Chris Jericho & The Christmas Helves recently released a charity cover of The Kinks' "Father Christmas" and to celebrate we asked the entertainment icon and Fozzy frontman to tell us about that track. Here is Chris with the story the story:
Putting out a Christmas single is something I've been interested in doing for a while and it just really fit for me to do it this year. There's only a handful of great rock 'n' roll Christmas songs to choose from and "Father Christmas" by The Kinks is one of them. It also hasn't been overly covered; there's a few that have come out over the years, but not a lot, nothing at a major level. I think when talking about the great Christmas songs, it gets pretty thin, so this felt like the right song to do. It's good attitude, really perfect for my voice, and I love that era of The Kinks, that '70s era of their music: "Father Christmas," "Low Budget," "Superman," so it just worked out to be the perfect song. It fit really well with a more rock 'n' roll/heavy metal arrangement to it on top of it as well. Plus, I know doing a Christmas song you're guaranteed airplay at least once a year!
Originally, I wanted Fozzy to do it, but the timing didn't work out because we're working on a new record and the guys are busy writing, so to take the time to do another song wasn't something they were interested in. And that's fine, I get it! As a singer, there's not a lot of pre-production for me for an album. So, since there wasn't much for me to do musically with Fozzy, it was the perfect time frame to record and release the song and be able to promote it. I put together a group of friends of mine that are great musicians in the Tampa area and that's where The Christmas Helves were born. It didn't take long to record - we banged it out in a couple of days. One thing I really appreciated was when you give people a chance that have never recorded at a high level before, as far as a song that's going to be played on Octane and around the world on the radio, they really put a lot of time and effort into it. They worked fast as well and that made the difference for me because from a vocal standpoint and an arrangement standpoint, that's my forte - actually hitting the guitars and bass and drums, is not. So, this great group of people got together and really good sound came out of it. I then sent the song to Jay Ruston, one of the greatest mixers in rock 'n' roll today who's out in LA, to mix it and there you go!
Best part is all the profits from "Father Christmas" are being donated to Juvenile Diabetes research, something that is very close to me. Two of my kids are suffering from Type 1 Diabetes and I wanted to keep the Christmas theme of the song. Not only is it a Christmas song, but you're also giving something back. It is the season to give! I thought people that decide to check the song out and buy it on iTunes or stream it, whatever way that the revenue pays for music nowadays, I can take those profits and put them towards a noble cause. Hopefully that will make someone more interested in checking it out, or feel better about checking it out, knowing that there's a real Christmas theme and idea behind the Christmas song. It really all tied together for me. Check it out for yourself and help support!
Hearing is believing. Now that you know the story behind the song, listen for yourself and also help since all money raised from downloads and streams of the track will be donated to Juvenile Diabetes research. Check out the song via your preferred music service right here!
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