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I've always said that one of the hardest things about being in a band
is deciding on a name that everyone likes. Usually, it comes down to what
everyone in the band can live with. I can personally attest to the fact
that I've had my fare share of :
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"What's
your band's name?"
"Ahem... Palaxy Tracks."
"What?"
"PAALLAAXXYY TRRAACCKKSSS."
"Palaxy? What does that mean? That's a weird name."
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The Pronunciation of
Palaxy
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Over the years that we have been in this band, we've been asked countless
times where the name came from. It's gotten to the point that, when asked
what the band's name is, more often than not, I spit it out quickly and
under my breath and then change the subject. It shouldn't be this way.
I should be proud of our name, I guess. "Well... what does
it mean?" I'm sure you're asking by now. Hold on... we're getting
there.
So, our name used to be The Seven Hundred Club, but that was back
when we were recording noisy versions of old country tunes in our bedrooms.
With the new original material the name just seemed wrong.
So, we each started to compile a list of many, many, many different ideas
we'd had over the course of a week or so. At the end of that week, we
all got together and mulled over the different monikers that we either
came up with ourselves or were suggested by friends. Among them were some
real gems. But, while some of these names were decent enough, they just
weren't us. So, it was back to the drawing board. The search for
a band name we could all agree on was turning out to be much more difficult
than we ever imagined.
Then, the next day, I was in an Austin bookstore called Half
Price Books hanging out in the "Occult and Unexplained" section.
I came across a story entitled "The Paluxy Tracks" about some
distinctly human-esque footprints in the bed of the Paluxy river near Glen
Rose, Texas, that dated back to the same period as some dinosaur tracks
found only a few feet away. Here is a summary of the story taken from TalkOrigins.com:
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"For many
years claims were made by strict creationists that human footprints
or "giant man tracks" occur alongside dinosaur tracks in
the limestone beds of the Paluxy River, near Glen Rose Texas. If true,
such a finding would dramatically contradict the conventional geologic
timetable, which holds that humans did not appear on earth until over
60 million years after the dinosaurs became extinct. However, the
"man track" claims have not stood up to close scientific
scrutiny, and have been abandoned even by most creationists. The supposed
human tracks have involved a variety of phenomena, including forms
of elongate (metatarsal) dinosaur tracks, erosional features, indistinct
markings of uncertain origin, and some doctored and carved specimens
(most of the latter on loose blocks of rock)."
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I thought that this was a really interesting story and an even more interesting
name. There was something really intriguing about it, so I suggested it
to everyone else. To my surprise the name was received pretty well. No ugly
faces. No violent shaking of the head. No changing of the subject so as
to not hurt my feeling by saying, "That's a terrible name." A
couple of hesitations and/or long, "hmmmmm"'s, but eventually
a, "That's not too bad." And that had to do. I decided to change
the "paluxy" to "palaxy" so that when people did a search
for our name online only articles pertaining to our band would come up.
So, that's it. That's the whole story. If you are interested in reading up more
on the subject, you can go here.
Also, this
site has some actual photos of the tracks. We've never actually been there,
but I hear it's pretty amazing. Maybe we'll take a trip someday. Well, probably
not. |
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LATEST
REVIEWS
BigYawn.net
“This album is storytelling at its absolute finest.”
Prefix Mag
“Palaxy Tracks’ third full-length sees the band discovering the gas pedal while keeping everything bathed in the sepia tones of faded photographs.”
Resonance
“Expansive songwriting yields a richness of sound and feeling that culminates in the gorgeous eight-minute title track.”
Faces
“One wants to be eternally surrender to the attacks of pieces such as the meticously balanced “Grey Snake”…”
The Crutch
“Everything about this album is gorgeous and yet wrenching. The tracks are evocative of the feeling that occurs upon seeing an ex for the first time, post-breakup…”
Harp Magazine
“Although constructed in relatively basic fashion—only occasionally do instruments like a pump organ or a violin show up to augment the guitar-bass-drums setup—the sound this Chicago quartet generates is anything but simplistic.”
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THE
NAME - EXPLAINED
Ever wonder where we got the name Palaxy Tracks?
Well now you don't have to wonder anymore. Go
here for the full, completely uninteresting
story. It involves dinosaurs, the occult, and creationist theories.
Mmmm... juicy. |
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