How we got our name.

April found him first

April, one of the band's members, found an infant raccoon too young to be on his own. She took him in and raised him until he could take care of himself. She named him Rocket.

He needed somewhere safe to grow up, and the band had one ready: the basement where we rehearse, with a room set aside just for him.

He moved into the basement

The rehearsal space is the basement of one of the members' houses, and that's where Rocket grew up. Not next to the amps: he had his own quiet, sound-controlled room down there, and that's where he settled in whenever practice started.

The moment we took a break, he'd come padding out to hang with the band. He kept his own schedule. We played around it.

The name was already sitting there

Raccoons have sticky paws. Pens, guitar picks, bottle caps, the occasional capo: if it was small and left unattended, Rocket claimed it. We'd find the stash weeks later, tucked behind his bedding like evidence. That's how he earned his nickname: the basement bandit.

The mask, the paws, the light fingers around other people's guitar picks. It fit. Rocket got the logo, his nickname became the band name, and we got to keep most of our pens.

The people behind the name

Basement Bandits started the way most bar bands do: friends trading songs until the songs turned into a set. The full lineup has a page of its own: who plays what, and who answers to Rocket.

Paying it back

Rocket got lucky. Most animals in his situation don't. When the shop opens, 30% of merchandise proceeds will support wildlife conservation organizations doing real habitat and animal-protection work.

Beneficiary organizations, calculation method, and reporting will be published before any sale is made.