So, my ex-bandmates and I are currently involved in a heated debate, and I'd like to get some perspective to make sure I'm not the crazy one here. I'm sorry this is so long.
We were an amateur, 5-piece garage band with one single and a modest fb following. In September, after months of tension and arguments about the direction of the band, our rhythm guitarist quit and took the singer with him to start a new band more to their liking. By that point, morale and relationships were so low that the remaining 3 members decided to call it a day as well not long after.
The guitarist and singer who quit now have a new band, they're playing some of our old songs (which is fine, as the ones they took were mostly written by the guitarist), as well as writing new ones. But now, the guitarist has decided he wants the new band to have our old band's name and basically continue as the same band (the singer acts neutral, but she clearly wants it too). He doesn't feel like he should ask anyone's permission either and is unwilling to even meet up to talk about it.
Me and the drummer think this is preposterous, given that the two of them LEFT the original band and should therefore have no right to the name. The other guitarist doesn't care either way. We would be willing to let them have the name if they asked for it as a favor, but the fact they feel entitled to it is infuriating and makes no sense to me.
Another reason this is so irritating is because the reason everything fell apart in the first place was because of the rhythm guitarist trying to force his vision of the band on everyone else incessantly, which caused a lot of bad blood when others wouldn't go along with it. Even though we were explicitly all equal members and a democracy from the start, somewhere along the way the guitarist started thinking of himself as the band leader (without anyone else's consent) and as the only one "trying to make things happen". The whole name thing symbolizes his belief that he, himself, IS the band perfectly, which makes it that much more annoying.
What do you guys think about all of this? I know we can't actually stop him from using the name if he wants it, but I feel like we are right on principle for not wanting him to have it.
TL;DR - guitarist and singer leave band, the band breaks up soon after, now the two of them want to use our old band's name for their new band.
We were an amateur, 5-piece garage band with one single and a modest fb following. In September, after months of tension and arguments about the direction of the band, our rhythm guitarist quit and took the singer with him to start a new band more to their liking. By that point, morale and relationships were so low that the remaining 3 members decided to call it a day as well not long after.
The guitarist and singer who quit now have a new band, they're playing some of our old songs (which is fine, as the ones they took were mostly written by the guitarist), as well as writing new ones. But now, the guitarist has decided he wants the new band to have our old band's name and basically continue as the same band (the singer acts neutral, but she clearly wants it too). He doesn't feel like he should ask anyone's permission either and is unwilling to even meet up to talk about it.
Me and the drummer think this is preposterous, given that the two of them LEFT the original band and should therefore have no right to the name. The other guitarist doesn't care either way. We would be willing to let them have the name if they asked for it as a favor, but the fact they feel entitled to it is infuriating and makes no sense to me.
Another reason this is so irritating is because the reason everything fell apart in the first place was because of the rhythm guitarist trying to force his vision of the band on everyone else incessantly, which caused a lot of bad blood when others wouldn't go along with it. Even though we were explicitly all equal members and a democracy from the start, somewhere along the way the guitarist started thinking of himself as the band leader (without anyone else's consent) and as the only one "trying to make things happen". The whole name thing symbolizes his belief that he, himself, IS the band perfectly, which makes it that much more annoying.
What do you guys think about all of this? I know we can't actually stop him from using the name if he wants it, but I feel like we are right on principle for not wanting him to have it.
TL;DR - guitarist and singer leave band, the band breaks up soon after, now the two of them want to use our old band's name for their new band.
