Name Taken

The band began practicing in a basement in their drummer's house. With each of the members being only 14 or 15 years old, they worked quite hard for their age, practicing nearly daily and working hard to find shows anywhere and everywhere that they possibly could. From backyard parties to church dances, they would take what they could get. After parting ways with one of their guitarists, Chad Atkinson, Blake Means and Bret Meisenbach (former drummer) headed into the studio to record a demo, still under the name, All That's Left. They produced, printed and sold "The Stupid Chad EP" completely by themselves. The band felt that their sound needed a boost, so, shortly after, they decided to add a second guitarist, Ryan Edwards. They also discovered that there was another band under the name, All That's Left, so they decided a change was necessary. The title "Name Taken" was chosen. In August of '01, with a newly reinforced guitar section and a new name, the band went into Love Juice Laboratories in Riverside, CA to record yet another EP. After 3 short days of recording, the EP "The Silent Game" was born. The recording was quickly picked up by Top Notch records and put into pressing and released roughly 3 or 4 months later. In the following months the band discovered that their drummer planned to leave Name Taken. The resignation was completely understood and on good terms, so the search was on. The band didn't have to look far to find just what they were looking for, Danny Valencia of Downey, CA. Now with Name Taken's line-up in full force, the band had been picked up by One Moment Management, appeared on numerous compilation CDs and showcased for numerous record labels. In July and August 2004, the group went on tour with Fall Out Boy, Bayside, Armor for Sleep, and The Academy Is....[4] The band split up in 2005[5] after two years of touring to pursue their college education. Chad and Blake attended Cal State Fullerton, Ryan Edwards attended University of California, Berkeley and went on to be a graduate student at Cornell University.

In February 2007 they announced that they were due to play two reunion shows on May 5 and May 6, 2007 at Anaheim's Chain Reaction.[6] Paul Riscalla assisted with drum duties for the shows. Despite the fact that both shows were sold out,[2] the band never regrouped to record a new album. On November 28, 2007, a message from Blake appeared on absolutepunk.net saying that Name Taken would in fact not be reforming and that the shows were just for fun. The lyrics to the band's song "Panic" are said to have been the inspiration for the name of the platinum-selling band Panic! at the Disco.[7]

Panic at the disco
Sat back and took it so slow
Are you nervous? Are you shaking?

• "Ignoring the uninspired power chord conventions of their scene, they chase each other across their respective fretboards forming tightly woven patterns." - AbsolutePunk review of The Silent Game [8]
• "It's more emo on the brain...roils with the urgent, slickly produced fury that defines so much of this genre." - Allmusic review of Hold On [9]
• "...an album that admittedly sounds a lot like every other emo-punk band in the genre, but still contains the energy and sense of melody that most of the other bands forget about." - Punknews.org review of Hold On [10]

Final line-up

• Chad Atkinson - Vocals/Bass
• Ryan Edwards - Guitar
• Blake Means - Guitar

Early members

• Juan Pereda - Drums (never played on any records)
• Danny Valencia - Drums
• Bret Meisenbach - Drums

• The Stupid Chad EP (Independent, 2000)
• The Silent Game (Top Notch Records, 2001)
• Hold Your Breath, You Know How Long (unreleased, 2002)
• Bayside/Name Taken split (Dying Wish Records, 2003)
• Hold On (Fiddler Records, 2004)
• Blood and Bones (Single) (Independent, 2018)

• Old Name Taken Message Board