The George Michael Christmas classic gets absolutely ruined by the ‘dulcet’ tones of Tone Def Tony! But then he has a very open message to all the fans and viewers about Christmas, his last Christmas, and his thoughts about THIS CHRISTMAS…
Tag: music
Who Will Be The First DJ To Play Our Song?
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In the run-up to the official release date (November 26th) of our killer Christmas hit song, I GOT PISSED WITH SANTA CLAUS, we got to wondering which DJ will be the first to play it ? We doubt any BBC DJ will be brave enough to play our slightly politically incorrect song on air, but you never know! Early tests on unsuspecting members of the public have shown that it’s catchy and annoying enough to stick in your head!
Our money is on Chris Evans to be the ground-breaker, though. The ‘rebel of radio’ is known for not listening to the boring nah-sayers and doing his own thing. But the big question is, will he like it enough to play it on air? Music is a funny thing. Something that one person loves, another person hates. Perhaps the ‘Carrot-top of chat’ isn’t a fan of Christmas? Could he be a ginger-Grinch? Only time will tell.
Either way, we are happy to have our song ready for release and look forward to putting you all out of your misery. The launch date is only days away now!
Thanks, as ever, for all your continued support and encouragement. We could not have made this happen without all of your help.
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Until Next Time!
Charity Midlife Crisis…!
WHEN THE AVERAGE BLOKE of our age has a midlife crisis, they usually go and buy a flash car, or a super-bike, or have an affair, or go traveling to ‘find’ themselves, but -since we can’t afford any of that – our midlife crisis consists of working together to build a recording studio and producing a smash hit to raise money for charity!
Having realised that none of us has actually achieved anything in our lives, this felt like a good thing to do. I mean, I can think of worse things to spend your time and energy on, can’t you? Starting a project to help inspire other people to follow suit, surely has to rate as a noble undertaking, right? I know it’s probably quite unusual in a ‘what’s in it for me?’ society to spend your ‘confusing forties’ doing something altruistic, but it’s where we are being called.
“Stay optimistic, but realise the world will think you crazy, until what you are doing becomes normal!”
It’s quite staggering that back in the summer when we began this project we had a huge support from people around us (even my family members that usually snub my crazy ideas!) However, as we near completion of the song and get ready for the big, final push, those closest to us seem to be dropping like flies! Perhaps they are bored with is now, or it could just be the colder weather! We know what we are doing is a bit mad, but unfortunately (or fortunately) in true Mastermind fashion, “We’ve started, so we’ll finish!”
Thanks for being along for the ride. We’ve all but given up on our Kickstarter – even though we picked up a new backer over the weekend! – but if you feel like spreading the word, you can use this link: BACK OUR PROJECT PLEASE!
The real work lays ahead… we’ll do it with or without a music video, but we do need to get the word out there about the song. Stay tuned, we’ll be sharing the finished song after tomorrow, which is our last day in the studio!
Until the next time…!
Some Comic Relief…
As a thank you to everybody that is helping out with our fundraising project – Especially Lisa in Dublin…! We decided to give you all a break from our persistent pestering, and just share something rather silly instead… Enjoy and thank you all!
Celebrity Backing…! I Got Pissed With Santa Claus
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Well, the public might not be getting behind our charity Christmas song yet, but we still have to get Hallowe’en out of the way first, don’t we, but that’s okay as the celebrities are starting to line up to help us!
In true StarTrek fashion, William Shatner aka Captain James T. Kirk willingly volunteered to recite part of our song to help promote I GOT PISSED WITH SANTA CLAUS by Tone Def Tony and the Ho, ho, hos! Have a watch and a listen below:
DISCLAIMER: Obviously this isn’t William Shatner, it’s Tone Def Tony doing yet another one of his silly voices to help break the monotony of constantly asking people for money! We have to write that just in case we get sued and any money that we do actually manage to raise for charity will go straight back out again.
You know we hate to ask, but…
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Until Next Time…!
We Now Have A Facebook Page!
The wonders of old people and technology! With great frustration and A LOT of persistence, we’ve finally worked out how to get a Facebook Page. Click on the image of this happy chappy to go there…
Can you guess who it is…? Add a comment below, if you know!
We still need your help with our Kickstarter, so please share and support if you can.
Many thanks as always!
Who Writes Christmas Songs In Summer?
In our series of continuing to share some tid-bits of trivia about Tone Def Tony, the band, and the folks behind I GOT PISSED WITH SANTA CLAUS, here’s a little insight into the man responsible for the crazy lyrics and how they got written.
The hottest summer since 1976 seems a really odd setting for writing a Christmas song, but Donnelly is actually old enough to remember that summer – and the brutally cold Winter that followed! For those that know Donnelly, although he’s not a fan of Christmas, he sings Christmas songs all year round. It’s annoying. It’s silly. But he does it anyway! He doesn’t do it to be an arse, he just really likes Christmas songs. A strange quirk, I guess.
