#worldofdecorator

To our surprise, since this name switch ordeal, many people have approached us and asked us why we dropped the name 'Raheem Cohen.' The short answer, which is the answer we usually give, is that we didn't love the name anymore, and it was time to move in a new direction. But allow us to give you the long answer. You see, in order to truly understand  why we got rid of the name 'Raheem Cohen,' you must first understand why we created the name in the first place.  It seems like so long ago: early 2008. We were getting ready to scrap the name 'The Melendrez Brothers,' and form our first actual identity as a band. The name 'Raheem Cohen,' was designed to represent our musical diversity (which was clearly present at the time). Our live set would often vary between a reggae song, a funk song, something that sounded a lot like a Jack White band, and, on occasion, something that didn't really sound like something you had ever heard. But at most of our gigs, you were hearing a band play a lot of different styles of music in thirty minutes.  

So you get it. We were a 'diverse' band, which gave us the idea of putting an Arabic name (Raheem) with a Jewish surname (Cohen). The name was intended to represent our musical diversity, not our ethnic diversity.  That was our first issue. People assumed we were representing some kind of ethnic/cultural party. Others assumed our singer's name was Raheem Cohen. But mostly, people asked us what the name 'Raheem Cohen' meant.

So we understand 'Raheem Cohen.'

Now...

We have come a long way in those five and half years. A long, long way. And while we still have a great deal of influential diversity, we have sculpted what we believe is our own, unique sound. We have grown. We wanted to make sure our sound was not damaged or tainted by having a name with such strong religious, ethnic, or just plain annoying connotation. We didn't want a difficult name. We didn't want a name that took on too much of its own personality. We want a simple name that compliments the music we play, and we want our music to be able to define our name. Not the other way around.

THE GOOD NEWS IS. We still own all the rights to the name 'Raheem Cohen.' And if anybody is in love with it, they may use it when and if they start their own band...free of charge!