It took us a while to arrive at what to name our band. Many of the other tasks in starting to perform music have been more or less straightforward: compile a list of songs that we want to play, acquire the necessary equipment, create a list of potential venues, and of course, practice. Choosing a name, however, was a bit more uncertain. It’s intimidating enough to start out on this kind of endeavor, never mind assigning a name to it with the certainty that it represents you well and always will, before you’ve even really begun.

After playing around with words, we decided on the name Junkyard Heartstrings, which we feel works for us on a number of levels. At the most basic, the name consists of two compound words with a rhythmic, regular beat. The first three components, “Junkyard Hearts,” is a reference to an EP set by Joseph Arthur, one of our favorite artists. While we might not sound exactly like those tracks, they have the kind of diversity, atmosphere, and passion we are hoping for in our music. The fourth word, “strings,” refers to the guitar.

We found ourselves drawn to the imagery that came to mind in this name, which also fits the words themselves. “Junkyard” sounds somewhat hard, with visions of metal, gears, and rust. “Heartstrings” is the romantic side, conveying softness, music, textiles, and pastels. The sounds that we create in the duo seem to correspond to these two contrasting things… and, coincidentally, also align with our initials.

Perhaps most importantly, we loved the idea of a junkyard as a place of re-purposing found objects. Unlike dumps or transfer stations, a junkyard holds items which are then broken into parts to be salvaged or recycled. This works well for a cover band, as we are taking the songs and influences of artists we love and reclaiming them.

This idea of restoration applies to songs in our repertoire. There are a lot of popular songs audiences love to hear and we intend to play those “hits,” but one of our objectives is incorporating lesser known artists and songs that we believe to be great tracks that don’t get to as many ears as they should. This desire to share these special songs is probably part of the teachers in us.