Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: TUESDAY, May 23, 1995                   TAG: 9505230074
SECTION: EXTRA                    PAGE: 4   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: HEIDI RUSSELL ASSOCIATED PRESS
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

BAND TOLD TO CHANGE ITS NAME

Now the band Thorazine - which performs for as little as $10 per show and is booked Wednesday at Roanoke's Iroquois Club - is depressed that it doesn't have the resources to fend off legal action, said lead singer and band manager Jo-Ann Rogan. She said representatives from the company have gone so far as to attend performances to take pictures and buy band memorabilia to build a case against them.

The company has sent two certified letters demanding that the band change its name by July, said Rogan.

"The money they spend on us, they could've spent on a small third world country. We're just a little punk rock band, getting good at what we're doing. And now our name is just getting out there," Rogan said.

The band picked the name, she said, because one of the members knew someone who took Thorazine.

SmithKline Beecham, which developed the trademark drug in the 1950s for "the management of psychotic disorders and the treatment of severe behavioral problems," does not want to be affiliated or associated with the band, said spokesman Jeremy Heymsfeld.

The band's songs are "old school punk rock that are harder than normal and have a lot of cursing in them," Rogan said.

Heymsfeld said the company, which has its U.S. headquarters in Philadelphia and apparently learned of the band from a newspaper article, has not yet threatened to sue. But it has sent band members letters warning them to cease using the name, he said.

"All I can say is, sorry. What can I say?" Heymsfeld said.

But Thorazine - the band - has much to lose, said Rogan, who lives on income from her part-time bartending job.

Band members printed $600 worth of T-shirts and spent $300 on 1,000 stickers bearing their name, she said, and in November they released their first 45 rpm record, 1,200 copies of "Coffee, Tea or Thorazine," through the Burbank, Calif., record label, Hell Yeah!.

The band also is on its second tour in two weeks, with stops in Alabama, Georgia, South Carolina, North Carolina, Virginia, Baltimore and Philadelphia. Rogan said she expects that to cost the band about $600, since members sleep on floors in the homes of their fans. The money goes for gas, food and showers at truck stops.

"I would at least like to talk to a lawyer and find out if we can just change one letter or if we have to change the name totally. I don't have a multi-miliion dollar corporation behind me," Rogan said.

Opening for Thorazine on Wednesday will be two other Philadelphia bands, The Stuntmen and Dr. Bob's Nightmare. Also on the bill will be Roanoke's Plastic Martyr, whose member, Jody ``Judas'' Smith, booked Wednesday's show.