tomatillo

Tomatillo — Fri, 19 Aug 2005 00:11:12 -0800

Zumpano. (Named after the drummer. Gotta have a little indierock here.)

By: sconbie

sconbie — Fri, 19 Aug 2005 00:16:25 -0800

Brian Jones Town Massacre
Check out the pop-doco 'Dig' which explores the rivalry between BJTM and The Dandy Warhols.
MINT!

By: mosch

mosch — Fri, 19 Aug 2005 00:16:29 -0800

Eddie From Ohio

By: benkolb

benkolb — Fri, 19 Aug 2005 00:22:52 -0800

Phish. Named after Jon Fishman the drummer.

By: meech

meech — Fri, 19 Aug 2005 03:52:17 -0800

Santana - The group was given its name due to a musicians union requirement that a single person be named a band's leader and it did not at first indicate that Carlos was in charge.

By: ShawnString

ShawnString — Fri, 19 Aug 2005 04:30:21 -0800

Rod Torkleson's Armada
posted by drezdn

you forgot Herman Mendelchuck

By: Faint of Butt

Faint of Butt — Fri, 19 Aug 2005 04:57:46 -0800

Paul Revere and the Raiders.

By: pollystark

pollystark — Fri, 19 Aug 2005 05:12:12 -0800

Team Dresch (mid-90s queercore band named for guitarist Donna Dresch. Kaia Wilson was the lead vocalist.)

By: JanetLand

JanetLand — Fri, 19 Aug 2005 05:42:00 -0800

Elvin Bishop Group.

By: box

box — Fri, 19 Aug 2005 06:09:34 -0800

J Boogie's Dubtronic Science (named for the DJ/bandleader)

So what about jazz, hip-hop and reggae? Are those outside the range of the question? I ask because it's pretty common for jazz albums to be released under the names of bandleaders, and hip-hop and reggae albums to be released under the names of DJs and producers.

By: isotope

isotope — Fri, 19 Aug 2005 06:31:41 -0800

Robin Trower
Yngwie Malmsteen

By: Pollomacho

Pollomacho — Fri, 19 Aug 2005 06:44:02 -0800

Fleetwood Mac

By: Pollomacho

Pollomacho — Fri, 19 Aug 2005 06:49:27 -0800

Sorry jig, I missed your post.

By: spicynuts

spicynuts — Fri, 19 Aug 2005 06:50:02 -0800

Frehley's Comet. (I'm pretty sure Ace didn't sing)
Did Edgar or Steve Winter sing or just play guitar? If so, then the Edgar Winter Group and Steve Winter.

By: spicynuts

spicynuts — Fri, 19 Aug 2005 06:52:41 -0800

crap..not steve winter..johnny winter. i've always been more interested in edgar, that's why i can never remember johnny's name.

By: .kobayashi.

.kobayashi. — Fri, 19 Aug 2005 07:57:14 -0800

Am I missing something, but even forgetting about the genre-splitting, don't most of these answers not fit the stated criteria?

"I'm after relatively recent examples, so let's limit examples to groups formed within the last twenty years or so. Also, strictly instrumental performers don't count."

Santana? J. Geils? How did the criteria simply become bands that aren't dead yet? Sheesh. Also, despite the revolving line-up, I'm pretty sure Brian Jones never cracked his way into the Brian Jonestown Massacre.

You know what, paisley? I can't think of any groups that fit this criteria. At least, no new groups: I can come up with plenty of old ones (Bob Wills, Bootsy Collins), but no new ones. And, yeah, that is pretty weird.

By: RibaldOne

RibaldOne — Fri, 19 Aug 2005 08:02:03 -0800

Mike + the Mechanics

By: spicynuts

spicynuts — Fri, 19 Aug 2005 08:08:13 -0800

Am I missing something, but even forgetting about the genre-splitting, don't most of these answers not fit the stated criteria?

I would consider any band primarily active and achieving notoriety in the late 80s to early 90s to fit his 20 years or so criteria. Therefore, of the answers given so far, these seem to fit:

Yngwie Malmsteen - his band did have several songs with vocals and he did have a vocalist, so he fits.

Ace Frehley's Comet - definitely a vocal group

Alan Parson's Project

Phish - although that's strecthing it a bit

Was (Not Was)

Bonham

By: biscotti

biscotti — Fri, 19 Aug 2005 08:11:23 -0800

Kenny Wayne Shepherd used to sing his stuff live, but started using another vocalist so he could concentrate on his guitar playing (KWS's singing is better, IMHO). So your question happens to be about a band which might not be particularly representative of the phenomenon you're asking about. So neener.

By: First Post

First Post — Fri, 19 Aug 2005 08:11:30 -0800

Ace Frehley did "sing" for Frehley's Comet, as I recall. Note his rap-like delivery on the autobiographical car-crash song "Rock Soldiers".

"If the devil wants to play cards now...(music stops)...he's gonna have to play...without an ACE...in his DECK!"

Heh. It's right up there with that Bushwick Bill song about how he got his eyeball shot out.

By: RJ Reynolds

RJ Reynolds — Fri, 19 Aug 2005 08:40:37 -0800

Hmm, barely counts, but, The Farriss Brothers, who became INXS.

By: matildaben

matildaben — Fri, 19 Aug 2005 09:11:23 -0800

Zumpano is a late 90's/early 00's band so it counts.

By: yerfatma

yerfatma — Fri, 19 Aug 2005 09:51:59 -0800

Ace Frehley did "sing" for Frehley's Comet, as I recall.

I think you're right, but let's not think about it too much. And there was a proper singer too. I think. But again . . .

By: paisley

paisley — Fri, 19 Aug 2005 10:27:56 -0800

A lot of wonderful answers here! I can't check them all out right now, but I will later.

Certainly jazz, hip-hop and reggae examples are valid. I'm not too familiar with hip-hop or reggae, and all the jazz groups that sprung to my mind were either instrumental or not so recent.

Meech, Santana doesn't work -- but that musicians union requirement bit may go a long way towards explaining the shift in naming trends...

By: Monk

Monk — Fri, 19 Aug 2005 10:55:01 -0800

Bronksi Beat (Steve Bronski: keyboards) formed in '83 so they're almost in the right timeframe.

By: Rev. Syung Myung Me

Rev. Syung Myung Me — Fri, 19 Aug 2005 12:35:07 -0800

Not sure if Buckethead'd count, since he's the lead guitarist and doesn't sing, but some of the cuts have various singers on there (IIRC, Monsters and Robots has Les Claypool on one or two, and another has Bootsy Collins. But Bootsy might just be playing and not singing. It's been a while since I've heard that record.)

By: Good Brain

Good Brain — Fri, 19 Aug 2005 14:36:01 -0800

Van Halen. You can look up their formation date for yourself though.