Kurt Cobain’s list of band names ranged from Fecal Matter to SmellFish before ultimately deciding on Nirvana. Tony Flow & the Miraculously Majestic Masters of Mayhem played together for a few weeks before switching their name to Red Hot Chili Peppers. While these band names took some time, Jonah Nimoy heard the name “Furiosa” once and just knew. That had to be his next band name.

Nimoy originally went the route of solo project, using his name as his moniker. However, there was a lot of pressure to just be Jonah Nimoy.

“I rather have the mystery of a band name and having it just be that and letting people discover the band and see what it’s about as opposed to it being the Jonah Nimoy show,” he said. “Furiosa I can leave up to people’s imaginations.”

Furiosa started in 2015, after the film Mad Max: Fury Road was released. Charlize Theron’s character, Furiosa, stuck with Nimoy throughout the film and upon further research, felt that it was a name he didn’t need to think twice about.

Despite playing under a new name, Nimoy is still the primary songwriter and composer as well as the main musician on all his recordings – including his latest album, Look, Don’t Listen. This is Nimoy’s first full length, which is surprising for someone who has always been ‘an album guy’.

“I’ve always loved listening to a record front to back and just seeing what it does,” he said. “Whether it’s me or the listener, just the vibe of a full length is something else.”

Look, Don’t Listen was recorded in Downtown Rehearsal in a corner room that really humanized the record. From the high ceilings creating an echo to the windows letting in the sounds of the city, the effort of creating 10 songs and building up the band’s identity really shines through.

Nimoy grew up on Megadeth, The Misfits and Black Sabbath before finding inspiration in lyricists such as Neil Young and Leonard Cohen.  His more recent discoveries of Queen, Led Zeppelin and David Bowie gave him the additional inspiration for Furiosa, which he’s hoping comes across on the album.

“They [Queen, Zeppelin, Bowie] wrote every kind of song in any kind of genre from dance beats to metal to rock and roll, whatever it is,” he said. “That’s where it all started. Furiosa I’m hoping can be a universal rock band; that’s the goal I have with the music and the identity and whatever else comes along with it.”

Thankfully the names Fecal Matter and Tony Flow & the Miraculously Majestic Masters of Mayhem won’t be seen on Spotify playlists or Billboard charts, but Furiosa… keep an eye out for that name.