Ah, Christmas.

It’s no exaggeration to say that it’s my favourite time of year – and I especially love that it’s the one time that I can play cheesy songs without feeling guilty. When it comes to Christmas songs, there are very little I don’t love – hell, I even love Slade’s Christmas song – and I have a special place in my heart for any band that attempts a Christmas song. Plus, ‘Christmas song’ usually makes people think of handclaps and sleigh bells and harmonies, and you can’t go wrong with that.

For some wonderful reason, a few Irish bands have decided to record Christmas songs this year – including many from the Popical Island stable. There will be a Christmas EP released by the Popical Island collective very soon and to give us a wee taster they have released this video, which gives us a sneak peek into the recording process (think 21 musicians in a small room, laughter, fun, friends, cheesy grins and saxophones).

The song in this video is ‘The High Line’ by the Popical Island Showband, and there are even more great Popical Island tunes to come.

The flagship song from the EP is aforementioned The High Line by the The Popical Island Showband, which will be joined by: Life Doesn’t Get Any Better Than This (It’s Christmas) – Yeh Deadlies; Better Next Year – The Walpurgis Family; Christmas Song – Tieranniesaur featuring The Sleigh Belles; I’ll Miss You Christmas Eve’ – Jonny Fun and the ….Hesitations; Blotto – The Popical Island Showband

The EP will be for sale from popicalisland.bandcamp.com next week – you can pick your price and all money will go to charity.

Another great Christmas song comes from the Thumped.com stable – namely Gaz from the band Moutpiece who writes what is probably the only Christmas song ever to have the word ‘buzzers’ in the opening line. There are some pretty classic moments in this video and the inimitable Gaz looks very dapper in his scarf:

More great Christmas music from Drunken Boat: