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Why They’re Called… Chiodos

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Welcome to the weekly SPIN.com feature “Name That Band!” inwhich we get the inside stories behind the mysterious monikers of some ofour favorite artists. (See past episodes of Name That Band! here.)

This week: Bassist Matt Goddard of Chiodos, whose Illuminaudio cracked the Billboard Top 40 album chart upon its release in October. The band launches a co-headlining tour with Emarosa on February 15th in Jacksonville, Florida.

Why Chiodos: “Yeah, like ten years ago in Davison, Michigan, I was watching Killer Klowns from Outer Space — it’s a great b-movie horror film produced by the Chiodo brothers,” says Goddard. “We had a talent show coming up that the band was going to play and we had to come up with a name. So I was watching the movie, looked at the back of the box, and saw the name Chiodo. I just added an S. We were all big fans– the Chiodos brothers also did Critters. We actually got to go to their studio at one point. The kid of one of them was a fan of ours. We ended up winning that talent show, too. We never got the prize. We were supposed to get studio time or something. That part sucked.”

Previously Rejected Names: “It was pretty last minute, we didn’t have a lot of time to mess around with the name. I think we may have used the Chiodos Brothers, but that was too close to the guys’ actual name. We just ended up streamlining it.”

Best Band Names Ever: “I have a hard time differentiating a band that I like from their name. I’m like, ‘Do I just think the name is good because I like the band or is the name good by itself?’ But Foxy Shazam is a good one. It represents what the band is about — it jumps out at you.”

Worst Band Names Ever: “That’s a good question. Jimmie’s Chicken Shack is probably the worst band name ever. That’s fucking awful. Gin Blossoms is pretty bad too.”