While many bands choose their name based on some revolutionary, mind expanding, life changing experience or to pledge some kind of off-kilter political allegiance and sticking it to the man, The Bayonets’ lead singer Brian Ray explains how the bands name was hit upon, saying: “It’s simply a great word!”
The bands debut single Sucker For Love brought them great success, receiving a nationwide release, heavy promotion on Steven Van Zandt’s Underground Garage radio show on SiriusXM, and climbing into the Classic Rock radio charts top 10. Their second single Smartphone has been following it’s predecessors steps and is emulating it’s massive success, and third single Vagabond Soul feat. Steven Tyler has just been released.
But while many people have fallen under The Bayonets’ spell, it is a good bet that not many have considered the bands steely sharp and infectiously to the point name.
Speaking to joshgill.wordpress.com, Brian explained the process of hitting upon The Bayonets’ name:
“I was discussing the band name with a friend and after exhausting every joke name in the universe we decided that the name needed to have the feel of something old, archaic and very real that would remind us of a time when people built things with steel and iron with their bare hands. Like when, for instance, if you wanted to start a war you had to be willing to fight that war face to face.
“Anyway, as we were brainstorming I saw the President mention the phrase ‘horses and bayonets’ and thought that was a great name! But Oliver and I decided it was too long and besides, there are already too many bands with ‘horses’ in the title so I lobbied hard for ‘The Bayonets’.
“We essentially agreed to go with it as we had long been at the end of our ‘joke name’ phase. I actually think we should release our joke names so you can be aware of how sick it got!
“Oliver and I both love the name, as do our friends and as do the fans. It’s archaic and a bit phallic/rock/classic too!”
So there you have it, the full story behind how the band’s name came to be! But if you think Brian’s band is the only band with the Bayonets’ name, you would be wrong:
“No, we’re not the only Bayonets: I found there were a few bands using the name and went about getting the rights copyrighted and the Bayonets URL. But the Croatian Bayonets will continue to rock on…as will Oliver, Lucrecia and I!”
Vagabond Soul is available as a MP3 download to buy from www.thebayonets.com and www.brianray.com. It can also be found on iTunes, Spotify and anywhere else where digital music downloads are sold. And to top it all off you can also get The Bayonets’ smash hit singles Sucker For Love and Smartphone from these places too!
You can also head over to the bands Wikipedia page and find out more about it’s members and their music. Happy listening, Bayonutters!
Josh Gill 