FROM THE EDITOR'S FLOOR: Polar Bear Club
CHASING LAUGHTER
“We take our music seriously, but there is absolutely nothing else about being in a band we take seriously,” says drummer Emmett Menke. “We think we’re funny. No one else does.” After titling their debut full-length Sometimes Things Just Disappear-a phrase stolen from a kind-hearted Taco Bell manager who slipped the band some free goodies-the pressure to come up with an equally poignant sequel wasn’t easy. Here are some of the rejected titles for their sophomore full-length, Chasing Hamburg.
Stranger In The Alps
“It’s a reference to the edited version of The Big Lebowski, when they change [the dialogue line] ‘This is what happens when you fuck a stranger in the ass’ to ‘This is what happens when you find a stranger in the Alps.’ But it’s already a band-and an album.”
What Would Jesus Brew
“It’s from Wonder Showzen.”
Led Zeppelin V
“That’s still my favorite. I’m waiting until we write something good enough to use that title.”
Rap Soda Hey Hey
“It’s a fucking stupid inside joke. It’s not even worth explaining. I don’t even understand it.”
Don’t Chumpatize Yourself / Fuck Billy Mitchell
“We were trying to find a title from that movie The King Of Kong: A Fistful Of Quarters forever, but it just didn’t pan out.”
Summer Of George
“It’s a Seinfeld reference. George decides that he’s going to do all the things he’s ever wanted to do, like a read an entire book front to back, and instead he ends up in the hospital. But our lives are a real-life ‘Summer Of George.’ We liked it so much, it’s actually the title of the EP we put out before the record.” Sam Sutherland
