Bands with the same name

I'm not using my usual PC tonight and so had to get up the Google search engine to find Progarchives. Progarchives is clearly  at the top of the list while 3 down the list is 'Alaska: discography on progarchives'. Coincidently I spent the some time last weekend listening to Alaska on vinyl: Heart Of the Storm. Except this Alaska is a straight rock band lead by Bernie Marsden - I guess then (circa 1988) fresh out of Whitesnake. Then most (older) Brits here would know Tempest as the band Jon Hiseman lead between Colosseum and Colosseum II, with Allan Holdsworth in the line-up and who was superceded by the legendary Ollie Halsall - rather than the North American Tempest. Oasis, Soma, Skid Row, Horse are other names used more than once.

I  strongly suggest that when we are aware that a band's name has been used more than once, then a band's biography should include some form of warning, perhaps to prevent the purchasing of albums by the wrong band and the wrong type of music?

Easy Livin wrote:   Others which come to mind straight away are Refugee and Nirvana, but even Camel in their early days had Peter Framton's Camel to compete with.

Easy

Thanks for reminding me of other Camels and the English Nirvana . BTW will people get the hump and will I get thrown out, if I confess I much preferred Frampton's Camel to the better known one  - well any Frampton before Comes Alive? (The Herd, Humble Pie)

There were three bands with the name of Genesis:

1.- Genesis USA: Excellent Psyche/Proto Prog band from USA, disbanded few months after Genesis (The one we know) released FGTTR. Only album In the Begining, this band was the reason why Genesis couldn't use a band name in FGTTR. I had the chance to listen it when I worked in a radio station a few decades ago and they were really good.

2.- Genesis: The greatest prog band ever existed (OK Peter, IMHO ) and the worst piece of crap after Hackett left....well almost, there's an even worst Genesis.

3.- Genesis (Rap):

Crappy RAP band that is actually using the name Genesis giving our beloved band a worst name than Phil Collins ever did, notice how they use the same logo that Genesis used in their last albums.

Iván

Off the top o' my head:

FOUR bands named Saga (one being the Dutch band that now calls itself Eamon's Day), from Canada, Netherlands, Portugal ('70s), and one other country.

Before UK Asia was the American hard rock band with two LP's.

And besides the Arena we're all familiar with, there's another Euro AOR/hard rock act called Arena. I'm sure many bands have used the name Arena, though, but these are current.

The '60s psych group Ars Nova, and the current Japanese symphonic trio, Arsnova (one word). Many people confuse that one.

There are two 'Galahad's' on the prog scene (one Englsih one German I think) and even a 'Kid Galahad' who supported Marillion.

What is it with that name?

BTW, my new band is called CrimsonYesGalahad.

Agitation free

Courtesy of http://www.agitation-free.de

Around this period we had heard about a band from the north of Berlin who were playing under the same name, "Agitation". A fortuitous coincidence one night in Berlin's "Quasimodo" club provided a solution. It was pretty much a "test gig", so we were playing for free that evening. Underneath the name "Agitation", written in chalk on the Quasimodo's door, was scrawled word "FREE", meaning no cover charge. A splendid juxtaposition! - we decided then and there to change our name to "Agitation Free".

A quick summary of duplicated (nay, even triplicated) band names, supplied above and more have come to my mind since:

Alaska

Arena

Ars Nova (Arsnova)

Asia

Camel/Frampton's Camel

Clearlight

Delirium

Drifters: The US Drifters sued the English Drifters, who evolved into the Shadows.

England

Galahad

Genesis

Gipsy/Gypsy/(American) Gypsy

Horse: originally a band lead by a school friend Rod Roach, whilst an A'n'R man at RCA's London studios; Roach went on to form Saturnalia, who might be remembered for releasing the first LP which had a full 3-D effect pressed in - was it Curved Air's Air Conditioning LP which had the first 3-D central label?

If

Magenta

Narnia

Nirvana: Rainbow Chaser Nirvana successfully got a court order on Kurt Cobain and Co's  Grunge Nirvana, which ruled for UK/European releases they should called The American Nirvana - but I've never seen such changes.

Oasis: Yorkshire songwriter Peter Skellen (and with Mary Hopkins??) had the name first in the Uk, recording jokey love songs. 

PFM

Refugee

Saga

Skid Row (originally an Irish band with a young Gary Moore playing lead - Love Story Parts 1 to 4 on 34 Hours, is great keyboard-free piece of early prog)

Software (Soft Works, i.e. Holdsworth Hopper, Dean & Marshall, were initially called Software too)

Soma - Soma's leader Mark Laurent (aka Gleed) tells it that there were two band who came after with the same name, although Gleed had the name copyrighted. The original Soma never sold enough albums to afford a lawyer.

Steps (originally a US rock band who successfully prevented Michael Brecker & Co taking that name, who insteadevolved into Steps Ahead - but did nothing to stop the dire Irish weenie pop band stealing it).

Tempest

Zarathustra

And individuals who have confused the unwary:

Bill Evans - both played  and came to famed in separate Miles Davis bands.

David Gilmour/ David Gilmore - both good guitarists

And finally, how many folks have bought Todd Rungren's Wizard, thinking it was an album by Roy Wood's Wizzard and the photo on the cover was Wood without the hair and make-up!!! It happened once in record shop I worked - and the purchaser never came back!

Must be many more.

Reed Lover wrote: There's a band out there called "Marillion" but what it has got in common with the 80's Marillion I fondly remember one can merely speculate!

Not popping along to the Butllins Marillion Weekend in 2005 then Reed?