Way back when 50 Foot Wave were first formed in 2003, there was of course no tsunami. They were named after the lowest F that can be heard by humans (hence their publishing company Lowest F Music).

Sometime last year, and I forget when, 50 Foot Wave came out with some T-shirts, showing a little guy surfing on some waves, with a big one out in the distance. An ideal metaphor for the kind of music they produce.

When the tsunami hit, such was my association of the name of the band with the band itself that I didn’t even consider that the band name may then be considered sick or mistimed. Especially when the band was formed over a year earlier. It may however prove unlucky to the band as their debut album comes out next week. Indeed I quite happily wore my T-shirt obliviously until someone on the forums pointed out the ‘topical’ nature of the name.

50 Foot Wave’s Kristin Hersh was suitably concerned and “cringes at the thought of someone misreading the meaning or getting the chronology wrong”. However, they’re not going to change their name, but they are going to get new T-shirts done.