New York, NY. (Top40 Charts/ Baghdaddios Official Website) - Kenn Rowell was born and raised in New York. At the age of 21, he helped found NYC indie rock pioneers, The Baghdaddios. They played their third show ever at the now-departed, legendary punk rock showplace, C.B.G.B. So one morning, while living in a $400-a-month basement apartment in his native Nyack, NY - when he opened his eyes and the inspiration for a holiday-themed rocker leapt into his consciousness - he sprang from bed, grabbed his acoustic six-string, and started singing:
'Christmas at C.B.G.B.s. Here with all the friends I know.
Christmas at C.B.G.B.s. Man it's good to be back home.'
'It just seemed like such a natural,' explains Rowell, who, 10 years later, still fronts The Baghdaddios, organizes the Blank-Fest benefit concerts (https://www.blankfest.com), which raises blankets and clothing for the homeless, and annually brushes the dust off the old-school-punk-styled tune for his band to perform at venues around his now-hometown, NYC.
'When I first wrote it I thought 'OK, this is a pretty neat tune', but for some reason I didn't play it for anybody for about a year', recalls Rowell, who plays rhythm guitar and sings lead for the 4-piece act. 'Then one day I got it in my head that this had to become a Holiday single. From that point forward I wouldn't let it go'.
Drummer Paul Zlotucha, who was with the band at the time, remembers that summer evening in 1998 when he first heard the song. 'We were recording late into the night and somewhere around 11:30 - after about 4 or 5 beers - Kenn says 'You know, I wrote this punk rock Christmas song, can I play it for you?' and I was feeling all loose and warmed up so I just said 'Go for it, man' and he cuts loose on this really catchy tune. It felt so effortless that I just jumped in and by the 2nd take I had the drum parts down, perfectly, in my head!'
Within one week the rest of the band had entered the studio and the song was all but finished, a short run of 50 CDs were burned for what was supposed to be a strictly-for-radio release only. There was only one problem with the release of this song:
The CDs weren't shipped to radio stations until December 14 of that year; only 11 days before Christmas and way too late for most music directors to seriously consider, review and air the tune in time for the Holiday. After Christmas there seemed no point in airing the song. In other words, the song 'bombed'.
Even when submitted to radio stations well in advance some program directors just didn't quite seem to 'get it'. One station in Australia aired the song for the first time on January 25. 'That's probably the one day out of the year you'd least be receptive to a Christmas-themed tune' noted Baghdaddios bassist Phil McAughk. Similar programming gaffes were encountered, off and on, over the years. 'I was beginning to think that maybe I wasn't being objective about whether or not it was a good song', said Rowell. 'Deep down I always thought it was good - but it seemed like nobody else got it'.
Enter Phred Rawles, drummer for the Hartford, CT punk band illreview. Phred had been introduced to Rowell by UConn radio DJ Perilous Cheryl, who had aired several of The Baghdaddios tunes on her weekly radio show and had organized live shows in the immediate area featuring several bands, including The Baghdaddios and illreview. At her urging, Phred, who freelances as an animator and had done work for Nickelodeon, began considering the Baghdaddios' music for an animated music video.
Remembers Rawles: 'At first I really liked 'Welcome To New York'', which was featured in The Baghdaddios' set as their 'signature tune'. 'But then Kenn emailed me back and said 'That's a good one - but we have this tune that I've always liked called 'Christmas At C.B.s' - I think your animation would work really well, there'.
From that point forward it was a matter of Kenn supplying Rawles with photos of the band and giving him personality descriptions ('Paul can party with the best of them. Jim is pretty much 'zen''). At one point Phred asked for a photo of the famous C.B.G.B. front awning, which Kenn was more than eager to send. After that it was just a matter of waiting. 'We all knew that Phred had a ton of other projects and we were lucky to be getting someone this good to do animations of us - mostly because he was a friend of ours and loved our stuff', said Rowell. The whole process took nearly a year, during which time two of the current band members left the band. Still, Rowell knew that there was no use in trying to hurry the process along. 'There were several times I almost emailed him to ask what the hold-up was. But in the end it was SO worth the wait!'
