The 'Real' SUPERNOVA Will Fight TOMMY LEE's 'Washed Up Metalheads' For Rights To Name

June 29, 2006

Bassist Art Mitchell of the long-running Orange County, California, punk trio SUPERNOVA has told MTV.com that his band has hired attorneys to respond to CBS-TV in the form of a cease-and-desist letter in connection with upcoming second season of "Rock Star", the reality show which will see MÖTLEY CRÜE's Tommy Lee, VOIVOD/ex-METALLICA bassist Jason Newsted and former GUNS N' ROSES guitarist Gilby Clarke banding together to find a singer for their new supergroup, also named SUPERNOVA.

"It's like when you're a little kid and the bully down the street steals something from you and you don't do anything about it," Mitchell said. "But we're going to go kick some butt, dude. They probably figured we're clerks, but our drummer, Dave [Collins], is a lawyer."

Although the Web site All Music Guide lists three artists bearing that name — a Chilean rock outfit and a jazz band as well as Mitchell's group — Collins claims his group legally owns the name, and they hired attorneys to respond to CBS in the form of a cease-and-desist letter.

"You can't just waltz up and use our name," Collins said last week. "We're willing to fight for our name, our band. We have trademark rights to the name and we can prove those rights."

Mitchell, though, said that ultimately SUPERNOVA would like to keep its name and not be associated with a bunch of "washed-up metalheads," as that could confuse his band's fans.

Comments Disclaimer And Information

BLABBERMOUTH.NET uses the Facebook Comments plugin to let people comment on content on the site using their Facebook account. The comments reside on Facebook servers and are not stored on BLABBERMOUTH.NET. To comment on a BLABBERMOUTH.NET story or review, you must be logged in to an active personal account on Facebook. Once you're logged in, you will be able to comment. User comments or postings do not reflect the viewpoint of BLABBERMOUTH.NET and BLABBERMOUTH.NET does not endorse, or guarantee the accuracy of, any user comment. To report spam or any abusive, obscene, defamatory, racist, homophobic or threatening comments, or anything that may violate any applicable laws, use the "Report to Facebook" and "Mark as spam" links that appear next to the comments themselves. To do so, click the downward arrow on the top-right corner of the Facebook comment (the arrow is invisible until you roll over it) and select the appropriate action. You can also send an e-mail to blabbermouthinbox(@)gmail.com with pertinent details. BLABBERMOUTH.NET reserves the right to "hide" comments that may be considered offensive, illegal or inappropriate and to "ban" users that violate the site's Terms Of Service. Hidden comments will still appear to the user and to the user's Facebook friends. If a new comment is published from a "banned" user or contains a blacklisted word, this comment will automatically have limited visibility (the "banned" user's comments will only be visible to the user and the user's Facebook friends).