The Barenaked Ladies' Holiday Spirit

By
Gary Graff
January 6, 2006, 2:58 AM ET
2 min read

November 10, 2000 -- The Barenaked Ladies are on the road promoting their new album, Maroon, but there will be more BNL music to listen to in the coming weeks. The group has contributed songs to two holiday-themed releases: Nettwerk Records' Christmas Songs, which is due out Nov. 14 in Canada and a week later in the United States, and the soundtrack for Dr. Seuss' How the Grinch Stole Christmas, which hits stores Nov. 7.

BNL recorded "Green Christmas" for The Grinch during the Maroon sessions, after director Ron Howard came to the studio with a copy of the movie to show the band.

"We watched the movie and he showed us which parts needed music, and we honed in on one part of the movie that we felt we could capture," remembers keyboardist Kevin Hearn. "We only had two days to do it, so Ed [Robertson] went back to the hotel and came back with the song the next morning, and we just took all day and did it." Hearn describes the tune as "an upbeat song from the Grinch's perspective, I suppose. It has a little twist in it."

Hearn says the band also gave The Grinch 10 thumbs up. "The movie's cool," he says. "It's such a classic, it seemed like it would be hard to do, to remake it. I was wary, but Jim Carrey is the guy. He's great."

The Christmas Songs entry, a rendition of "God Rest Ye Merry, Gentlemen" with Sarah McLachlan, is older but was equally spontaneous. The two acts, which share a manager — Nettwerk owner and Christmas Songs executive producer Terry McBride — recorded it backstage during December 1997 at the Palace of Auburn Hills in suburban Detroit, where they were both booked on a radio station holiday concert. It was recorded on a portable DAT player, with BNL drummer Tyler Stewart batting out his part on a suitcase.

"We're friends with Sarah," says Hearn. "When we were just starting to do well in the States, she was already doing well, so we were teamed up to open for her a few times. We share a lot of crew with her, too. So it was like a big family, and [the recording session] was pretty casual."