True, the final production had all the essential elements of the band and its NYC home base of operations throughout: then-lead guitarist Jim Ievolella's long, flowing hair and fluid lead guitar style; Zlotucha's manic smile, sun-glasses wearing shaved head and 40-ounce chugging between beating the drums and all the pierced, hair-dyed and tattooed patrons of the now-defunct birthplace of punk. Even the graffiti that dots the walls as a backdrop for the video's many scenes reads as a roll call of the group's fellow indie brethren. 'At first I had made up a bunch of band names', relates Rawles, 'and Kenn loved most of them (one in particular, which you can still spot was the moniker 'Toxic Underpants') but he thought it would be cool if I could work in the names of most of his friends' bands. I told him to send me a list and he did - something like 30-plus names. It proved to be a challenge but I got every one of them in, in the end!'. Rawles even worked images of several of the group's friends in, most notably in the 'mosh pit scenes', including the promoter that the band primarily works with, Frank Wood, whose cartoon image appears as several strategically-placed tattoos on the various barmaids who pop up throughout the production. 'It had a little something for everyone', according to band publicist Mary Beth Seacott: 'The song was great, the cartoon was charming and it was a fun new tune and video you could pass around to all your friends every Holiday Season. It couldn't miss!'
And passed around it was. Early on, the link for the video - at the time only featured on the band's website - was sent to friends on the group's email list. Over time, however it was added, first to MySpace and then to YouTube - and pretty soon it started to get noticed.
Two things signaled the band that their video and tune might actually be getting more mileage than they originally suspected. Current drummer, Neil Richter, retells how word was getting back to him of how the music video was making the rounds of New York's Lower East Side's artist community: 'A couple of years ago someone told me that they had been sent the link for the 'Christmas At C.B.s' video at least 6 times - each from completely unrelated email sources. I began thinking, hey, if this is beginning to take on the character of a mass-email then maybe this is starting to get bigger than any of us originally realized!' Sporadic reports from friends of random plays on radio around the country also began to materialize. Rowell recalls getting a call from former Baghdaddios' bassist John Sidoti who currently lives with his wife and children in the Milwaukee area. 'One night after last year's Blank-Fest show in New York I get this call from John saying that he had just gotten out of work and had stopped off for Chinese food when the DJ on his car radio began talking about this 'cool new song from this band from New York, called The Baghdaddios' and then began playing the C.B.s tune. He nearly drove off the road, he was so surprised! He couldn't wait to call to let me know. That and another call I received from a friend, driving a cab in New Jersey, who heard it on one of the area college stations at 3:30 in the morning tells me that people are seeing the video, going to our MySpace page, downloading the song and playing it on the air'.
As it has since inception, the song is available on the web at no cost and, in fact, the band encourages everyone to download the tune, burn it to disc and liberally pass it around. In an annual Holiday mass email that the group has initiated in the past few years people are encouraged to view the video, pass it on to whoever they feel can use a little 'rock 'n roll Holiday cheer' in their Season and can further download the tune - as well as the four other songs that appear on their Holiday-themed EP, 'Season's Beatings' - for free. Back when Rowell first wrote it, he had no idea that this would one day serve as an homage to a dearly-departed punk cultural icon. But now with the closing of C.B.G.B. in October of 2006 and most recently with the passing of C.B.'s owner and impresario Hilly Krystal the song has taken on a much deeper meaning for him and the band. 'It wasn't our original intention but now our goal is to have this tune around, every year, not just as some sort of Holiday standard but also to remind us of what we once had - and now have lost - as part of New York's proud tradition in helping to shape modern rock 'n roll. Corporate rock and pop might not be able to keep that spirit alive, mostly because it's not profitable enough. It's up to us 'indies' to keep the message alive; to let anyone who comes after us know that what was here was good and served as an inspiration to all of us!'
And so as the Holiday Season begins anew NYC's indie stalwarts, The Baghdaddios, pull the tune out of mothballs for yet another year in keeping the spirit of New York's old school punk aesthetic alive and well in the dawning century. Guitarist Will Spencer, who just joined the band in time for its summer tour of the UK, earlier this year, is excited to be playing lead on the perennial for the first time. "It's fun and straight-forward. It channels the saccharine tradition of composing holiday songs into something more elemental; 'man, it's good to be back home' resonates, even for those - like me - that are too young to have experienced C.B.G.B....but wish we had!'
With a strong presence established on the web, more radio outlets here and around the world picking up on it's airplay and a stream of kudos from original players who were part of the famed Bowery club's storied scene (the late Joey Ramone's guitarist brother, Mickey Leigh once praised the tune, aptly describing how it 'brings back a lot of good memories') 'Christmas At C.B.G.B.s' continues its march toward becoming a Holiday staple on play lists, the world over.
