This is Emily Beanblossom. She plays in the band Christmas, but is coming out with a new LP on K this spring under the name Ruby Fray. The new record is called Pith, was recorded at Dub Narcotic Studio, and sounds fantastic.
Christmas, 2011. In the twice burned, but still legendary, Reef bar. Olympia, WA. Photo by Sarah Cass.
Well, hello there Ruby Fray…you must be the new project from K darling and Christmas-er Emily Beanblossom! I hear that her new album “Pith” is so not out yet, so someone must be leaking this track. For you. Someone must like you, very much.
The somewhat unknown tour video for Christmas’ 2009 West Coast tour with Desolation Wilderness. Features live footage, drunk footage, band arguments, Voodoo Donuts donuts, the merits of Santa Cruz, and some excellent surprise vocals by Pat.
from the video description:
Christmas was first an idea that was born in an eastern European dive bar. Emily Beanblossom (vocals, keys) and Pat Scott-Walsh (guitar) had decided to go to Poland together without even knowing each other. But while there, they had realized their mutual love for shitty sounding music. When they got back to Olympia, rock and roll didn’t even exist. People had to find other ways to swear, drink, and just go crazy in a town where suppression of the these human urges was the way it was. So Emily called up her friend Dave Halegua and told him he was going to be in a rock and roll band and play bass. After seeing Jake Jones’ fast-pasted Moon Runners play (a bit of post-punk mixed with Black Sabbath) he was asked to join. So the members of Christmas decided they needed to make a band that wasn’t nice or pretty, but rough and sexy. They finally got their act together and they even started to remember the songs they wrote. The first show resulted in a bunch of underage kids getting kicked out of the bar and spilled beer all over. Since then, Christmas has released a 7” with Endless Latino, and did a west coast tour with Desolation Wilderness in the summer of 2009, followed by a few one-offs in San Francisco with Thee Oh Sees and Arrington de Dionyso’s Malaikat dan Singa. They like playing Santa Cruz because beautiful people party really hard. Portland has been nice to them and Seattle lets them play art openings.
CHRISTMAS from VideWhoa Video on Vimeo.
Video shot and edited by Brian Echon.
Here’s a special something: “Poppers”, the last song of the last set of the short-lived but glorious Olympia band Glow Tips, which featured a number of artists with K ties: guitarists Pat Scott-Walsh (Christmas, Boca a Boca) and Jake Goltiani (Herr Jazz, Brian Formo (K publicist from 2008-2010 and also proprietor of Endless Latino Records), drummer Spencer Carrow (Generifus, Hermit Thrushes, Sick Jumps), and bassist Nick Botka (Christopher Francis & Son, Legs the Crab). This killer-diller May 2010 show at the Mango House also featured sick sets from Christmas, The Maxines (one of their very first shows), legendary garage sloggers The Beets, and Terraform.
Christmas is a week into their tour (they’re in Tennessee at the moment), so check out their schedule and see if they’ll be playing near you.
Curious what the mayhem sounds like? Check out new tour single “Pyong”.
emily beanblossom/christmas
Wild witch children Christmas are about to kick off a three-week tour of the American eastern regions and southern underbelly. The trouble starts on Wednesday in Austin, TX and will rip up to Boston by mid-November. And to hold over those out of the tour range in Middle and Western America, Christmas has released the new single “Pyong” for free (with the help of all-stars Highfives and Handshakes).
