It’s almost like naming a child when you are trying to name your band. Okay, maybe not quite as intense, but it sure seems that way at the time.
We started throwing around some different names, most of which I don’t even remember at this point. Although, I do remember Chris’ idea very vividly to call it the “Charlie Brown Band,” and he thought it was a “good idea” for me to wear a sweater like the one Charlie Brown had. Let’s just say that I was less than excited at the idea.
The name Spare Change was my idea, and it came from the fact that Chris was a guitar player, but we already had one of those, so he decided to be a team player and pick up the bass. Like I said earlier, we were practicing relentlessly and quite often, so his poor fingers stayed red and blisters ensued. Since he was now a “bass player,” he didn’t carry guitar picks with him, and we were starving artists so we didn’t just have picks lying around so we looked for anything he could use as a pick and more times than not it ended up being change that we had in our pocket.
Well, we got a call one cold day in December, just a couple of weeks before New Year’s Eve, from Ham’s in Kinston, NC. We had been out there during an open mic night and performed to show them what we had, but had not booked any shows at this point. Honestly, we still didn’t have enough material to do so, but when the manager told me that their New Year’s Eve band had canceled on them, and asked if we had enough material, I pretty much lied and said to him that we did, and he booked us for our first gig, ever! I was super excited, so I immediately told the other guys, and they shared my enthusiasm.
I got a call from that same manager a few days later, and he asked what we called ourselves so he could put it on the marquee, and advertise us. I hesitated, my mind rushing back to our conversations about what the name of the band was going to be, picturing myself in a Charlie Brown sweater, and all of the other crazy names thrown around while we were rehearsing, and I told him the name of the band was Spare Change.
That is the story of how the name Spare Change came about. What would you name your band?