Cougars

Naming your band after an animal is an easy way to get instant recognition, even if the band being recognized is another, more popular one with a similar-sounding name. Oh, you’re in Wolf Sphincter? Yeah, I’ve heard of that — or maybe I’m just confusing you with the Wolves, Wolf Eyes, Wolfmother or Wolf Parade. Look now to Cougars, an eight-piece band out of Chicago that sounds nothing like Cougar Party, Jon Cougar Concentration Camp or even that other 1960s English rock band called, er, the Cougars. But while Cougars may get caught in the name-game trap, the act survives by exhausting itself in a frenzy of trumpet-keys-and-sax-heavy rock and roll. If the Murder City Devils were less angry and added a raucous horn section, the results might resemble Pillow Talk, Cougars’ most recent effort on punk-savvy Go-Kart Records.