Welcome to our 7th annual Christmas Roundtable! 2022 has seen the world start to change and go back to normal for people around the world. 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 2023 and more amazing music!
BBE: What is your favorite thing about the holiday season?
Gold Steps: People reflecting on their year and being grateful to each other.
BBE: What is the best holiday memory you have?
Gold Steps: We played a Holiday show back in Austin set up by our good friend Anthony Morales and it really brought the scene and everyone together.
BBE: What is your favorite Christmas movie?
Gold Steps: Home Alone
BBE: If you could be any holiday character who would it be and why?
Gold Steps: The Grinch. Because at first he hates everything about it but at the end he realizes what Christmas is all about.
BBE: What is your favorite Christmas song?
Gold Steps: “Yule Shoot Your Eye Out” by Fall Out Boy, “Happy Holidays
You Bastard” and “I Won’t Be Home For Christmas” by Blink 182.
BBE: What is your favorite thing about the holiday season?
LEA: Getting to go back to my hometown at the beach. It’s essentially a little ghost town during winter but feels peaceful and serene and I get to see all my hometown friends I grew up with!
BBE: What is the best holiday memory you have?
LEA: One of my favorite recent holiday memories was last year in 2021, I got to play a sold-out show in my hometown during Christmas time. Playing back with my band from high school and having my family and friends all come to support me was an unforgettable memory.
BBE: What is your favorite Christmas movie?
LEA: I am a sucker for Hallmark Christmas movies. They’re so blissfully corny and I enjoy getting to watch them with my mom and a Johnny Walker Blue in hand.
BBE: If you could be any holiday character who would it be and why?
LEA: Either put me in a classic animated Christmas movie or the Home Alone house. I’m here for the campy, chaotic, overly joyful Christmas spirit, haha.
BBE: What is your favorite Christmas song?
LEA: “Hey Santa” by Carnie and Wendy Wilson. I sang this tune so much growing up on my elementary school stage. Brings back so many happy memories.
Nervous Eaters (David McLean) (Facebook/Insta)
BBE: What is your favorite thing about the holiday season?
DM: There is a feeling of hope, spirituality, warmth, good cheer and good deeds with a touch of magic that still remains. Even as the world spins out of control, sometimes all the bad pauses for a moment, I dig that.
BBE: What is the best holiday memory you have?
DM: Xmas eve, being young believing and waiting for Santa, truly magical in every sense
BBE: What is your favorite Christmas movie?
DM: It’s a Wonderful Life
BBE: If you could be any holiday character who would it be and why?
DM: My wife says that I remind her of George Bailey, it makes me smile that she even thinks that, so yes, that guy trying hard everyday to live well and do good works
BBE: What is your favorite Christmas song?
DM: “Little Drummer Boy” by Mathew Ryan from the “Christmas Songs” album, what a great gritty vibe of a classic (obviously I’m a drummer). Imagine, to be able to give a gift so personal in that setting, as an artist when I listen to that version, it’s emotional and it’s all good.
MattstaGraham (Facebook/Insta)
BBE: What is your favorite thing about the holiday season?
MattstaGraham: As much as I gripe about the hold corporations have over this holiday, I really do like the decorations and the time I get to spend with loved ones. I totally get that this sounds like a halmark movie answer but hey, the truth isn’t always interesting.
BBE: What is the best holiday memory you have?
MattstaGraham: The Christmas I got a Gamecube and Sonic Adventure 2 Battle. My life has never been the same.
BBE: What is your favorite Christmas movie?
MattstaGraham: DIE HARD. Just kidding. I really liked the claymation Christmas movies as a kid and now they’re a holiday comfort for me.
BBE: If you could be any holiday character who would it be and why?
MattstaGraham: I’d be the yeti from the old Rudolph claymation Christmas movie so I could crush my Christmas enemies and also reach very tall places.
BBE: What is your favorite Christmas song?
MattstaGraham: “Father Christmas” by the Kinks. It’s the ultimate Christmas song.
Tiny Ghosts (Dayan Marquina) (Facebook/Insta)
BBE: What is your favorite thing about the holiday season?
