REDSOAPBOX

I'm incredibly pleased to announce the final figure raised by Have Yourself a Merry Indie Christmas volumes 1-4. Having set myself a target for the final volume to take me up to the £10,000 mark, I am delighted to have exceeded that amount by a couple of thousand! This is completely down to the incredible generosity of supporters who backed the project 100%.

I'd like to thank all of the artists, the labels, the presenters, the journalists, and the DJs who never tired of spreading the word. I'd like to thank my family for all of their love and support, and I'd like to thank all of the members of the Crisis team who assisted me on the various albums.

I'm delighted to announce that Have Yourself A Merry Indie Christmas Volume 4 has raised just over £4,000 for Crisis at Christmas. That brings the overall figure for the four-volume project to over £12,000. One or two sales are still being registered, but I will be paying the sum into the Crisis account next week and declaring the exact figure then. Massive thanks to all who supported the albums. HAPPY NEW YEAR!

So there we have it. Three years plus of joyous hard work, curating 208 of the finest original indie Christmas songs in order to raise funds for Crisis at Christmas. The money raised by Have Yourself A Merry Indie Christmas (HYAMIC) will be officially confirmed as soon as the holiday is over (comfortably between £11 and 12,000). I'd like to say a big thank you to the various Crisis case officers who have assisted me, presently Ali Discombe. All have been kind and understanding of my circumstances.

As a music writer, and as somebody who likes to talk about great pop music almost as much as I like listening to great pop music, curating the album has been thrill-a-minute stuff. I still can't quite believe that some of my all-time favourite artists appear on the albums, including The Wedding Present, The Lucksmiths, Suzzy Roche, The Pearlfishers, Pete Astor, Tot Taylor, BOB and Armstrong. Equally, I was thrilled to discover scores of new bands that now rank alongside those favs mentioned above. I could list a 100 here, but will settle for - Sunturns (I played 'III' on Boxing Day morning and it blew me away!), Alpine Subs, Les Bicyclettes de Belsize, St Lenox, Hanemoon, Charlie's Hand Movements and Pale Sunday. There are songs on the HYAMIC albums that I would now rank in my top 20 Xmas songs of all-time - I absolutely fell in love with 'A Pretty Good Christmas' on first listen' (The Disappointment Choir Tr4 Volume 1).

I want to thank all the writers/broadcasters/podcast hosts/presenters/label bosses that got right behind the project, including some names of true international renown. Take a bow -

John Harris, Pete Paphides, John Kennedy, Adrian Goldberg, Gareth Jones, Andy Von Pip, Huw Stephens, Adam Walton, Ken Kessler, DJ Indi, DJ Oscar, Mickey Bradley, Bill Cummings, Alice Peter-Burns, Dr Art Jipson, Matt (Sarah), Tom (Fika Recording), Sandra Zettpunkt, Kat E, Josh Meadows, Tony Hardy, Gideon Coe, Vic Galloway, Geraint Evans, Gary Raymond, Alex Rawls, Francis (New Sound Wales) Wayne (Sunshine music I Radio) and Darrin (subjangle). A special mention for Jim of Christmas Underground, a trailblazer who made an album of this type possible. I spent many, many happy hours reading his always illuminating thoughts on some of the extraordinary songs that he was uncovering. Huge apologies to those that I have no doubt missed off the list somewhere along the way.

Thanks to Karen, Jenny & Becky for all their love and understanding throughout the HYAMIC years!!!

The albums remain on sale here - https://v4velindre.bandcamp.com/music

Look out for the final figure raised on New Years Eve.

Can digital albums fly off the shelves? Well, judging by the response to the release of the final Have Yourself A Merry Indie Christmas compilation, the answer is a big, fat yes! https://v4velindre.bandcamp.com/music

As I write this, exactly 24 hrs on from the launch of volume 4, the amount raised for Crisis at Christmas yesterday has just exceeded £2,000. Add in in the sale of the earlier volumes over the past 30 days and that figure rises to £2,395. The amount raised by the four volumes taken together is now well past the £10,000 mark. (Latest news - the amount raised is now over £11,000 as of 23rd Dec).

With a few days to go before the big day, there will be further album sales to come, although we hit our peak at launch, in order to maximise funds through bandcamp Friday.

