Welcome to our 6th annual Christmas Roundtable! 2021 has continued to be a difficult time for people all around the world as we are still going through a pandemic. BareBones Ent sat down with a bunch of bands and musicians to talk about Christmas and hopefully spread some cheer. We had so many entries so we are breaking this in to 2 parts this year! Here’s looking forward to 2022 and hopefully getting back to normal!
We’re Wolves
BBE: What is your favorite thing about the holiday season?
AJ: I’d say as consumers , we absolutely love all the sales.. as tacky as that sounds it’s hard to pass up Black Friday deals and pre-Christmas 35-50% off purchases…we also enjoy Holiday ritualistic human sacrifices to our dark lord, he also enjoys festive bargain deals too. Spending time with family is cool too, I guess… but not as cool as material things on sale.
BBE: What is the best holiday memory you have?
AJ: The time I bought an all saints leather jacket at 35% off for black Friday, it made me feel whole for an entire month.
Runner up would be my childhood spending time with family on Christmas morning and getting all the toys I couldn’t afford because of silly child labor laws. To think, if they lowered the working age to 7 I could have been loaded by now.
BBE: What is your favorite Christmas movie?
AJ: Die Hard or Black Christmas… Home Alone is cool too, although it’s more of a film about bad parenting.. they lost that kid twice.
BBE: If you could be any holiday character who would it be and why?
AJ: Jack Skellington, I feel like him every day after Halloween, just in awe of the Holiday season because I forget it exists.
BBE: What is your favorite Christmas song?
AJ: That August Burns Red cover of Carol of the Bells, because it’s not Mariah Carey.
A Crime Called
BBE: What is your favorite thing about the holiday season
ACC: The holiday season is a magical time. They have been with you since you were a child and it will be like that for your entire life. It is a pleasant ritual that brings you closer to relatives and friends. Gives you the chance to share happy moments with people you can’t easily hang out with
BBE: What is the best holiday memory you have?
ACC: I was 4 years old. I woke up very early that morning from the frenzy of opening Christmas packages. They were LOTS! Any child would have despised to experience such a moment. Then, as the years go by, the gifts decrease, too bad.
BBE: What is your favorite Christmas movie?
ACC: Trading Places! a few years ago I used to go and eat in the same restaurant on Christmas Eve to be able to tell the owner to show the film during dinner. He did it regularly and I was there happiest person in the world
BBE: If you could be any holiday character who would it be and why?
ACC: I’d be Charly Brown in the Peanuts Christmas episode! I often play at Christmas. I give a service while people have fun and spend Christmas evening with loved ones. I find myself the one who “misses Christmas”
BBE: What is your favorite Christmas song?
ACC: Jingle Bell Rock by Bobby Helms! I ALWAYS sing and play it at Christmas time
K4YLEE
BBE: What is your favorite thing about the holiday season?
K4YLEE: My favorite thing about the holiday season is definitely the holiday food. If there was a restaurant that ONLY served Thanksgiving and Christmas themed food, you’d find me there everyday!
BBE: What is the best holiday memory you have?
K4YLEE: Every year I always look forward to decorating the Christmas tree! When I was younger we used to dedicate a whole day to decorating our tree, I loved it.
BBE: What is your favorite Christmas movie?
K4YLEE: My answer might be controversial, but my favorite Christmas movie is The Nightmare Before Christmas. Some say it’s a Halloween movie, some say it’s a Christmas movie… Why can’t it be both?!
BBE: If you could be any holiday character who would it be and why?
K4YLEE: I would definitely say Sally from The Nightmare Before Christmas. She likes to sing AND she can sew her own clothes?! She rocks.
BBE: What is your favorite Christmas song?
K4YLEE: Recently I’ve loved listening to the cover of Last Christmas by Kellin Quinn and Loveless!
Immerser
Immerser: My favorite thing about the holiday season is being with family. There’s also this sentimental magic in the air.
BBE: What is the best holiday memory you have?
Immerser: My favorite holiday memory is going to see It’s a Wonderful Life on the big screen at the Stanford Theatre in Palo Alto California. It was a yearly tradition before I moved to Denver.
BBE: What is your favorite Christmas movie?
Immerser:It’s a Wonderful Life or Scrooged with Bill Murray!
BBE: If you could be any holiday character who would it be and why?
Immerser: I would say Jimmy Stewart in It’s a Wonderful life, I can relate to that character.
BBE: What is your favorite Christmas song?
Immerser: My favorite Christmas song is probably “Holy Night”. It has such a beautiful melody. Then there’s always Tom Petty’s “Christmas All Over Again”! That’s a great rocking holiday song!
Matt Irie Band
BBE: What is your favorite thing about the holiday season?
Matt: My favorite thing is being able to spend time with family, friends, and enjoying that time with them making new memories. Something about this time of the year that just kinda puts your mind at ease.
Will: I always look forward to getting fun and interesting gifts for my family and friends.
Larry: Mine would be time to spend with family and friends, and time to reflect on the year before starting a new one.
Joe: family and time to relax
Michael: Everyone is overall happier and in better spirits!
BBE: What is the best holiday memory you have?
