An open letter from Henry regarding the name...

An open letter from Henry regarding the name change to TTNG

All of us at Sargent House love and support this statement and the reasons for why the band wanted to change their moniker 100%.

Statement made by Henry Tremain below

“Seems a few people are lacking our reasoning behind the name change and jumping to speculation. I’ve just popped our statement about the change up on the main page of our website

Hopefully this will give you a little more context behind the change.

I’d also like you to know that my personal want to move away from the full name is completely abstract from any current events or social pressures of political correctness. When the boys asked me if I would consider joining the band, the name made it very difficult for me. I eventually got perspective and realised that the opportunity to work with such amazing musicians was way more important than my dislike of a silly band name. It wasn’t until in the band that the gravity of the name became more obvious, and that it wasn’t just a silly band name. With stories of people being on the receiving end of abuse for wearing the band’s t-shirts, the importance of context on the name was clear - without the knowledge that it was the name of a band, the statement ‘this town needs guns’ is left to be taken literally. As we continue promoting the bands music, the name is going to find itself in more and more places without this qualifying context to excuse it.

I am an adamant pacifist and the idea of guns and indeed any form of violence turns my stomach. The idea of attaching myself to such a statement, that can so readily be taken out of context, and irony overlooked, has felt like a real compromise on my integrity.

Anyways, we are not violent people, we don’t make violent music, why should we have a violent name? I often wonder how many people have been put off listening to the band assuming that the music is really heavy.

So why not change to a completely new name all together? Because we’re still the same band. We still play old songs and want to continue doing so. Sure the band’s evolved since the last release, but TTNG has always been in a state of flux throughout the bands history. In fact, on the album 'Animals’, for which the band is most known, Stu was the only original member. So that’s it, we’re still the same band, we’re just moving forwards. Changing the name all together would sever the link between the old material and the new and remove it from being seen as the progression that it is as a whole body of work.

Having just read this back I realise that it might seem to some that the name change has been my idea, I assure you that this is not the case. It is a decision that we have come to together with the help, love and support of our amazing record label Sargent House.

I’m going to pop back here to see if anyone has any questions and I’ll do my best to answer them.”

High-fives and goodtimes,

Hank

Jan 23, 2013