Frankly, I’m tired of answering questions about why our name. I think it’s a pointless exercise. A name is just a name. Why fuss about such a trivial thing? But many people still just don’t get it! Ian related to me once a story he read that Sting, yes Sting himself, was once ambushed by an overeager if not clueless media writer here in the Philippines (hardly surprising) with the same question. Yes, Sting himself, whose moniker is probably the most famous in modern rock was asked “Why the name Sting”? He quickly answered with a stinging, pun intended, reprimand. Quite rightly, in fact, the erring interviewer probably deserved to be tied to an anchor with rusted barbed wire, and be thrown into the polluted Pasig River.

A musician, any musician would rather talk about his music. So when the interviewer now in front of us four started asking questions about how the band adjusted to each other’s different musical backgrounds, and about Flowerfish, but nothing at all along the lines of the dreaded why-Sheila-and-the-Insects question, we were genuinely pleased. So much so that our responses came out very naturally. Even animated in some instances. You don’t get that often by the way. Kudos to the ‘Overdrive’ production team especially their interviewer Matt Teves, a neophyte by the way from what I heard afterward, which makes it an even more impressive feat.

Lucky though we were that night, a few days after, I was asked the dreaded question again by a friend of mine while hanging out at the bar in Outpost while our band was waiting for our turn to play. I quickly struggled with the sudden urge to turn green and expand 6 sizes bigger. Luckily, I wasn’t wearing my purple spandex boxer shorts.

Worse, later when we played that night and in the middle of one of my spiels, someone from the audience had the temerity to actually ask loudly “why Sheila and the Insects”? I actually thought for a second about turning ballistic. I settled instead with a prompt reply – “because it works”. No further articulation and we promptly went on to play our next song.