BAND NAME: Welfare
Member #1: Ian Curtis (Vocals)
Member #2: Jaco Pastorius (Bass)
Member #3: Ginger Baker (Drums)
Member #4: Keaton Henson (Guitar)
Name of their First Album: Welfare
Name of their Best Selling Song: Hologram
Name of their Worst Selling Song: Match Sticks
Dates Active: 1977-1978
Background story: Coming together in the late 70s and ushering in a sound perhaps more fitting for the 80s, Welfare brought together the droning baritone vocals of Ian Curtis, the funk and jazz bass lines of Jaco, the quiet tidal guitar of Keaton Henson, and the mad percussion of Ginger Baker into two 10 song albums, one in '77 and one in '78.
I imagine this band would be a lot of tracks with rich bass parts serving as weird melody, but full of weird harmonies like Jaco's Portrait of Tracy and complimented by Henson's beautiful guitar playing. Behind that you'd have Ginger baker just going mad hatter, beating the crap out of some old drum set, but retaining heavy jazz influence while still managing to add enough rough and abrasive character to make Ian Curtis's vocals fit. Lots of juxtaposition and weird tension between the funk and post-punk and jazz and classic rock influences.
The band would end up breaking up because Ginger Baker is crazy and Ian Curtis is suicidal and Jaco also has problems... but I love them all still. They would really never perform live because it would be too difficult to get the volume mixing write between Jaco's relatively quite bass, and the energy of Ginger's drums outside of a recording setting, let alone adding Ian Curtis, which would also be fine by Henson because of his stage fright.
In reality this band would be a disaster, but this is fantasy land so suspend your disbelief. :p
Reference material:
Jaco:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=25DXcFg1TFo
Ginger:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hIMIMSb9mpc
Ian:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZGMDBppWBOo
Henson:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RZNrWmf4xH0
*edit: Adding a time travelling Keaton Henson.