The Time morph into the Original 7ven, prepare for CD release

You may remember earlier this year when Prince's offshoot band the Family re-emerged after 25 years off the map as the rebranded fDeluxe, leaving some to wonder if the band had to change their names for legal reasons. (Wait, the Purple One has lawyers? Nah...) Similarly the Time, a band assembled and re-assembled by Prince in the '80s, will now by known by the clumsier moniker the Original 7ven.

But make no mistake, this is the Time: In addition to recognizable frontman Morris Day and fDeluxe/theFamily drummer Jellybean Johnson, the re-emergence of the Original 7ven marks a return to the stage for seminal producers Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis.

The band's newest single seems a little cringe-worthy at first blush -- it's called "#trendin," and it's about how they're gonna take social media by storm -- but it's actually a pretty catchy, funky number that isn't really any more or less frivolous and fun than the Time's previous work. Check out the new video here:

This name change comes at the same time as release of the band's new album, Condensate, which dropped on October 18. To celebrate, the Original 7ven have a series of appearances coming up in the next two weeks: They will perform on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno this Thursday, October 27, and will come back home to Minneapolis for an album-release show at the State Theatre on Saturday, November 5. They will also be at the Mall of America Sears Court on Friday, November 4, at 6-8 p.m. to sign copies of the new CD.

In other Time-related news, a new music video for a POP INC. song co-written by keyboard player Monte Moir, "The Boulevard of Broken Dreams," will be screening at the Trylon Microcinema on Thursday night at 6:30 p.m., prior to Charlie Chaplin's City Lights (the same night as the Original 7ven's appearance on Leno). More info on the screening here.