TOUR DATES:
10/28 Austin, TX – Beerland for Ethan’s Birthday+Benefit
10/29 Houston, TX w/ Indian Jewelry, Weird Party, Masters of the Universe
10/30 New Orleans, LA - Moped Warehouse
10/31 New Orleans, LA – Dead People 7” Record Release
11/1 OFF/NOLA
11/2 Memphis, TN - w/ The Vignettes, The Blew Jays
11/3 Nashville, TN - Foo Bar
11/4 Knoxville, TN – The Pilot Light w/ Mutations
11/5 Durham, NC – Duke Coffeehouse w/ The Beets
11/6 Athens, GA – Farm 255 w/ The Beets
11/7 Chattanooga – Collective Warehouse
11/8 Columbia, SC – Hunger-Gatherer
11/9 Charlotte, NC - Sewercide Mansion
11/10 Harrisonburg - Mymansion
11/11 Philadelphia, PA - Jarmel’s Burfday
11/12 Philadelphia, PA – Little Bar w/ Far Out Fangtooth, Creepoid
11/13 Washington, DC – Comet Ping Pong
11/14 Philadelphia
11/15 Baltimore - TBD
11/16 Boston, MA - Muther Ship
11/17 New York City, NY
11/18 NYC
11/19 Middleton, CT - Wesleyan
11/20 Feed us and shows!
And as always, they’ll be slinging some rad merch: soap, tote bags, and other handmade goodies… not to mention their LP and various 7”. Stock up, ‘cause ‘tis the season and all… nothing like getting your friends and family some great Christmas presents.
Christmas singer Emily Beanblossom has a mysterious new music project under the moniker Ruby Fray, and she’ll be playing a shindig in Olympia on Friday, Sept. 30. Also playing are Briana Marela (Bicycle Records), Dana Jewell & the Hungry Hearts (Underwater Peoples), and Penny Dreadfuls - a serious all-star lineup. Show starts at 8pm at the DEF House!
obligatory FB link: http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=262337397139225
Christmas
“Pies”
4-28-11
White House
Vancouver, BC
Emily Beanblossom vocals/percussion
David Aaron Halegua-Hale bass
Patrick Michael Scott-Walsh guitar
Jake Jones drums
Driving Miss Beanblossom…a glorified Canadian road trip with Christmas. Daniel Rincon set up the show. Great venue, great people. Emily made pierogis and led a Polish folk dance before we left. Pat conducted experiments with rubber cement. Jake Jones did a caveman grind on a snooker table. Dave has Jersey plates. Who is the cool gal with the cool van who housed us and fed us burritos (and seaweed)? Great music in Vancouver. Go Canada!
——-footage from the April 2011 Christmas/Bare Wires Northwest tour. Wanna see ‘em at Northern in Olympia? Check it out here.
Christmas was (not surprisingly) the hit of Yellingham! Here’s my favorite paragraph from Jason Baxter’s article on the event for Weekly Volcano:
“Ballyhooed Olympian quartet Christmas followed, and their performance was the obvious highlight of the weekend. Every member gave it their all, though it’s hard not to single out the soulful, energizing presence of frontwoman Emily Beanblossom. The band’s crazy-worldly rock had the entire room moshing, kicking up a bank of hot, sweaty air. From my precarious vantage atop a stool in the corner of the room, I watched the bodies flailing and convulsing to the beat. Every time drummer Jake Jones hit a crash, it sent a glowstick mounted on the cymbal spinning around in circles. The entire set was dizzying.”
Read the rest of Jason’s article HERE.
Some TEXAS footage! This is the last song we played at our last set at SXSW, the K Records showcase at Cheer Up Charlies. My drumset was falling apart there and I guess I was getting a little bit antsy.. kind of let the tempo go wild (I think my high school marching band reflexes kicked in at the end!) Thanks to the unknown audience person who filmed this.
-Jake
Single from the upcoming self-titled Christmas LP (out 3/14 on Hivefives & Handshakes/CMRTYZ). Available for free download on the Christmas Bandcamp.
And if you dig this, then dig THIS: excerpts from the album will be polluting your ears this Saturday between 10-11pm, via KEXP 90.3FM in Seattle (with live streaming over the internet for all you non-Seattlites). Tune in.
Want to hear what Calvin Johnson and Christmas cooked up? Grab the recently-released “Namiot” 7” or K Singles Zip-Pak KZP009 (w/ a CJ and Emily Beanblossom duet!).
