Viet Cong have finally announced their new name

by Jeremy Mersereau

April 21, 2016

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The controversy-stricken Calgary band are now known as Preoccupations.

The Calgary post-punk unit formerly known as Viet Cong have announced their new band name, after their old one was condemned as appropriative, insensitive, and racist.

Just in case you forgot: A sustained backlash against their previous moniker greeted the four-piece last year, and eventually reached a crescendo after the band was lauded for their self-titled debut album and shortlisted for the 2015 Polaris Prize.

Turns out, giving your band a name loaded with a history of violence and suffering, especially to a community you’re not even part of, isn’t the best idea and is no longer acceptable. And before you start about precedents: No, Bernard Sumner of Joy Division wouldn’t do it again.

In response to the wave of criticism, the band announced in September of last year that they would be changing their name, saying that they “are not here to cause pain or remind people of atrocities of the past.” And now, they’re finally ready to unveil what 7 months in the band-naming lab hath wrought: from now on, the group will go by Preoccupations.

The band released a statement about the transformation, and announced that they’d be premiering new material on an upcoming tour, with a new album on its way this year:

“We will be previewing new material from a forthcoming record in a series of festivals and shows in North America and Europe in the coming months. We apologize to those who were adversely affected by our former band name. This was never anticipated nor our intent. We are artists and not politicians, we understand that the name reflected pain to some individuals and we are happy to change it and move on and focus on our music.”

Not everyone is happy with the new name, despite its innocuousness, nor do they think the name change is entirely in good faith:

In an interview with Pitchfork, frontman Matt Flegel explained that the new name was suggested to them by fellow musician and producer Chad VanGaalen, who came up with Preoccupations “amidst a sea of jokey suggestions.” The delay has been frustratingly long as they continued to book tours as Viet Cong, but Flegel clarified that the band’s intention all along was to wait until their new album was completed to start again with a “clean slate.” Let’s hope that all of this discussion, outrage, and apologies have been worth it to bring important issues into focus.

“We were pretty naive, and pretty ignorant on the subject,” said Flegel. “We know a lot more now. If we knew what we know now then we would definitely not call the band that. I personally didn’t put any thought into it. We needed a new band name then. We were just starting off, and we were booking shows. It really just started out at a band practice, and we just went with it with no ill intention.”

“We’ve learned a lot for sure,” he concludes. “It was never our intention to hurt anyone, and it puts you in your place a little bit. It’s embarrassing, but it’s nice that we can continue on and change things and change mistakes. In a way, it’s a nice way for us to come into making a new record—having a clean slate with a new band name.”

Tags: Music, News, preoccupations, Viet cong

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