Nick Name and The Normals

In 2000, Kent James

Kent James

Kent Bradley James is an American singer, songwriter, actor, and activist. He is also known as Nick Name.- 1990s :...

 began performing as "Nick Name", an out

Coming out

Coming out is a figure of speech for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender people's disclosure of their sexual orientation and/or gender identity....

, proud, and sometimes confrontational punk rock

Punk rock

Punk rock is a rock music genre that developed between 1974 and 1976 in the United States, the United Kingdom, and Australia. Rooted in garage rock and other forms of what is now known as protopunk music, punk rock bands eschewed perceived excesses of mainstream 1970s rock...

 singer with his back-up band "The Normals". "The Normals" were Ben ("Stripes"), Ralf Balzer ("Demon"), and Ralf's sister Sandra Balzer ("Demon Sister"). In 2001, Nick Name and The Normals recorded with music producer Michael Vail Blum and released the "Nick Name" album. All of the songs were written by Ben & Kent. The band performed their original songs "Head Rush" and "I Fucked Your Boyfriend" on the "Tolerance" episode of "Flipped" on MTV

MTV

MTV, formerly an initialism of Music Television, is an American network based in New York City that launched on August 1, 1981. The original purpose of the channel was to play music videos guided by on-air hosts known as VJs....

. In 2002, Sandra was replaced with Ben's long-time live-together girlfriend Rachel Rattner ("Sunshine") and Tony Jardine ("Clean"). The "POW!" album was released and the band toured the U.S. West Coast. In 2003, Willamette Week

Willamette Week

Willamette Week is an alternative weekly newspaper published in Portland, Oregon, United States. It features reports on local news, politics, sports, business and culture....

 proclaimed "If Kurt Cobain

Kurt Cobain

Kurt Donald Cobain was an American singer-songwriter, musician and artist, best known as the lead singer and guitarist of the grunge band Nirvana...

 had stayed around long enough to come out of the closet, he would have sounded just like Nick Name and The Normals".
The band performed at the Sunset Junction Street Fair

Sunset Junction Street Fair

The Sunset Junction Street Fair is an event held annually in the Sunset Junction neighborhood of the Silver Lake community in Los Angeles, California...

. In 2004, a documentary film titled "Nick Name and The Normals" premiered in London

London

London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...

, England

England

England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

. The film also screened in New York City

New York City

New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...

, Portugal

Portugal

Portugal , officially the Portuguese Republic is a country situated in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula. Portugal is the westernmost country of Europe, and is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the West and South and by Spain to the North and East. The Atlantic archipelagos of the...

, Brazil

Brazil

Brazil , officially the Federative Republic of Brazil , is the largest country in South America. It is the world's fifth largest country, both by geographical area and by population with over 192 million people...

, Spain

Spain

Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...

, Dallas, and Providence, Rhode Island

Providence, Rhode Island

Providence is the capital and most populous city of Rhode Island and was one of the first cities established in the United States. Located in Providence County, it is the third largest city in the New England region...

. In 2005, the band's final performance was on the Q Television Network

Q Television Network

Q Television Network was an American cable television channel which aired programming targeted to the lesbian, gay, and bisexual audiences. It was owned by Triangle Multimedia. The channel aired a mix of film, documentary and music programming, along with a number of original talk and information...

.

Ben resides in Los Angeles, California

Los Ángeles

Los Ángeles is the capital of the province of Biobío, in the commune of the same name, in Region VIII , in the center-south of Chile. It is located between the Laja and Biobío rivers. The population is 123,445 inhabitants...

.

Discography

Albums and EPs

• 2001: Nick Name
• 2002: Nick Name: POW!

Compilations

• "I Fucked Your Boyfriend" on "The Freak Show: Year One" (2001)
• "Nick Name and The Normals" ("Nick Name" & "Nick Name: POW!" re-mastered and combined) (2003)
• "Porno Di Giorno" and "Who's Your Daddy?" on the "Hellbent" movie soundtrack (2004)
• "Kent James: Decade Of Dirt (1997-2007)" (2007)

External links

• Nick Name and The Normals Documentary Film Official Site
• Nick Name & The Normals at the Internet Movie Database
  Internet Movie Database
  Internet Movie Database is an online database of information related to movies, television shows, actors, production crew personnel, video games and fictional characters featured in visual entertainment media. It is one of the most popular online entertainment destinations, with over 100 million...