DM: My favorite part is traveling back home to see my family and friends in Charlotte, NC. I usually stay for a few weeks because my schedule can get pretty overwhelming with festivities.
This is also the time when Eric and I take advantage of being together IRL and work on music stuff as well. No matter how packed my days are during the holiday break, it is my favorite time of the year hands down!
BBE: What is the best holiday memory you have?
DM: Always being with my family. I am fortunate and lucky to have great relationships with my parents and siblings so all my happy Christmas memories have them in it. I also loved Christmas in Peru as a child, fireworks are big over there so I have all these nice memories of lighting up fireworks with my Grandpa, siblings and cousins.
BBE: What is your favorite Christmas movie?
DM: I will sound like such a millennial saying this, but– Harry Potter, I know they are not Christmas movies, but it’s just something about them that make them very nostalgic to watch during the holiday season! (that and Die Hard)
BBE: If you could be any holiday character who would it be and why?
DM: Kevin Mcallister, because I like to think I would be as witty and prepared as he is at any occasion.
BBE: What is your favorite Christmas song?
DM: If I had to pick just one, I would say “White Christmas”.
BBE: What is your favorite thing about the holiday season?
Tony A: FOOD! And lots of it. I also love seeing the creative decorations people come up with.
Tony M: I personally love the feeling of nostalgia, with the decorations and music in all the stores you go into. It really just takes me back to a time in my life as a kid just being so excited to watch Rudolph or frosty the snowman and being with family.
Mike: My favorite thing about the holiday season is catching up with friends and family I don’t get to see as often, and the quiet time making memories with the people that I love the most.
Justin: Man, I feel like a Grinch! I worked retail for so many years and a lot of the “Christmas Magic” was sucked away from people who couldn’t get that one specific item they wanted on Christmas Eve hah. For me I really just love spending time with family and friends while not listening to Mariah Carey!
BBE: What is the best holiday memory you have?
Tony A: Basically once when I was a kid my parents tricked me into thinking the three kings visited us and left gifts for us on three kings day. There was matchbox cars car wash that I wanted and my parents got it for me. My brother got an Arnold Schwarzenegger toy from last action hero. It was a good day.
Tony M: Ok so my favorite memory is actually not incredibly wholesome, but my mom surprised me with a game boy and a Pokemon game as a kid. But what was so funny was I opened the gift of the game first before I got the game boy. And instead of putting two and two together, I started getting upset thinking “why would Santa give me this if I don’t even have a game boy???” And since my mom labeled the gift as from Santa she couldn’t just go ahead and tell me to open the other gift because she was pretending, she had no idea what I got. Just kind of a funny moment that we look back at, CLASSIC little kid stuff
Mike: I’ll never forget opening my N64 with Turok and Madden 64.
Justin: I had a similar story with Pokémon!! My parents got me Pokémon Blue back in the day and said they “couldn’t” find a Gameboy to go with it. So the next day on Christmas I got a purple Gameboy color from Santa (conveniently)
BBE: What is your favorite Christmas movie?
Tony A: Jingle All the Way. “It’s turbo time!”
Tony M: That’s a tough one, but I think I’ll have to go with the Jim Carrey Grinch.
Mike: Home Alone, for sure. Lost in New York is the GOAT of sequels, too.
Justin: Jingle All The Way for me! Nothing beats Turbo Man
BBE: If you could be any holiday character who would it be and why?
Tony A: Probably Bernard the Elf from The Santa Clause. I feel like I’m kinda like him at work sometimes.
Tony M: Gotta go with my dawg Yukon Cornelius
Mike: A fly on the wall during the trap and prank scenes in Home Alone 2.
Justin: I identify heavily with The Grinch (Jim Carey)
BBE: What is your favorite Christmas song?
Tony A: “Christmas Wrapping” by The Waitresses
Tony M: I love “Wonderful Christmastime” by Paul McCartney
Mike: “This Is My Wish” by Kevin Ross
Justin: “Decemberism” – Man Overboard
Havanna Winter (Facebook/Insta)
BBE: What is your favorite thing about the holiday season?