It's been very rewarding to read all the kind comments from the many people who bought the album and from many of the contributing artists too. There have been some stunning reviews (see below) and some notable social media posts from the likes of Pete Paphides (The Times, Time Out, Mojo) who informed his followers that 'Once again, Kevin gathers together an extraordinary trove of festive treasures, with all the proceeds going to Crisis. Just look at that track list! What an astounding achievement'. John Kennedy declared volume 4 as 'Essential. The best yet', while revealing that he had written his Christmas cards and wrapped his presents to its 65 tracks!

https://www.soundsofchristmas.com/podcasts.html?fbclid=IwY2xjawHNolNleHRuA2FlbQIxMAABHenqAHr55vuO_R379MDvRpvdei0JGQgS-NHiZ7XcMAsHp7sDmJgNJmH5lA_aem_ZaZvgSgkGAgfLpk_vlu6Qw

Have Yourself a Merry Indie Christmas (Volume IV) (2024) – Christmas Underground

The Final Volume Of “Have Yourself a Merry Indie Christmas” is Out Today | Under the Radar | Music Blog for the Indie Music Magazine

NEWS: Have Yourself A Merry Indie Christmas Vol 4 In Aid Of Crisis - God Is In The TV

FIFTY3 FRIDAYS: NOVEMBER SPOTIFY PLAYLIST

Impressive Indie ~ Christmas A Go Go!

The Mickey Bradley Record Show - Too Long On His Way. Tomorrow And Forever - BBC Sounds (2 songs from 1:31 onwards)

Adventures in Music with Adrian Goldberg-Capsule Lisa Mayer (14/12/2024) by Brum Radio | Mixcloud

https://ofimondayradio.com

Here are the incredible reviews for the earlier volumes -

Have Yourself a Merry Indie Christmas volume 4, a bumper 65-track collection of Christmas originals featuring Grandaddy, The Raveonettes, The Lucksmiths, Sultans of Ping, Marsheaux, Lia Pamina, TV Smith and the Orchids, is released today through bandcamp - https://v4velindre.bandcamp.com/music . All proceeds go to Crisis at Christmas.

There is home page coverage at https://www.godisinthetvzine.co.uk/2024/12/06/news-have-yourself-a-merry-indie-christmas-vol-4-in-aid-of-crisis/

As I write this, the tracklist for volume 4 stands at a bumper 65 tracks, with another one or two last-minute additions still possible. As you may know this is 50 more tracks than I had in mind when I decided, very late in the day, to curate one last volume. The response has been incredible. All the more so, given that I had just about exhausted the main source for tracks - Christmas Underground and the associated links to many other blogs/podcasts/Christmas shows found there.

I still turned first to Christmas Underground, as the archive there is so comprehensive I reasoned that I must have missed a few gems and also there may have been further additions (there were and I nabbed some of them!). The seam at bandcamp was very nearly exhausted - I've listened to every Indie Xmas compilation on there ten times over - but there were one or two newer tracks that I managed to get this time around. I also tried again with bands that had not responded to requests on the first three volumes and struck it lucky 4th time of trying with a half-dozen artists. Then I decided to listen to Christmas shows on Mixcloud - the Andy Von Pip shows brought many Xmas songs to my attention that I hadn't heard before and my strike rate was pretty good when following up with those artists.

Desperate, though, to find as many great tracks as possible for the last album, I resorted to spending days on Discogs. I entered the name of every Independent label I could find and used keywords - Christmas, Snow, Winter, Santa to find any tracks released on that label. Mostly I was met with a zero. Occasionally, though, I turned up a match. I then had to listen to see if the track was any good, then see if the band was contactable through bandcamp, Facebook etc. Many were not, but I slowly started to gather tracks, many from decades ago, which is why you will notice in the tracklisting below a surprising number of songs from Indie bands of the 80's, 90's (my heyday!). Then bands from earlier volumes started to contact me, asking if I wanted another contribution from them.

All said and done, I received a mammoth response from a wonderful set of musicians. A huge thank you to them all. Once again, there is no filler here, not even on a 65-track album. The digital-only album is released on bandcamp Friday 6th of December (£7) with any purchases on that day not subject to bandcamp commission, therefore raising more money for Crisis - https://v4velindre.bandcamp.com/music

Here is the track list, beginning with the song Clash magazine declared as the 'mistletoe anthem' of 2018.

