• Me, rebranded.

Coming from the ad business, I'm disappointed in myself. I mean I wasted a lot of time and money fooling around with a faux band name, My Shirt Is Cool, that I think, for the most part, just confused people. And good marketing is rarely confusing, no matter what Crispin Porter Bogusky says.

So, from here on, I am now just plain old Jeff Shattuck, my real name. "Jeff" is pretty common, but "Shattuck" is kinda unusual, so I shouldn't do too bad in world of Google search. We'll see.

Further, it's my name, damnit, so when people hear a tune and find out who it's by, it won't be some weird band name, a band that doesn't even exist, for that matter!

Most important, my tunes are, um, not exactly similar to one another, so I don't even SOUND like a band. In fact, I need the license to explore, try new stuff, do hard rock, do ballads, do country, and bands don't have this freedom. Bands succeed these days largely because people know what to expect from them. And if I truly follow my muse, the only thing people should expect from me are good songs performed well.

Thinking about all this makes me sad for two reasons: 1) I really liked the name My Shirt Is Cool, and I am BUMMED that I will not be using it going forward on songs I have commercial hopes for; 2) I am reminded of the freedom bands used to have, freedom to really stretch and create. I mean, back in the 70s you awaited the new Led Zeppelin album precisely because you did NOT know what to expect. Same with the latter day Beatles work, and Bowie and Talking Heads. Nowadays, I can't hink of a single band that reinvents itself album after album. No, they find a formula and DRIVE IT INTO THE GROUND. Argh, it kills me.