April Fools: Cancer Bats pressured to change name, conducting poll

Toronto, Canada's Cancer Bats have recently announced plans to change their name in a response to pressure from upcoming tour sponsor PETA. The band says that while they thought they may always get pressure from someone to change their name, they never thought it would come from animal rights groups.

In a blog entry dated March 31, the band explained

It turns out that the people over at PETA, who are sponsoring our next tour, have been getting a lot of complaints about our name. Some people feel that linking cancer to bats gives bats a bad rap – guilty by association I guess.So we've decided to change our name. Don't worry, we're still going to sound as raw and sweet as we do now, we just need to put a different stamp on it, you know? But we want your input. We have a list of four names we've been throwing around the board room (back of the van). Post on our wall what you think the best name is, or post your own idea.

The four names in consideration are: Navy Blue Jays, Bi Polar Bears, Cobrock Snakes, Army Aunts.

PETA spokesperson Eileen Manderson commented, stating that

PETA is very excited to be sponsoring Cancer Bats on their upcoming tour. Hail Destroyer is a great album and we are proud to stand behind it as we attempt to reach out to more people. I'm a hippie. Furthermore, we are very pleased that the band has been so willing to change their name after realizing the toll the name "Cancer Bats" has taken on the winged species. We hope to work with other bands, such as AIDS Wolf in the future.

Cancer Bats, or Coborock Snakes, are getting ready to release their second album, Hail Destroyer on April 22.