Ever wonder where some bands come up with their band names? Well, we do, and we’re sick of sitting around scratching our heads about it. We’re hitting the streets (aka. “Internet”) to find the origins behind some of the more bizarre, intriguing or just plain random band names in the scene. Every Wednesday we’ll be pulling the curtain back on a different band and this week it’s New Jersey’s melodic punk mainstays Bigwig.
If you’ve listened to the band’s 1997 Fearless Records release, Un-Merry Melodies, you may remember that there is a sound clip mentioning a character called “Bigwig” preceding the track Best Of Me. It turns out that the clip is from the 1978 movie, Watership Down, which was based on the novel written by Richard Adams. The book is somewhat of a social commentary that touches on several themes such as leadership, government, nature, trickery and humanity and in it the character Bigwig is a strong, intelligent and fearless rabbit leader. The cartoon was a childhood favorite of the band’s singer Tom Petta. It introduced him to politics at a young age and left so much of an impression that he decided to name his band after the character.
Give the song, Best Of Me, a listen to hear the aforementioned clip from Watership Down.
Check out last week’s Band Name Origin story: Lagwagon
[Audio:Bigwig-Best-of-me.mp3|titles=Best Of Me|artists=Bigwig]