Recently signed signed Merge act The Brokedown has been forced to change their name to The Broken West. The label explained:

In a way, the cease and desist request was exciting. I mean, you are starting to break into the big time when someone threatens to sue you over your name, right? I guess that is one way to look at it.

In any case, Merge Records recording artists formerly known as The Brokedown, who's debut album "I Can't Go On, I'll Go On", will hit the stores in January 2007, will from this point forward be known as…The Broken West.

That's sounds cool to me. How about you?
A rose by any other name is still a rose. Who said that? Smart fellow.

The band were extraordinarily non-plussed by this whole thing. So much so that they were quick (and wise?) to dismiss our first suggestion of changing the name to SuperBrokedown. Old habits die hard around here I guess.

For a taste of the band's material, you can visit their myspace page.