2. LADIES AND GENTLEMEN, ELVIS WAS A TRUCK DRIVER

The name of the band quickly emerged as a cliché evoking the total lack of commercial potential in the music. The principle of equal representation, and the loose guidelines designed to encourage performance freedom, tended to work against all the commercial precepts -- identification of a market, and the conscious creation of a product for that market's consumption. At no time did any band member have any illusion that this kind of music would interest anyone on a commercial level. Knowing this gave us freedom and provided the material for many good jokes based in fantasy.


The name of the band also created wonderful misconceptions of what kind of band we were and what kind of music we played. The logical assumption of non-band members was that we either re-created the music of Elvis Presley, or at the very least we played rock and roll music. Several band members delighted in this false assumption.

Another aspect of the band's name was that it was logically shortened to just Elvis when speaking to one another. Pretty soon the activity of getting together for a session became known as Elvising. We would therefore often use the word as a verb, for example, "Let's Elvis tonight".