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Thursday, February 28, 2008

Vicious Vicious' Strange Band Name vs. Persona Overshadows Good Music

Minneapolis indie pop rock band Vicious Vicious do not live up to their name - a music fan would expect them to be a punk or hard rock or some other extreme rock subgenre band.

Listen to their non-stop stream of songs below.

So it is a bit annoying that a group with such marvelously crafted pop, rock and funkadelic sounds would chose a name that does not reflect their music or stage presence. Part of me wants to call it pretentious, but it's just plain puzzling, and I haven't been able to find an interview were the band members are challenged on the name.

In today's Internet-dominated music world, a band needs to be extra savvy about what it takes to be credible and how to optimize name-branding on the Internet with the goal of attracting fans to their official websites, MySpace pages, Facebook profiles and so on. Picking the right name for a band nowadays requires careful thinking and a good level of online marketing and promotion.

Notwithstanding, to be more 'indie' about this matter, let's say we just forget that they are going to have problems promoting themselves based on their name.

At the end of the day it's just plain disingenuous to choose such a name as Vicious Vicious for a band who's online promotional photos show them holding yellow balloons and whose music is more candy than cane. Sorry metal heads - and even rock fans - Vicious Vicious are not vicious by any stretch of the imagination.

The proof is in the pudding (but I still must say there music is awesome). The best way to get to know the band's music is to go to their official site where their music plays at a non-stop stream (unless you kill it of course).

Editor's note: Personally, I found myself listening to the stream at least twice over during an hour and a half period - and this is coming from someone who still has loads of great music to review, not to mention all of the submissions by postal mail (artists and labels: please do not send me emails with audio attachments; they will be stripped by my email program, please send music you'd like me to review to Box #722, RE, CA 95044.
Since the release of their latest album Parade in September 2007, songs like "Rain Parade", "Ho Baby" and other well-produced indie pop songs have increased the band's popularity.

According to Vicious Vicious' official website, Applewick and the others are working on new material for yet another album to possibly be released in 2008. Let's hope so, because these guys are on a serious roll.



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