WHYTE HORSES - NEXT YEAR WILL BE MINE

THE RELATIONSHIPS - CHRISTMAS SONG

GRANDADDY - IT WAS A SILENT NIGHT AT LEAST UNTIL JEFF LYNNE ARRIVED

THE RAVEONETTES - CHRISTMAS GHOST

BIG SOCIETY - DECEMBER FOREVER

THE ORCHIDS - I WISH I WAS

THE LUCKSMITHS - THE WINTER PROPER

SHIRESE - CHRISTMAS IN EAST HAVEN

HANEMOON - SNOWBALL IN THE EYE

RED SLEEPING BEAUTY - CHRISTMAS

TV SMITH - XMAS BLOODY XMAS

CALEB NICHOLS -CHRISTMAS, CALIFORNIA

PALE SUNDAY - THE WINTER SONG

THE PROCTORS - ICELANDIC

SWANSEA SOUND - THE LIFE WE LED

THEATRE ROYAL AND FRIENDS - I BELIEVE IN FATHER CHRISTMAS

DYLAN MONDEGREEN -THE GHOST OF CHRISTMAS PAST

FIREFLIES -SNOW BEGINS TO FALL

MILTON AND JONES - THIS LIFE (THIS CHRISTMAS) 2024 MIX

THE DUKE OF NORFOLK - LOVELY WINTER

STILL FLYING' - ST VEIT

AUX CAROLING - IS MICHAEL CLAYTON A CHRISTMAS MOVIE

BOYRACER - MAGIC TO ME

OLYMPIANS - LEAVING YOU AT CHRISTMAS

SKIING - 26TH OF DECEMBER

LIA PAMINA AND DARIO PERSI - CHRISTMAS' OVER

MARSHEAUX - WE MET BERNARD SUMNER AT A CHRISTMAS PARTY LAST NIGHT

LOVEJOY - I DREAM OF ANGELS

NEIL BROGAN - OUR FIRST CHRISTMAS

THE DEPRECIATION GUILD - THROUGH THE SNOW

THE SULTANS OF PING - CHRISTMAS BUBBLEGUM MACHINE

BRIGHTER - CHRISTMAS

THE WINDMILLS - WHEN IT WAS WINTER

NATURE SET - EDWARD

SATURDAY LOOKS GOOD TO ME -THIS TIME EVERY YEAR

FRANK BANGO - HOLIDAY EPISODE

GATEWAY TO THOUSEN - INDIE CHRISTMAS

JASON ANDERSON - CHRISTMAS

THIS YEARS MODEL - I THINK THE SNOW SAVED ME

CAMPFIRE SOCIAL - LET'S JUST DO CHRISTMAS NEXT YEAR

THE HEATHEN AND THE HOLY - BEST CHRISTMAS YET

WARM DIGITS - GOOD ENOUGH FOR YOU THIS CHRISTMAS

ICE CHOIR - IT'S DIFFERENT NOW

APPLENNIUM - IS THIS CHRISTMAS

LES BICYCLETTES de BeELSIZE - DUFFLECOAT CHRISTMAS

ROYAL LANDSCAPING SOCIETY - FROST

THE PHOTOCOPIES - CHRISTMAS ALONE

THE RHYNES - DECEMBER BOY

KISSING PARTY - MERRY CHRISTMAS DARLING

ALPINE SUBS - OVER WICHITA

THE CANDY STRYPERS - FORGOT THE CHRISTMAS TREE

NORTHERN PICTURE LIBRARY - SNOWSCENE

EX-RENTAL - CHRISTMAS IN THE SYNTHESIZER AGE

NO BERLIN - WAITING FOR CHRISTMAS

THE KAISERS - MERRY CHRISTMAS LOOPY LU

DARK HORSES - JUL SONG

THE YELLOW MELODIES - CORDIALES Y MAZAPANES

APRIL MARCH AND LOS CINCOS - LAST TRAIN TO CHRISTMAS

KAT QUINN - GIRL IN AN UGLY SWEATER

THE YEARNING - I JUST WANNA HOLD YOUR HAND (ON CHRISTMAS DAY)

LOUIS PHILLIPE - XMAS SUN

THE VERY MOST - IT'S THE BEST THING

THE ORNAMENTS - WOULD IT KILL YOU TO KISS ME UNDER THE CHRISTMAS TREE

THE HANNAH BARBERAS - DANCIN' SANTA

GUSTAFER YELLOWGOLD - FA AND A LA

Track 5 - Big Society - December Forever

Having made a last-minute decision to make a Sinatraesque comeback with HYAMIC 4, a great deal depended on whether I could unearth more outstanding original Indie Xmas songs and in just how many musicians would respond this time around to my plea asking them to “donate” a track to a good cause. I’m very happy to report that I managed to search out loads of new material very quickly (I know where to look these days!) and also to get hold of a few songs that I missed out on during volumes 1-3. In the last blog, I announced I was limiting the songs to 15-20, believing it would be impractical to target more than that given my health issues and the projects late start. So, it’s a great pleasure to be able to say that I currently have 42 tracks safely received and a firm promise for 6 more! Huge thanks to all the artists who have come on board.

