How these big Canadian bands got their names

Billy Talent - Another band who had to change its name for legal reasons is Billy Talent. They were previously known as Pezz, but they found out that an American band already had that name so they changed it to Billy Talent—a name derived from the book 'Hard Core Logo' by Canadian author Michael Turner.

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The Tragically Hip - This iconic Canadian band got the inspiration for their name from a Michael Nesmith project, comprised of comedy skits and music videos, called 'Elephant Parts.'

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Faber Drive - Faber Drive is named after an incident in a car. Lead singer Dave Faber was playing guitar behind the wheel when all of a sudden the light turned green. One of his band mates yelled "Faber, drive!" and the name stuck.

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Three Days Grace - This rock band's name refers to a sense of urgency.

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Walk Off the Earth - Gianni “Luminati” Nicassio said in an interview with Sheknows.com that their name comes from wanting to help fans forget their troubles, meditate by listening to music, and simply want to walk off the Earth!

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Simple Plan - The famous Canadian pop-punk rockers got their name from the 1998 film 'A Simple Plan.'

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City and Colour - Dallas Green chose his alias because he felt a little uneasy about putting out music with his own name. So he came up with the moniker City and Colour which is what his actual name is a—a city and a colour!

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Arcade Fire - Arcade Fire's name came from a childhood story about an arcade burning down and killing a bunch of kids. How sweet...

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Tokyo Police Club - According to Buzzfeed, the group picked their band name from a computer program that was made to help figure out what the most popular band name was. Smart!

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The Sadies - This band name came from a hillbilly comic strip by Al Capp.

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Bachman–Turner Overdrive - This Canadian band name comes from the band members' last names (hyphenated) and the word "overdrive," which was inspired by the name of a trucker's magazine!

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Nickelback - The band was originally called 'The Village Idiot' before Nickelback. The name came from band member Mike Kroeger always telling customers "here's your nickel back" while at his Starbucks gig.

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Arkells - This band is named after the street in Hamilton, Ontario where they used to practice!

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A Tribe Called Red - According to American Indian, many people believe that their band name pays homage to another group, A Tribe Called Quest. In fact, their name derived from powwows in which drum groups would call themselves by the names of their nations.

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Metric - This band was originally called Mainstream. They even released an EP under that name. Afterwards, they changed their name to Metric, which came from a sound on a keyboard.

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Marianas Trench - The members of this Canadian punk band aren't actually fans of the name they chose for themselves! According to Gigcity.ca, the group came up with it after throwing different names around until they decided Marianas Trench was the best.

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b4-4 - Well, there were three of them so the band decided to call themselves b4-4 (as in before four is the number three).

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Barenaked Ladies - This name was actually proposed as a joke between future band mates Ed Robertson and Steven Page. But one day Robertson actually put forth that name when entering a battle of the bands concert!

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Swollen Members - Moka Only suggested this as a joke after a night of drinking and partying.

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Rush - The iconic band's name was thought up by drummer John Rutsey's brother, Bill, after he told them they needed a better name. They were previously named The Projection.

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Zeds Dead - The electronic duo adopted the name Zeds Dead from a line in 'Pulp Fiction.'

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The Guess Who - The Canadian rock band had a couple of different names before settling on The Guess Who, including The Reflections and Chad Allan & the Expressions. They had to adopt their most recent name after DJs kept introducing the band as The Guess Who, because, in an attempt to be mysterious, that his how they labelled their music when they sent it to stations!

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April Wine - No extravagant story behind this band name. It was chosen "simply because they were two words that sounded good together," according to the band's site.

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Our Lady Peace - This Canadian band also went by a different name. Before they were Our Lady Peace, they were called As If. Eventually they renamed themselves after a Mark Van Doren poem.

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Alexisonfire - Did you know this Canadian band was named after American porn star Alexis Fire?

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Bedouin Soundclash - This band from Toronto get its name from a 1996 record from the artist Badawi.

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