Kissing Party
Winter in the Pub
Reviewed by: Max Miller
My family and I aren’t really celebrating Christmas this year. And while we may be in the minority, I’m sure we’re far from alone. For those who would ostensibly participate in yuletide festivities otherwise, there are plenty of valid excuses for forgoing Christmas: financial burden, depression, family emergencies, sheer burnout on putting up with the stress of the holiday season, etc.
One thing’s for certain, though; most folks are going to be almost oppressively insistent that you act as if the world is naught but sunshine and rainbows all throughout the season. Some have been lucky enough for their every Christmas to be just as wonderful as all the Hallmark cards in the world could ever suggest. Others simply wish to convince themselves that the holidays really are an impenetrable bubble of happiness at the end of each increasingly stressful year. Fortunately, one band understands how the whole advent season ordeal might leave you feeling fed up. In the spirit of getting out the Christmas spirit, Denver’s Kissing Party have released Winter In the Pub, an “anti-Christmas” album of mopey originals that capture the flipside of all the enforced holiday cheer.
From the moment the opening title track kicks things off, it is readily apparent that Winter In The Pub is not making Santa’s nice list. There are no tongue-in-cheek sleigh bells or interpolations of familiar Christmas melodies. The song is a somber shoegazing number centered around singer/guitarist Gregg Dolan mumbling a downer chorus of “I’ll wait for you to come for me / My mind’s diseased.” The tone of the song instantly made me recall my first Christmas after I turned 21, when I bought a bottle of whiskey at the local ABC Store and the clerk looked me in the eyes and, in lieu of a farewell, said, “Don’t forget to spend time with your family this year.” Yeesh.
While cuts like “Reckless Road” and “The Black Crown” begin to utilize the more traditional bells-and-orchestration motif familiar to many Christmas songs, this technique serves as an ironic counterpoint to the the songs’ melancholy sentiments, in the same vein as the Kinks’ “Father Christmas” or the Ramones’ “Merry Christmas (I Don’t Want To Fight Tonight).” “Warren City Christmas, “My Only One” and “Dale Voorhies” also follow those classics’ tradition of upbeat, punky carols. No other tune, however, matches the title track’s eerie disassociation from all things jolly and festive. While tracks like “You’re Going Everywhere Without Me” and “Merry Christmas Darling (Maybe Next Year Things Will Change)” have their own uniquely sad charms, they still have a fairly traditional sound overall.
Winter In The Pub may not be the first nor the best musical testament to the darker side of the Christmas season, but Kissing Party’s efforts are still appreciated. As Christmas 2016 steadily approaches, one can’t help but feel that if ever there was a year when we might favor dimly-lit bars over brightly-lit trees, this was it. After all, if you’re heading into 2017 feeling like the past year didn’t, in some way, steal a little bit of your soul…well then hello there, Donald Trump. Thanks for taking the time out of your busy day to read this review!
Rating: Listenable