Without revealing any details here and now, I can say the mix will mirror those on volumes 1-3: a well known name or two, a number of cult bands with Peel sessions under their belt, a couple of my personal favourites and the usual cluster of “unknown” bands with an absolute Christmas corker to their name.

HAVE YOURSELF A MERRY INDIE CHRISTMAS VOL 4 SET FOR UNEXPECTED NOVEMBER RELEASE

Having called time, after 3 volumes and 143 tracks, of Have Yourself a Merry Indie Christmas, a fundraising project for Crisis at Christmas (over £8,300 raised so far to help the homeless charity) I've decided to curate one last volume.

With the peerless Christmas Underground declaring volumes 1-3 to be 'A guidebook to an alternate universe of Christmas music that few know exists' and Wales Arts Review deeming the album to be 'The Ultimate alternative Christmas album', I was more than ready to lay down my burden. Working alone (except for Kaz in tech support!) and having to track down hundreds upon hundreds of original Xmas songs to find just a few dozen that came up to my idea of a Christmas classic and then having to make contact with the artists, management and labels involved and the back breaking work of contacting podcasts/blogs/social media accounts etc was stressful in the extreme at times. Especially for a one-fingered typist with no idea of how technology works.

However, it was enormous fun too and life-enriching. Discovering classic songs, many by artists few people had ever heard of, was utterly thrilling. At one time, punch the air moments came virtually every day (thank you Christmas Underground, as you were invariably the source of many recommendations, leads and sound advice).

Strangely, as I found my health concerns return (I am undergoing a bout of radiotherapy) my appetite for Volume 4 surged. I have to be realistic the days of a 54 track volume are over for good, but a 20-track 4th volume will take the project over the 150 tune threshold. I'm happy with that, although 200 tracks would then be temptingly on the horizon!!!!

So, it's 2024. My three-volume collection of original "Indie" Christmas songs Have Yourself a Merry Indie Christmas has raised an overall figure of £8,373 for Crisis at Christmas. After originally reaching an agreement with Crisis for two-years, I can announce that the agreement is now open-ended. This means the albums will remain on sale exclusively at Bandcamp and any money raised each Christmas going forward will go straight to Crisis homelessness charity - Together we will end homelessness . So while there will be no more volumes, just one or two tweets form the likes of Ed Sheeran, Chris Martin and Ellie Goulding (all are Crisis celebrity ambassadors/supporters) can draw the albums' attention to thier 50m followers. The potential for these albums to raise tens of thousands of pounds is there for all to see. At this stage, only 0.00000001 % of music followers know that these albums exist, so I will be thinking of ways to attract the interest of the movers and shakers named above (Crisis' strict rules do not allow me to enlist their support through Crisis, as HYAMIC is not an official Crisis project). I'm hoping that a review of that rule in the future will enable the albums to reach a much wider audience.

Aside from raising the maximum funds possible for Crisis, my other aim, as a music fanatic and journalist, for curating Have Yourself a Merry Indie Christmas was to compile an album that might be regarded the best ever Indie Christmas compilation of all time. I was determined about that from the start and that is what drove me to listen to thousands of Christmas songs (more than 50% from artists that I had never heard of) throughout 2022/23. In doing so, I soon realised that while there were hundreds of exhilarating Xmas songs scattered about the UK, Europe, America, Australia etc, (and thanks to Christmas Underground – We are the War on Christmas Music) I was now very much on their trail, there was hardly a decent Indie Xmas comp to be found anywhere (A Very Cherry Christmas being a long-running exemption that proves the rule).

The most common Xmas album was a label compilation. Someone at a major label would be tasked with cobbling together Christmas songs that bands had recorded down the years. Not much quality control went into those, with honourable exceptions, so strong and weak songs tended to be meshed together under the festive banner. A similar thing was happening with charitable compilations. I've lost count of the number of well-meaning comps I listened to that barely yielded one or two quality tracks. Again, there was the odd exception to be found here and there. I was determined to only target songs that I fell in love with, there were many, many good songs that didn't make the cut for HYAMIC.

