Pearl Jam was once named after professional basketball player Mookie Blaylock. The Goo Goo Dolls used to slide as the Sex Maggots, and Van Halen was once known as Rat Salad. Some bands just can’t keep their embarrassing former names under wraps.

The Impossibles are no exception. Prior to calling themselves The Impossibles, Rory Phillips, Craig Tweedy, Pat Elliot and Craig’s older brother were known as The Fat Girls.

Exit Craig’s brother.

Enter vocalist and guitarist Gabe Hascall.

Result: a new band name and a new sound.

“When we changed lead singers we kind of changed our music styles,” explains Tweedy, bassist. “We were basically looking to go in a new direction and we weren’t the same people anymore.”

If The Impossibles’ members had to come up with a new band name every time they reinvented their music style, the attempts at counting them would be futile. As far as their sound is concerned, they always keep their fans guessing.

Originally the band was classified as a mi-90s ska-punk act. After wearing their ska outfits for a few years, The Impossibles broke up against the wishes of their label, Fueled By Ramen. The band cited educational objectives as the underlying reason for the dissolution.

Post-breakup, the label released a CD titled “Anthology” showcasing the band’s two EPs as well as additional demo work the band had done.

“I didn’t even hear anything about `Anthology,'” says Tweedy. “I just remember seeing it in the store and was like `what the hell is this?'”

The disbanded Impossibles went on with their respective lives as pleas for a reunion flooded their Web site’s guest book.

Much to the approval of the band’s label and fans, the band reunited in 2000 to release a full-length album appropriately titled, “Return.”

Although The Impossibles were back together, they dropped the ska tag and picked up a more mature, reinvented sound often described as Weezer and The Pixies meets Green Day and Operation Ivy.

Stubborn fans hoping that The Impossibles will return to the days of their ska-filled youth will be disappointed to learn the band hasn’t continued to play many songs from that album.

After the recent controversy surrounding the bitter departure of long-time drummer Pat Elliott, and the addition of a new drummer, Kemble Walters, it is even more difficult for fans to get to hear a a requested ska song.

But The Impossibles have managed to squeeze a few ska tunes into their set from time to time. For the most part, however, those songs have been written off as what they played when they were just having fun.

“There’s some songs on there that I like and that I’m proud of, but there’s a whole lot of stuff on there that I think is just whack,” Tweedy adds. “We were just kids. I recorded that album when I was 16.”

The Impossibles’ most recent release, “Four Song Brick Bomb,” is perhaps the most sundry collection of the band’s music to date. Only possessing four songs, this new EP dabbles in bits of emo-laced post-hardcore to fast-paced pop punk.

If The Impossibles’ goal is to avoid being pigeonholed into a genre, they have been successful thus far.

And although The Impossibles have managed to overcome their youthful existence as The Fat Girls, the new name just doesn’t seem to be enough.

“We basically went from one bad band name to another,” admits Tweedy. “I personally think The Impossibles still sounds like the name of a ska band. Whatever. We just have to deal with it.”