Some of you will hate this name. In fact, I’m pretty sure most of you already do. This name was chosen after a lengthy deliberative process, and several good names were rejected in favor of this one for many reasons, but the main reason is that when I think of my band’s name, I think primarily about saying it on stage to an audience of people, and how each name feels in that context. “Drugs & Gum” is kind of silly, but it has a lively energy to it, and is VERY easy to remember and to spell. I simply can’t see performing a song about vibrators and then saying my name is “A Noble Army” or somesuch. I’d prefer to have a slightly silly name, and then surprise people with serious songs, than to have a serious name and play songs about sluts or something.

Just for fun, here are some of the other names I considered:

• A Noble Army
• Two Noble Armies
• Auburndale
• Never a Mother
• Fifty Heads and a Hundred Hands
• The Trumpets
• Combat Flavor Exchange
• The Ponderous Earth

Most, as you can see, are kind of serious. I wanted something less serious. I went against almost everyone’s advisement (thank you Heather and Anka for supporting “Drugs & Gum”). So I figure that’s probably the best idea.

I have made the difficult decision to create a new name for my music. STETSON seemed like a great idea last year before I was performing seriously and before I had a significant online presence, being that it is my middle name, and is somewhat iconic. Unfortunately, it has been made clear to me that with too many brands already sporting that name, it is simply impossible to find me online. Some may see it as sad that we can allow a Google algorithm to make these decisions for us, but to some extent I appreciate the challenge of being more creative with naming.

A new name has already been chosen and my plan is to begin rolling it out Wednesday, March 31st, hopefully completing the transition April 1st. No, this is not an elaborate April Fool’s joke.

Some of you will not like the new name, others will love it. The name was chosen during three days of careful brainstorming and deliberation and I am personally very confident in it at this point. Given time I think everyone who is already a fan will come to understand why I like it so much.

STETSON on MySpace.

If anyone still uses MySpace, add me as a friend. It helps my rankings on other sites. And that is, of course, what music is all about — rankings on social media websites that launched this morning.