New Website or What's In a Name

Posted January 25, 2011

So, we're relaunching our website and label with a new name - "Resonant Effects". And with our latest venture I've been thinking back on all we've been through with names.

Those of you who've followed us from the beginning may remember that we started out with the band name "Arcana" and website "Arcana Archive". There, we promoted our first CD "Apparitions" and as a result, Cold Spring discovered us and wanted to release it to a wider audience in Europe. As we discussed details with the label, we were surprised to find another band with the name "Arcana" working in a similar genre. This struck us as especially unfortunate since we preceded their first release by more than a year.

We discussed options for weeks: 1. We could keep the same name - it's not uncommon for two bands to share the same name when one's from the U.S. and the other's from Europe. 2. We could add some notation to the name like "Arcana U.S." or "Arcana N.A." to differentiate us from them. 3. We could try to force a name change since we could prove that we were published first but that seemed like a difficult road to travel. 4. We could change our name.

With great sadness we decided to let go of "Arcana" and find a new name. We chose "Remanence" and "Apparitions" was re-released in 2000 with new artwork. We embraced the new name and actually grew to like it more - though the one downside was that it was difficult to spell. Though, in the internet age, this isn't as much of a problem as it once was. It seemed likely that fans could search for Remanence with the wrong spelling and still find us.

We thought our problems were over with band names but that was not the case. Some years later, a college band calling themselves "Remanence" were touring and preparing to release a new album. This time we asked that they change their name and they eventually did. Later, we found more musicians on MySpace using the name - most seemed like hobbyists with no serious agenda. Lesson to the uninitiated - do a thorough search of the name you want to use before you get attached - it's better for you in the long run and shows some respect to those who've worked hard to build a following for themselves.

On to the label name... When we started out, your email address was your calling card and the internet was just starting to take off. The more you could make your email address stand out, the better. Underscores were popular, so was the letter "x"... and dropping letters from common words looked interesting too. With our first album setting a parnormal, emotional tone, we thought that "Empath Records" was an interesting label name. Better yet, drop the "e" and you had what seemed to be a clever address for the time - "mPathRecords".

Things change and so do tastes... and we grew in new musical directions. As we refined our focus, reworked our website and designed new marketing material, we wanted to develop more cohesion around our label name. But, we were saddled with a name that we felt we outgrew. In 2008 we started gathering ideas for a new label and came up with about 70 possibilities, five of which were serious contenders. The top pick became obvious as we designed the new site. Though it's not that much easier to spell, "Resonant Effects" seems to cover a broader spectrum of ideas. It works with our earlier paranormal goth leanings and seems to mesh with our more recent organic explorations. Put the name on almost any of the photos on this site, and it just seems to work.

So, when the Mpath Records website went down, we decided not to revive it. It was time for it to die and for something new to take its place. With "Resonant Effects", we hope to go further than we have in the past. We plan on putting more emphasis on visuals (since this an area we've both grown into over the years that compliments the music), releasing new and old material with bonus tracks, selling downloads, posting archived demos, and hopefully blogging on occasion too.

We hope you enjoy the new site.

Brian McWilliams

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