Flashback in time for a minute… The turn of the millennium. Donnelly was living in the US of A and came up with some fun lyrics for a spoof World Cup Song (CHANT LIKE AN ENGLISH FAN) which he ended up producing with his late, old school mate, Richard Eyre, with mixed success. As they were developing the song, Richard happened to mention that Christmas songs were also a good avenue for ‘one hit wonders’. Back then no lyrics were forthcoming, but the seed was planted in Donnelly’s mind. How cool would it be to have his own Christmas song?
It took almost 18 years for that seed to germinate. Whilst promoting his old chestnut of a World Cup Song, sat in his garden sunbathing, guess what happened? Yep, that’s right, he got a cosmic download of the song lyrics! First it was just the first line of the chorus, as he mused about getting drunk with Santa Claus (as you do, right?) and then the whole lot just whooshed into his pea-brain! Not being very musical, he had to record it so he didn’t forget the tune.
At their monthly poker meet up, the song was shared with Finch and Davey, and the rest, as they say, is history…
Until Next Time!
Finch’s Folly – Learning the Software!
Who would spend two years building their own sound studio? We must be mad! If you haven’t read the story, you can read it here: Building The Studio – Part One. Building the studio was hard enough. Here it is finished:
Well, almost. But that was really only half the battle! Now we had to wrap our heads around the hardware and software behind the studio!
It was originally only built so that Finch could give drum lessons, or at the very least drum in peace and quiet, without disturbing anyone else.
However, as Finch started to buy more kit, it started to morph into a recording studio…
Here’s his desk. Looks like the control panel for a Boeing 757…! But thank god this thing stays on the ground, as the early teething problems with the desk and the Logic Pro X software have been a minefield! If we had actually been flying a plane, we’d have killed more passengers than every plane-bomber to date!
Credit to Finch, he’s worked through it, and now knows what he’s doing! But it wasn’t always that way. We were in the studio a few times and belted out some cool sounds, but the hardware and software weren’t playing ball. Weeks went by working on the song, but not being able to actually record anything!!! Talk about fucking frustrating!
The hardest thing with digital, as opposed to analogue, is that one thing doesn’t just do ONE THING. If you pre-set something, then press the wrong buttons in the wrong order… Oh me, oh my…! To say this part of the project was annoying would be an understatement. BUT… we’ve got it all sorted now, and the track is getting laid down. Hoo-rah!
Keep reading and stay in touch for a sneak peek of the song as it progresses to being a massive top 10 hit this year…!
Until Next Time…!
A Glass And A Half Of Santa…!
I doubt we’ll get any Kickstarter funding from JC Decaux, but this was a photo opportunity not to be missed!
Forget about chocolate advertising for a minute… Just how many beers does it take for Tone Def Tony to write a cracking Christmas song…?
BTW: If you happen to work for JC Decaux and really WANT TO donate to our music video fund, we’d really appreciate the offer!
Crowdfunding is hard work! If you’ve never done it, try it. It’s as hard as producing a smash hit Christmas song! Well, we don’t know we’ve got that on our hands yet, we’re still dotting the semi-quavers and crossing the tweeters, but we’re hopeful some of our DJ friends will like what we’ve done with it enough to play it at some Christmas parties, and hopefully some of the others we know will plug it on the radio!
Over the years (since we’re all old farts!) we’ve learned that to be successful it takes PATIENCE, persistence, hard work, and most of all… Not caring if you make a complete tit of yourself!
OH, did we mention we’re still raising money for our music video?
Christmas Starts Earlier And Earlier…!
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IF WE KEEP ON at this rate, we’ll be celebrating Christmas in July! This is part of the reason for us producing our song, I GOT P**SED WITH SANTA CLAUS. The commercialization of Christmas just seems to start earlier and earlier! And, yes, we ARE trying to sell our song at Christmas time, but we’re trying to bring a bit of fun and comedy, and a sense of giving back to the season.
We remember playing fun, family games, people getting together that haven’t seen each other for a while, drinking and eating far too much, and just having fun. Simple, innocent pleasures. It wasn’t about giving the biggest most expensive gift, it was about sharing and spending time with people you care about.
This is a picture of the last proper Winter I experienced in North America. I haven’t experienced a Christmas like that in the UK in years! BUT, the last time I did was 1976… the last time we had a Summer like the one we’ve just had…!
As you get sucked into the ‘propaganda’ of Christmas this year, we hope that our song is playing in the background somewhere that reminds people that there “WON’T BE NO PRESENTS ON CHRISTMAS DAY!” for many people at home and around the world. Don’t worry, we’re not going all ‘Band Aid’ on you, we’d just like to remind you to think about what you already have, and perhaps feel grateful that you have it.
However, if you feel like you have too much and would like to donate to our Kickstarter…
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Until Next Time…!
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