Matt: This is quite the question indeed. When there’s several really awesome memories to talk about, you never want to feel like you’re leaving something out, But I’ll say when the whole family including relatives could all get together at the same time. Luckily we can all still Facetime to see each other.
Will: Getting my first drumset!
Larry: The last year my whole family was able to get together before we all moved to different places.
Joe: My first guitar.
Michael: My First drum set!
BBE: What is your favorite Christmas movie?
Matt: Tied between A Christmas Carol & Christmas Vacation… Two amazing movies!
Will: I am always partial to The Nightmare Before Christmas.
Larry: Bad Santa.
Joe: A Christmas Story
Michael: Christmas vacation!
BBE: If you could be any holiday character who would it be and why?
Matt: Well, Ernest did save Christmas once. Though Clark just has it all figured out so that’s another tough one lol
Will: I think I would be the ghost of Christmas way future. It’s from a show called “I Think You Should Leave”. I just think it’s a really funny character.
Larry: Jack Skellington. It would be awesome to be able to relive that childlike wonder and excitement of the holidays all the time. And I’d get to have a Zero with me all the time!
Joe: Yukon Cornelius. Because I just like the character and he was a bit of a crazy adventurer but was actually in search of a peppermint mine.
Michael: Buddy the elf! We all love Buddy the elf and I like to think I have a good sense of humor!
BBE: What is your favorite Christmas song?
Matt: “Ring Christmas Bells” by Ray Coniff. Honorable mention: “Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas” either the Judy Garland or Sinatra version will do just fine.
Will: I would have to say “Do They Know It’s Christmas” because Dan Aykroyd sings on that track.
Larry: “Christmas Time (Don’t Let The Bells End)” by The Darkness. That solo gets me every time!
Joe: “Rock this Town” by The Stray Cats
Michael: August Burns Red’s cover of Carol of the Bells! My house is a metal house!
Spurge
BBE: What is your favorite thing about the holiday season?
JH: I’m mostly extroverted so I love getting together with family and friends. I still keep in touch with many of my high school friends so going back home is fun. My family is super cool too so holidays are low stress.
BBE: What is the best holiday memory you have?
JH: Going with the fam to Nashville to see my grandparents, aunts, uncles, and cousins was always cool. The feeling of being out of school surrounded by people who love you is a great feeling.
BBE: What is your favorite Christmas movie?
JH: I enjoy A Christmas Story but I know I’m supposed to say like Die Hard or Gremlins or something.
BBE: If you could be any holiday character who would it be and why?
JH: I am Schroeder. Playing music for Lucy and minding my business otherwise. My wife looks a lot like Lucy and has that same forward type attitude.
BBE: What is your favorite Christmas song?
JH: “Oh Holy Night.” Actually, speaking of HS friends, I used to help my friend Michael sneak out at night and we’d drive around town blasting “Oh Holy Night” and hitting that high note as loud and as off key as we could. That’s a good holiday memory too :). I have a picture of him in my head throwing his arm out the window screaming the song as we drove over Silas Creek Parkway at 3 AM.
Stud Count
BBE: What is your favorite thing about the holiday season?
NG: Getting to partake in all the family traditions that come with the season; decorating the tree, candlelight services, hymn singing etc. Also my husband (Matthew, our guitarist) is Jewish, so we read from the Torah and celebrate Hanukkah which has been so cool. All the homies love the dreidel game.
BBE: What is the best holiday memory you have?
NG: My favorite holiday memory is Christmas Day with my whole extended family as a kid. When my grandfather was still alive, He would have us all settle down before opening presents and explain the theological implications of Christmas, their purposes and the significance of the birth of Y’shua.
BBE: What is your favorite Christmas movie?
NG: Elf, The Nightmare Before Christmas
BBE: If you could be any holiday character who would it be and why?
NG: Though he may not constitute as a “character” because he really existed, Saint Nicholas of Lycia. He was the man. He devoted his whole life as a living sacrifice; selling his inheritance to aid the poor and sick, rescuing daughters from being sold into slavery, and full on struck Arius for spreading dangerous heresies. Dude rocked.
BBE: What is your favorite Christmas song?
NG: The Vandals – Oi to the World. Thomas Helmore – O Come, O Come Emmanuel
Adem Delipi
BBE: What is your favorite thing about the holiday season?
AD: I think the best thing about the holiday season is to spend some time with your family and take a little break to enjoy the time with them. Constantly working can make me feel a bit behind on what’s going on with my family, so having that time to enjoy with my grandparents and other relatives is great to catch up.
BBE: What is the best holiday memory you have?
AD: I think the best holiday memory I have is going out to Chicago when my aunt visited from Switzerland. I got to walk around the city with my family and have some fun with my little cousin who had never been in the city, which was a great time!
BBE: What is your favorite Christmas movie?
AD: I would have to say Home Alone since it takes place pretty close to home 🙂
BBE: If you could be any holiday character who would it be and why?
AD: I would have to say Jack Frost, the dude is really cold with it (literally).
BBE: What is your favorite Christmas song?
AD: I would have to say Wham’s “Last Christmas”, you can probably catch me humming that song during the holidays while I’m working on some stuff.
