The Chucky Danger Band gets a new name.

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The band formerly known as Chucky Danger are now calling themselves Paper Lions and just finished being the opening act for heavy-hitter band CAKE. Not too shabby for the four Prince Edward Island musicians, John MacPhee, Rob MacPhee, Colin Buchanan, and David Cyrus MacDonald.

MacDonald, drummer of the band explains the reasoning behind this spring's name switch.

"The original name was there because we were initially formed as a summer project to play four shows," he says. "Rob and Colin (I like blaming them...) came up with it, and we didn't care. It sounded funny so we went with it. We didn't realize that four years later we would find it so terrible. We were never really fond of it, we felt as though it misrepresented us and the major thing was that it was a hindrance in terms of career. People don't take people seriously when their band is called 'Chucky Danger'."

MacDonald says they simply decided it was the right time to make the switch, citing growth in popularity and a change of management as major factors to the timing.

Their new band name, Paper Lions rings truer to the nature of the band and their music, and won't get people picturing the creepy doll from hell or confusing them with other 'Danger' bands like Harvey Danger.

"In terms of the name 'Paper Lions' we just had a good feeling about it, there's a weakness and a strength to it. There's a lion on the P.E.I. flag but that had nothing to do with it. We just liked the way it sounded and the way it felt. The feeling really suited the band."

Their new name, agency and management may just be the beginning of changes as the boys have recently been in talks with representatives from music labels such as Sony, Universal and EMI after recently playing a gig at the North by North East (NXNE) music festival in Toronto. There, they played alongside such bands as the Great Lake Swimmers, Ladyhawk, We Are Wolves and My Morning Jacket.

What started out as a stint to play four shows together as a band turned into four years. And in that time these bandmates were nominated for 10 East Coast Music Awards, winning ECMA Pop Recording of the Year in 2005 and most recently, in 2007 received recognition for their 'travelling' efforts by being coined Touring Artist of the Year by the Canadian Arts Presenters Organization.

The band shares the same music agency as CAKE and their myspace page is what sold CAKE on getting them to support their tour.

"It was great, there are so many great things to say about touring with them. We got to see their show from the side of the stage or wherever we wanted and we got to play for their audience who were made up of real music fans who were there for the music so they were more receptive to the music."

As Paper Lions they plan on re-releasing their last self-titled album which the band recorded in Woodstock, New York and P.E.I. with Grammy-award winning producer Danny Blume. The album has already been re-printed and is being sold online and at shows-right now it's all a matter of how they want to publicize and re-celebrate it.

"We're in talks with different labels, not sure if we'll have a big CD release party, it's strong enough on its own so we think it could stand on its own but we've got a lot of new stuff that we've been working on."

MacDonald says their future plans consist of recording an album or at least an EP in the not so distant future, looking for a recording label and hopefully have more touring opportunities.

Although the band appear to be heading in a direction most bands can only dream of, they remain true to themselves, their music and where they come from. MacDonald takes a moment to reflect on the time when they found out about their very first ECMA nomination at which point they hoisted their former manager on their shoulders as part of the celebration. Now they seem to be on the shoulders of giants, with no signs of putting down their arms from reaching for that sky they've been striving hard to get to.

MacDonald has more to be excited about than the other band mates for the June 27 show at the Capital Bar in Fredericton and the June 28 show at Elwoods in Saint John. The band will be playing alongside Fredericton-based band, Jellyroll, whose drummer is MacDonald's older brother, Andrew. "I'm excited to do a show with Jellyroll, as a kid I used to raid Andrew's CD collection, it'll be the first show we play together."