OGDEN — You know how sometimes you come across an interesting word or phrase and think, “That would make a really great name for a band”?

This is not one of those times.

On Friday night, a local punk band played a show at the Lighthouse Lounge in downtown Ogden. The band, formed here in the early 2000s, goes by a most cringe-worthy name.

Hi Fi Murder.

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The band’s moniker is uncomfortably similar to the label affixed to a heinous crime that took place in Ogden in the 1970s, known as the Hi-Fi murders. On the evening of April 22, 1974, airmen from Hill Air Force Base entered the Hi-Fi Shop, a downtown stereo equipment store, with the intent to commit robbery. They took five hostages, torturing their victims by making them drink liquid drain cleaner. One of the victims was repeatedly raped. Another had a ballpoint pen stomped into his ear canal. All were shot in the head and left for dead. Three were murdered that night, the other two survived the attack. It was arguably the most violent and brutal crime ever committed in Northern Utah; two of the airmen were convicted and eventually executed.

Now, in just about any other spot in the country, a punk band could probably get away with a band name like Hi Fi Murder. But in Ogden, where the victims lived and the crime was committed, the wound is still fresh more than 40 years later.

Whether you choose to believe him or not — and many people do not — drummer Nicholas Poulson said the name Hi Fi Murder was chosen innocently enough.

“Me and my brother named it,” said the 28-year-old Poulson, who at age 14 was a founding member of the band. “We wanted to name it something like Death By Stereo, but that’s already a punk band. But we wanted a name along the lines of ‘How do you kill with music?’ and Hi Fi Murder got that across.”

Poulson said he and the other members of the band hadn’t even heard of the Hi-Fi murders.

“It happened before any of us were alive — or we were very little,” he said. “We had no idea.”

Poulson claimed they were six years into the group before learning of their band name’s connection to the crime.

“We played Mojos one night, and this kid’s mom came to watch him play in another band,” he recalled. “She came up to us after the show and said, ‘I’ve got to ask you, did you name your band after the shop?’

“We were, like, name it after what?

“She’s, like, ‘The Hi-Fi Shop, where they had those murders.’

“I’m, like, ‘What are you talking about?’

“The lady — nicely — said, ‘You might want to change your band name,’ ” Poulson said.

The members of Hi Fi Murder started getting other people bringing up the similarity between the band name and the murders. Initially, Poulson said they were apologetic.

“At first, we were, like, ‘I’m super-sorry about that,’ ” he said. “We even thought about changing the name early on. But it got to the point where people were saying so much —- about the band name it was, like, ‘No, we’re not changing it.’ “

Poulson called the tempest surrounding the band name “comical.” He also suspects that some of the outrage is manufactured.

“Everybody says they know a relative, who knows a lady, who knew a guy who was killed in the Hi-Fi Shop murders,” he said.

Even if the name were intentional, Poulson said punk rock is known for pushing the envelope. Besides, if they dropped the Hi Fi Murder name, he thinks people would just find other reasons to complain.

“It’s punk rock,” he said. “They’ve got bands out there like the Dead Kennedys. We could change the name to the So-Whats and people would still find a reason to be upset. If people don’t have anything to bitch about, they don’t have anything to do with their day.”

Poulson is philosophical about the blowback the band is getting over the name.

“Everybody gets boycotted at some point in time,” he said, “unless you’re a Christian rock band.”

And despite the criticism, the boys in the band have no intention of swapping out names now.

“We were thinking about changing it, until people started firing off about it,” Poulson said. “But I’m an ornery ass, and now we’re not changing it — on principle.”

Maybe not, but c’mon. Ornery Ass? Now that would make a really great name for a band.

Contact Mark Saal at 801-625-4272, or msaal@standard.net. Follow him on Twitter at @Saalman. Like him on Facebook at facebook.com/SEMarkSaal.