HW: I love looking at all the different Christmas decorations!! My mom and I usually go to NYC or Norway for Christmas and when we do, we always walk around town to look at the Christmas decorations.
BBE: What is the best holiday memory you have?
HW: My favorite memories would probably have to be when my mom and I go out to dinner or go ice skating or skiing.
BBE: What is your favorite Christmas movie?
HW: My favorite Christmas would have to be Home Alone.
BBE: If you could be any holiday character who would it be and why?
HW: I think it would be fun to be Cindy Loo Who because I think it would be fun to see what Who-land is in real life.
BBE: What is your favorite Christmas song?
HW: That’s a hard question bc I love so many Christmas songs but I would have to say my top three are “Santa Baby” by Eartha Kitt, “White Christmas” by Irving Berlin and The Drifters, and “Last Christmas” by Wham!
Swim The Current (Greg Antine) (Facebook/Insta)
BBE: What is your favorite thing about the holiday season?
GA: My mother. I am following in the footsteps of her mother’s tradition.
BBE: What is the best holiday memory you have?
GA: Learning that my immediate family would be going to Florida/ Disney
BBE: What is your favorite Christmas movie?
GA: Predator 1997
BBE: If you could be any holiday character who would it be and why?
GA: Yukon Cornelius Why? Because His character is portrayed as a mountain survivalist
BBE: What is your favorite Christmas song?
GA: Star Wars Theme Song
BBE: What is your favorite thing about the holiday season?
ML: Spending time with family on Christmas Eve. We get out guitars and do a big singalong then we do a crazy gift swap. And there’s food, of course.
BBE: What is the best holiday memory you have?
ML: Doing presents with my kids on Christmas morning when they were really little. There is nothing like seeing the joy and wonder kids have on Christmas.
BBE: What is your favorite Christmas movie?
ML: A Charlie Brown Christmas. That soundtrack is amazing. That’s why I wanted to record my own version of “Christmas Time is Here.”
BBE: If you could be any holiday character who would it be and why?
ML: Buddy the Elf. Or really any one of Santa’s sidekick elves. How cool would it be to ride in a sleigh pulled by flying reindeer?
BBE: What is your favorite Christmas song?
ML: “Christmas Time is Here” from A Charlie Brown Christmas. I just released my own version!
Robot Monster (Logan Sidle) (Facebook/Insta)
BBE: What is your favorite thing about the holiday season?
LS: My favorite thing about the holiday season is the spirit of celebration and joy in the air. November and December is my favorite time of the year, and I love seeing the world transform into a holiday wonderland. I prefer colder weather and when it snows where I live in Connecticut, with all the decorations and pretty lights, it’s truly magical.
BBE: What is the best holiday memory you have?
LS: The best holiday memories I have are celebrating Christmas at my parent’s house and having a big party with our friends and family every year. We would have big jam sessions in the basement with a lot of our other musician friends, and the vibe was tight. This celebration every Christmas Eve always makes me feel grateful that I have a supportive family and a good network of friends.
BBE: What is your favorite Christmas movie?
LS: My favorite Christmas movie at the moment is probably The Night Before with Seth Rogan. That movie is so hilarious and everything I could possibly want in a Christmas movie. I’m a lover of comedy, especially the cast in this movie, and it hits all the targets for me of what makes a fun comedy Christmas film.
BBE: If you could be any holiday character who would it be and why?
LS: If I could be any holiday character I’d be Santa Claus! But not just any normal Santa Claus, a funny and outrageous Santa Claus. I’d go around delivering gifts to people and enjoying my sweet sled ride. I’d have to really take advantage of all the superpowers I’d now have like, traveling across the globe in less than 12 hours and being able to control reindeer. That seems like a pretty fun power to have.
BBE: What is your favorite Christmas song?
LS: My favorite Christmas song at the moment would be “Happy Xmas” by John Lennon. That song is so sweet and touching and is needed in the world right now. The message seems to be for global peace, at least on Christmas. I find it beautiful and a really nostalgic and touching song. Truly a classic.
