As the festive season bears down on us like a fire truck dressed with tinsel and fairies, we’ve chosen eight glistening baubles with which to decorate the Christmas tree of Rock.
Black Metal Sock Puppets - Immortal Christmas Some welcome Christmas cheer from the Black Metal Sock Puppets, as our hand-knitted heroes confuse Satan with Santa. We’ve all done it.
Butch Walker - Bed On Fire A “dark siren song of tortured love and the video features slow motion biker brawl scenes with face-painted attackers, turning the song into more of a murder ballad”, it says here. And who are we to argue? No-one, that’s who.
Frank Turner - Merry Christmas You… Butch returns with another entry in this festive TOTW entry, this time in cohorts with folk-punk troubadour Frank Turner. This throwaway romp is an extremely potty-mouthed affair, suggesting that the foul duo have been at the Christmas sherry early doors.
Fireflight – Resuscitate “I love this band”, says AOR Magazine editor Geoff “Geoff” Barton, and Geoff knows a thing or two about this sort of thing. Resuscitate comes from the band’s new PledgeMusic-funded album Innova, which will be available from all the very best Christian Rock retailers in May.
Harry Shearer and Judith Owen - Christmas with the devil Smoothy smooth jazz stuff (even a bit of scat) from the man behind Derek Smalls and Principal Skinner off The Simpsons. A significant proportion of the CRock office is still spectacularly hungover after our Christmas this week, and this soft, stylish number is proving quite the antidote.
Gov’t Mule - Fearless The Mule continue their onslaught on the Pink Floyd catalogue with this faithful reproduction of the band’s Fearless. True to the original, this live recording features the Kop Choir singing You’ll Never Walk Alone, the song that inspired Queen to write We Will Rock You and We Are The Champions.
Steel Panther - The Stocking Song Ahh, Steel Panther, with their innuendo and the glossy Strip stylings. What are they up to this Christmas? They’re singing about egg nog and stockings, that’s what, although it would appear that neither are of the traditional festive type. This version was filmed for Metal Hammer at an intimate show at London’s 12-Bar venue.
Frank Hannon Band – Born Free Given the song’s title, this is a surprisingly lion-free zone as Frank takes a break from his day job with Tesla. For any California-based readers who don’t yet have plans for New Year’s Eve, Frank will be performing at Sammy Hagar’s Island Bar and Grill in Roseville, where the $52 ticket price will include a buffet and champagne toast. Get in.
