FeaturesInterviews

MUSIC FEATURE: Awooga – The Meaning Behind Our Name

These days it’s difficult to come up with a unique band name, but we’re not ashamed to admit that we had absolutely no idea where Awooga got theirs from, or what it even means. Fortunately for us the space rockers came to the rescue, providing us with ten reasons as to why they chose their band name – there’s a lot more to it than we anticipated!

1. The first known usage of Awooga is from Red Dwarf. The siren is broken so the batty Ship’s computer, Holly, shouts “AWOOGA! AWOOGA! Abandon ship!” We usually tell people our name comes from the onomatopoeic word for the noise of a siren or klaxon. But without Holly we’d probably not know it.

2. People maybe know it best from the 90’s TV programme ladiators’ where John Fashanu would shout it when he got a bit excited. He was excited a lot. All that lycra.

3. In Year 9 Tam genuinely had an American maths teacher called Abooga Wooga. Mr A. Wooga. Look it up, it’s a real name.

4. In the dark internet there are fake stories about the sexual exploits of ex-British Olympian Kriss Akabusi. Again, completely true. They always ended with the same phrase. We’ll let you do your own research into what that phrase was.

5. Since we started as Awooga in 2009 Scottish Playboy sex giant Calvin Harris has released a song called Awooga. This has totally knackered us in every search engine going. If we get big we’re going to write a song called Calvin Harris to get the twat back. OR SIMPLY: “we are fans of Calvin Harris”.

6. The noise James’ grandmother made when she broke her toe, it was hilarious!

7. It’s Russian for “access ramp”.

8. It’s a type of haircut that Taz had in our first rehearsal. It looks like a cross between a hedgehog and Pat Sharp.

9. We’re named after a shop in Barnsley that only sells used crayons.

10. In ancient Mesopotamia, King Ahmose II vowed to avenge his Father’s fall from power and the loss of his Kingdom. He starved for 30 days in the desert of Tanami, just beyond the precipice of the Trango Towers. As he started to hallucinate he had a vision of his Kingdom returning, his serfs bowing before him as he returned to his homeland, a triumphant hero. Despite great odds and staggering adversity he rallied a small yet loyal band of highly skilled warriors to aid him in his quest for retribution. Three years past as the King planned his assault upon the city of Radu Rebeja, the jewel in the crown of his land.  Finally the day came to take back his dynasty. The Battle of the Metaurus lives as one of the greatest ever fought, a mastery of stealth and cunning, King Ahmose II was victorious!  As predestined in his desert vision, he returned a vanquisher of the insurgency. Oh, and his dog was called AWOOGA.

______________________________________________

Awooga’s latest EP Alpha is out now, available to purchase via BandCamp.

Tags : Awooga
HannahGillicker
A 30-something year old journalist and freelance PR often found at a gig, a festival or holding a dictophone to a band and asking them all kinds of questions. I'm a sucker for whiskey and vinyl.