UK Band Gets $300,000 To Change Their Name
(UPDATED) Exit Through The Gift Shop Door was the name of a band started by 41 year old Simon Duncan in London just 18 months ago. "It was a kind of midlife crisis, but we are still going, with a different line-up, and it has become a bit more serious," according to Duncan.
The band's path to success took a twist, however, when famous UK graffiti artist Banksy randomly chose the band's name as the title of his first ever movie project. Exit Through The Gift Shop Door, the film – also dubbed "The world's first Street Art disaster movie" – debuted at Sundance and will be screened in select U.S. Cinemas this week and next.
More & The Film's Trailer:
The band agreed to rename themselves Brace Yourself and in return received a Banksy original piece of art worth $300,000. "We had these hilarious emails from someone saying he was Banksy, but we didn't know if they were genuine," said Duncan. "Then a scruffy white van arrived. The driver had no idea what he was carrying."
"When we saw the painting we could not believe it," he continued. "It is the size of a double bed, for a start. We had to insure it, so a man from Sotheby's came over to see it in my loft. He said to me, 'This is surreal. I have just been valuing an 18th-century portrait in a stately home, but it is not as valuable as this.'"