Sonic Bloom must turn over new leaf with name change

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 11/03/2004 (8121 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

SONIC Bloom is scrambling to come up with a new name, thanks to a trademark dispute with a gardening-products company.

The Winnipeg rock band is only six weeks away from releasing Living in the Shadow of the Bat, the quintet’s high-profile debut for 604 Records, the label run by Nickelback leader Chad Kroeger and distributed around the world by Roadrunner and Universal Music.

But plans to send advance copies of first single Neopolitan to radio stations are on hold while the band finds an alternative to its nine-year-old moniker.

The U.S. rights to “Sonic Bloom” are held by a Minneapolis-area company that produces organic nutrients and — most crucially — classical music CDs designed to help plants grow.

“This has affected our radio date. I’m hoping it doesn’t affect the release date,” says Allen Moy, the Winnipeg group’s manager.

Even if it were possible to win a legal battle with the American gardening outfit, “getting into it would probably be a costly proposition,” says Moy over the phone from Vancouver.

Apparently, other acts named Sonic Bloom have butted heads with the Blaine, Minn.-based Sonic Bloom and its owner, a U.S. soldier-turned-plant physiologist named Dan Carlson.

“I’ve had the name for 35 years. I get 300 hits a day on my website,” says Carlson, speaking over the phone from River Falls, Wisc.

“I have 35 patents and I’ve been nominated for the Nobel Prize four years in a row. Don’t people do their research?”

The name change, however, is no disaster for the Winnipeg band formerly known as Sonic Bloom, who signed to 604 in 2002 after enjoying regional radio success with the song Neopolitan.

Many rock bands forced to undergo name changes go on to enjoy successful careers.

Disputes with North American bands led British acts The Beat, The Charlatans and Bush to become The English Beat, Charlatans UK and Bush-X on this side of the Atlantic Ocean.

Pioneering alternative rock band Dinosaur added “Jr.” to its name after a challenge from The Dinosaurs, a hippie band composed of Woodstock-era musicians.

Stone Temple Pilots were forced to give up the awful name Mighty Joe Young, while Vancouver’s Default — another 604 Records band — used to be known as The Fallout, which became the name of its debut record.

“We’re taking this in stride,” says Steven Kray, drummer for what used to be Sonic Bloom. “It’s a fresh beginning for the band and we’re looking forward to it.”

His band may have a new name by the end of the week. It’ll be announced once lawyers make sure there are no conflicts in any of the places the band is slated to release Living in the Shadow of the Bat.

The disc is due out in Canada, the U.K, Germany, France, Denmark and the Benelux nations on April 27 and later in the U.S. and Australia.

bartley.kives@freepress.mb.ca