Fake Bands that don't exist (but totally should) - HITRECORD
Fake Bands that don't exist (but totally should)
MattConley
Apr 30, 2024
Maybe you've playfully kicked around a few fictional ideas just for fun, imagining yourself playing in a band that's put out a few albums. Perhaps you've gone as far as to envision what those album covers might look like (from the artwork all the way down to the track-listing.)
This was precisely the premise for DeadKiriyama's "Fake Bands" project. It kicked off in 2017 and immediately became one of the most popular collaborations on the entire site. Utilizing this simple template, writers in the community contributed tons of ideas for fake bands (including their bios and backstories.)
Then graphic designers started combing through the written words and put their visual remix spin on what the album art might look like for these fictional musicians. As a slew of various cover art came through, the concepts were so convincing you'd have sworn these were actual albums sold on store shelves:
Dec 20, 2017
Say Cheese by The Pundits quite_convincing
Jan 06, 2018
Aug 21, 2019
Jan 17, 2018
Fake Album Cover - Cheer Up Mrs_Hibou
Jan 05, 2018
Volcano Foxes Fake Band Cover DeadKiriyama
May 23, 2018
The "Fake Bands" project was a personal favorite of the HITRECORD staff. We loved it so much that we had a handful of album covers professionally printed and mounted on the wall in our office bathroom:
HITRECORD Fake Bands Bathroom Joe
Apr 28, 2018
What will always stand out to me the most about this project was just how far along some of the fake band concepts came.
Perhaps one of the coolest remix examples was when the fictional musical group Viva La Breakfast! was "formed" in this bio written by Musepunk...
Viva La Breakfast! : Band Bio Musepunk
Dec 23, 2017
VITAL INFO
- Band Name: Viva La Breakfast!
- Band Members: (with names, short description of each + and who plays what instrument): Marmalade Jones (Lead vocals, slide and acoustic guitar) - old blues man, known around the local community for being full of soul and a foodie; Robin Overeasy (Violin) - Classically trained musician who just couldn't stand the uptightness of classic musicianship, busked around wherever she could for years until landing in the lively musical community of Louisiana; Sizzle (back-up soprano vocals, vocal percussion) - dainty female with a foul mouth and a love of cheap cigarettes; Greasetrap (back-up bass vocals, vocal percussion) - large and lovable man with an acumen for cocktail mixing and pairing with any food.
- City/Country of Origin: Baton Rouge, Louisiana, United States
- Dates Active: 2010-Present
- How did the band form: They were regulars at a Waffle House at 3 a.m., all started to jam at the counter with each other night after night
- Musical Style / Influences: Lyrical funky blues, hip hop, upbeat satirization of pop culture through a love of breakfast, heavily percussive jam band
- First Album: Blackberry Jam Vol. I (each album is named after a flavor of jam, more on that below)
- First Single: "Butter Side Down"
- Political Attitudes: Ambivalent; Show the ridiculousness through music, share the love through breakfast.
- High point of career: Picked up to perform for a national Waffle House commercial
- Low point of career: None so far, keeping it steady and not too serious
OPTIONAL INFO
- Additional Albums and / or Singles: Each consecutive album will be named after a flavor of jam, denoted for them being a jam band: Blackberry Jam Vol. I, Cherry Jam Vol. II, Peach Jam Vol. III have come out so far. Singles - "Scrambled World", "Naked with an Apron", "A Free Range Good Time", "Groovy Gravy Baby"
- How was the music received? By critics? By fans? In the charts? Success (or maybe an underground cult following) overseas? Maintains a cult following from its inception; commonly used for political satire and simple grooving
- Were the members in any previous bands? Did they go on to form other bands? How did those projects compare? Marmalade Jones is an old Cajun blues player who busked most of his life, playing with random bands throughout that time, nothing that stuck. A local legend.
MISCELLANEOUS INFO
- What else should we know about the band?
- What stories and anecdotes do the groupies/roadies have about them?
...and then their album cover was designed by deanohboy...
Viva La Breakfast! - Blueberry Jam Vol. 1 - Single Cover - Butter Side deanohboy
...and that album resulted in a song performed by njlang:
Viva La Breakfast! - Butter Side Down njlang
Oct 18, 2018
More and more fake bands can continue to get remixed like this into entire collections of music paired with graphic design and writing. There's a way for every single type of artist to contribute to this project, and there's already so many terrific ideas to build off of. I could see this project resulting in various full-length musical albums, or even a coffee table book of album artwork.
It's one of those collaborations that could just go on forever and ever... and I really hope it does.