Dears off the Deers; Deers resigned; now Hinds

Canadian band The Dears have been sending legal threats to Spanish band The Deers. Apparently it's not on to have a homonymic name.

The Deers have, therefore, become Hinds:

this is sadly the most official post we've ever made: we have to change our name.
we mean... they forced us to. we received an email from a canadian lawyer saying that our name created confusion with his band's name. and that name is not even deers (LOL). We tried our best, really, but we have no choice. so..
OKAY!!!! LET'S TAKE THIS WITH A SMILE :):)!!
deers are now...HINDS!! (charannn!!)
And we are still the same people, we are even the same animal!! UNBELIEVABLE! !!
We don't usually ask you guys for anything but PLEASE you'd really make this easier for us if you could share this amazing info.
LET'S HAVE AN AMAZING 2015!
sorry and thank you, HINDS 8)
PS: pppppfff... we screwed it up with the FB page two weeks ago.. sorry for the confusion haha
see you on tour ☮!!

We like The Dears - but, frankly, sending legal letters to try and protect a name which is just a single dictionary word? There's a new rule of band naming, guys, and it's 'if it would make a bad password, it's going to be a lousy band name'.

Downloadable: The Dears

As we clatter towards the kitchen yelling "halloumi", a quick parting gift - The Dears went to Daytrotter and did a lovely session. "Candle-waxed emotions" ensues.

Dears: Oh dear

Montreal is turning in to a music crime blackspot. The Stooges and Clinic have had stuff pinched from there, and now The Dears tourbus has been lifted.

Luckily, it was empty of both equipment and band members when it got pinched, but they'd still like it back:

A plea for information on the missing bus has been put out, the vehicle was a Prevost model, Series 60. Accuride Alcoa; license plate: V957YW.

The bus was taken from outside the Saint Jean Comfort Inn.

Krief after grief

At the start of the month, Patrick Krief of the Dears and other projects had USD18,000 worth of kit pinched from his rehearsal rooms.

As we end April, though, a happy ending: family and friends have rallied round and bought him a new Fender Stratocaster and some money over for pedals and whatnot. Krief reveals it wasn't totally without strings:

"With extreme intensity he [Dears singer Murray Lightburn] exclaims 'Don't thank me, don't do anything, take this fucking check, and get insurance tomorrow or I'll fucking rob you!'"

Of course, if Krief does get insurance tomorrow, then Lightburn could rob him and they'd both have... no, no. There's been enough crime.