Natalie Dean
BBE: What is your favorite thing about the holiday season?
ND: Definitely the decorations, food and lights. I swear Christmas lights can fix anything and bring up the mood. I’m also a huge fan of baking and the holidays call for decorating cookies and lots of sweets.
BBE: What is the best holiday memory you have?
ND: This is the first year that I’m not with my family for the holidays. I’m currently in England for university but usually my mom and sister and I go cut down our own Christmas tree each year and spend the day decorating and eating my mom’s homemade English toffee. Having a real tree has always been a priority for us, each tree is always so unique.
BBE: What is your favorite Christmas movie?
ND: Hands down the Polar Express! Nothing can beat that hot chocolate scene. I grew up watching it and we always play it on Christmas Eve.
BBE: If you could be any holiday character who would it be and why?
ND: It would absolutely have to be Cindy Lou Who from The Grinch! I do get overly excited for the festivities that surround the holiday season and can take it overboard sometimes. As a kid, I used to wear my hair unintentionally like Cindy Lou Who because I was a bit too experimental with style, ahah!
BBE: What is your favorite Christmas song?
ND: I’d say “White Christmas”, originally by Bing Crosby. My grandma loved that song and we would always sing it together near the holidays or put it on her CD player and dance. The song definitely brings back nostalgia for me.
Old Currents
BBE: What is your favorite thing about the holiday season?
Jake: My favorite thing about the holiday season is just getting to spend time with family. My brother and I don’t live far from my parents, but with both of us being our late 20’s, and my parents living their own lives, it’s hard to just get everybody under one roof together. So being able to spend 24 hours, with no errands, no people to see, or jobs to do is one of the most important things to me regardless of the time of year, but it definitely has a greater significance during the holidays.
BBE: What is the best holiday memory you have?
Jake: Well, any Thanksgiving and Christmas spent with my family is a great memory on their own, and with so many to choose from I’d guess I’d go with a gift my brother gave me maybe 20 years ago or so. We both collected baseball cards as a kid, so that was a go to gift from Santa, but one Christmas, my brother gave me his very favorite baseball card, a Kenny Rogers card from when he pitched for the New York Mets. As I said, there are great memories made every year, but that one in particular always stands out to me when I think of Christmas’ past.
BBE: What is your favorite Christmas movie?
Jake: It’s A Wonderful Life, hands down. I’d even say it’s more than just a Christmas movie, and say it’s a great movie that just happens to take place with Christmas as its setting. I remember truly paying attention to it for the first time when we watched it in a middle school drama class, and ever since then I make my family watch it with me every year!
BBE: If you could be any holiday character who would it be and why?
Jake: This is the hardest question of the bunch I’d say. Being Santa would be great, but who wants to work on Christmas Eve? Not me. I’ll have to go with Ralphie’s Father from A Christmas Story. That feeling of getting somebody EXACTLY what they want is an awesome feeling, and he gets to do just that. Plus that character is just hilarious too.
BBE: What is your favorite Christmas song?
Jake: I’m going to give two for this one. The best song is any rendition of “Silent Night” sung by Johnny Cash. The man absolutely nails that song. But as a complete album, The Charlie Brown Christmas Soundtrack by The Vince Guaraldi Trio. That always played in my house every Christmas growing up, and we still listen to it to this day. A true Christmas classic, in my opinion.
Gentlemen’s Crow
BBE: What is your favorite thing about the holiday season?
GC: The best part of the holiday season is the atmosphere. Everyone moving about in their downtown areas, the lights, the music, the happy couples frolicking around in holiday cheer. It’s quite nostalgic for me and also romantic in an ethereal kind of way. This time of year just makes you yearn for a past love, memories of strolls down snowy streets, acoustic songs in your ear buds, layered outfits, not being able to tell if the puffs of air are from your breath or your cigarette. Forget the food and gifts, I am here for the ambiance.
BBE: What is the best holiday memory you have?
GC: My favorite holiday memory was the first year my brother returned for holidays from Morocco. It had been a year since I’d seen him. He left the U.S to start a now highly successful luxury rug company (BENI RUGS) and was coming back for the first time. There was a certain awe and wonder as he regaled us with stories of his new eastern homeland. It’s a fine memory to recall from my brain.
BBE: What is your favorite Christmas movie?
GC: My favorite Christmas Movie? Over the past few years I have become quite turned off by Christmas movies. Having seen Elf and Home Alone 100000 times in my life. Last year we watched that new Christopher Nolan film Tenet like six times because it had just come out, and it was so good yet confusing. Maybe not a “Christmas” movie but for some reason I will now watch that during the holiday season.
BBE: If you could be any holiday character who would it be and why?
GC: I would be James Stewart in It’s a Wonderful Life He plays George Bailey so well, I’ve always loved that character and the arc of his story. An absolute classic.
BBE: What is your favorite Christmas song?
GC: The Queens of The Stone Age cover of “Silent Night”. It’s so odd and good at the same time. Also Josh Homme just seems like the guy that would hate Christmas or doing any holiday music. So when I discovered this I was just fascinated.
Make sure to check out Part 1 of our 2021 Christmas Roundtable!
