People will sometimes ask us whether our band name contains a 'the'. Are we "The Free Raisins" or just "Free Raisins". We're in between: the "Free Raisins". While a poster might say just "Free Raisins with <caller>" and a CD would be the hypothetical "Free Raisins CD", you would announce "our band tonight is the Free Raisins". The article isn't part of the name, but the name takes an article when used in a sentence. You can tell it's not really part of our name because adjectives go after it (the amazing Free Raisins) and in some cases it becomes an indefinite article (Wallace's/Corriente is a Free Raisins set).

Is this strange? People keep saying things like "let's have a hand for Free Raisins" or "I want to buy a The Free Raisins CD" and I don't know how to respond.

(I've tried saying that the usage is like the Moving Violations and not like Wild Asparagus, but then people just make fun of me for the comparison.)