Within The Blood - The Band Name Debate
The subject of what to call our band has been a matter of intense, not to say ‘bloody’
debate, both inside and outside the ensemble of musicians.
First and foremost, please
don’t misconstrue the “blood” connotation in our band name - we are not an axe wielding
heavy metal band in the same (sliced) vein as Megadeth or the like! (though we can
do a very bloodthirsty rendition of “Purple Haze” as a special request).
Back in
’93 we struggled to think of a good name for the band and were often simply known
as the “Upton Boys”, much to the annoyance of rhythm guitarist Terry Schofield.
For one gig we were billed as “Rucking Fubbish”, a name picked from answers to a
tie-break question in a quiz run by our first (and only!) manager, Jim Thompson,
in the (famous?) New Inn venue (see gig list). Not only was this an abysmal excuse
for a band name, but it was also a bit too close to the truth.
In a bid to shake
off the all too obvious connotations we changed the name to “Kalimotxo”. This being
a strongly alcoholic Basque concoction of coke and red plonk, we thought it vaguely
appropriate. However, this name was quickly dropped when someone commented on the
worrying similarities with the title of a dodgy eighties pop band, especially as
our drummer was beginning to look like a cross between Limahl and George Michael
at the time.
The band name “It’s In The Blood”, found its way into the picture through
a parental source voicing strong concerns regarding the quantity of alcohol the
drummer, Ben, was consuming at the time. Proud of his (admittedly local) status
as a dipsomaniac, and recognising this opportunity to spread his fame, Ben seized
on this personal criticism as an intriguing statement with a range of possible different
interpretations:
• The obvious one: alcohol flowing at regular intervals through
the musicians’ veins!
• The lead vocalist, drummer and bassist were three brothers
(think the Three Amigos…)
• An Upton family history of musical skills and interests
(Upton senior played guitar on Nigerian radio, an uncle records English folk songs)
After a couple of years the “It’s" was dropped from the name, being considered unnecessary.
Early in 1998 the lead guitarist, stephen, finally discovered JAZZ – Coool! With brother
Tim, they were invited to form the drum-less rhythm section for the horns of Dr
Rupert (Front) Loader, Jon (Buffet Fight Club) Perry, a capable Madagascan flautist
and a dynamic Japanese saxophonist by the name of Tanaka (“Your solo – velly boring”).
This fledgling jazz quintet was initially called “Jazzeology”, a rather grand but
quite meaningless name for a loose get-together of inexperienced be-boppers. Later,
when the Madagascan left to help run his government, and the Japanese student left
to play some real jazz, everyone except the guitarist voted for a new name - “By
The Way” (stephen’s opening gambit to the female element of our student audiences
at the time was “By the way, we’re all single…”).
Later still, Ben joined the jazz
ensemble and the horns started playing parts for “In The Blood’s soul- based covers.
Some enforced changes in the horn section occurred when Jon Perry left to study
at sheep-infested ‘Aber’, and his place was taken by gangly Dutch saxophonist, Jurgen
van de (beer-mat) Lagemaat. This keen Reading University fungal student recruited
a replacement trumpeter from outside Heelas on a Saturday afternoon – the infamous
Brummie, Colin (Busker) Berry, who was playing a tear-jerking rendition of the ‘Coronation
Street’ theme at the time.
At this point, we existed as two different incarnations
(with and without horns), so the band billing was proving confusing to audiences.
To make the distinction clear (in a subtle kind of way), when the horns played with
the band, we were called “WithIn The Blood”, and when the original 4 piece performed
alone, we were “In The Blood”.
To this day there are still objections to the current
band name, Terry the guitarist (and uncivil engineer) voicing most of these most
frequently and in the loudest way. However, until anyone comes up with a better
name, we remain Within the Blood.
If you have any thoughts about the band
name, we’d be interested to hear from you.