Christmas Underground's view that 'Have Yourself a Merry Indie Christmas Volumes 1-3 are a guidebook to an alternative universe of Christmas music that few know exists', together with the verdict of Wales Arts Review that HYAMIC was 'the ultimate alternative Xmas album' suggests that I achieved my ambition to curate a work that would be part of peoples' Christmases for years to come. The sensational reviews the albums received are laid out in full here - A REMINDER OF THE INCREDIBLE REVIEWS FOR HAVE... (tumblr.com)

The albums can be downloaded here - Music | Various Artists (bandcamp.com)

It would have been almost impossible for Have Yourself a Merry Indie Christmas Vol III to top the reviews that the earlier volumes had garnered (https://redsoapbox.tumblr.com/post/703978515931054080/a-reminder-of-the-incredible-reviews-for-have), but I am thrilled that the third and final album in the series has maintained the reputation that the first 108 tracks had clearly established.

Among the most interesting critical responses were those from Wales Arts Review, who declared the project 'the ultimate alternative Christmas music album', while Christmas Underground announced the three-volume collection 'a guidebook to an alternate universe of Christmas music that few know exists'. Once again the album has been supported by the likes of John Harris, Pete Paphides, Ken Kessler, Adrian Goldberg, Gareth Jones and many more. The quality of the music is important in its own right, of course, but the real significance of those five-star reviews is that it simply makes it easier to raise money for Crisis at Christmas.

As I write this, four days before Christmas, the total raised for Volume III is just above £2,200, which lifts the overall amount going to Crisis to over £8,000 as it stands. It goes without saying that 100% of the credit goes to the artists who created incredible Christmas songs and generously donated them to the cause of helping people out of homelessness. The albums can be downloaded here -

Music | Various Artists (bandcamp.com)

The full total raised will be posted here on New Years Day.

So, I've reached the end of a rather wonderful journey. When I had the idea of curating a Christmas album, almost two years ago now, I didn't really have a specific project in mind at all. However, the best decision I took early on was to ban cover versions (I adore all the great Christmas classics, from Bing and Nat to Noddy and Elton) but anybody can round up a crappy cover version of an all-time classic. I wanted to see if there were undiscovered Christmas songs floating around in the ether that had simply never had a fair hearing, songs good enough to be future classics, at least within the genre of Indie music.

That meant a lot of back breaking and heart breaking (there are still moments when I full-on curse a record company for not consenting to the release of a track!) work along the way. I must have listened to every Indie Xmas compilation ever recorded - day after day spent trawling through Bandcamp, Discogs, label catalogues, you tube, Xmas podcasts and blogs.

On the subject of the latter, it was chancing upon the phenomenal Christmas Underground – We are the War on Christmas (Music) that allowed the fanciful vision I had of compiling the 'Best Indie Xmas Album Ever' to crystalize into a realistic proposition. I was discovering song after song there that I was falling in love with. These songs were from bands (mostly unknown to me) from all parts of America and all over Europe (Scandinavian Indie Xmas songs is a really flourishing sub-genre), it was incredibly exciting and lead to dozens of punch the air moments as, one by one, bands agreed to participate.

In addition to discovering new songs, I also set about tracking down bands that I admired and who I knew had an Xmas song in their back catalogue. I was lucky enough to get hold of songs from Dodgy, Girl Ray, White Town, bis, Pete Astor and many more. It was around this point that my idea for a 20-30 song album began to trend to the mammoth 108-track compilation that was released last Christmas. There were just so many unbelievable songs that I had to try and track down.

An example of the obsessive hole that I was digging for myself came when I read a write up on a Minneapolis band called GLOSS (who became Poshlost) before splitting up. Christmas Underground called their song 'Gifts Received' 'the best Joy Division/New Order Christmas song of all time! From the baseline, to the vocals, to the lyrics, GLOSS have hit the nail on the head when it comes to writing a dark, pulsing, disturbing Christmas song'. You can imagine, as someone whose favourite band is JoyDivision/New Order how much I wanted that song, because, unbelievably and against all the odds, it did sound like a Joy Division Christmas song. The band had long since split up though (the song dated back to 2015) and my bandcamp messages met with silence. In the end, I tracked down a band member on Facebook and received an immediate and favourable reply. That wild goose chase was repeated dozens of times through 2022.

Volumes I and II succeeded in raising £5,800 for Crisis, nearly treble the target I had set myself, having been played on BBC6 Music, BBC Scotland, Radio X and BBC Radio Wales (each volume was named Album Of The Week by Huw Stephens). In addition, the songs were played on "indie" stations around Europe and America (thanks to Sandra and Alice for constantly playing the albums on their shows from Berlin) but also in Canada, Hong Kong and Australia. Have Yourself a Merry Indie Christmas was also shorlisted as a (Welsh Origin) AOTY by Wales Arts Review.

The main aim accomplished then, but what of my personal ambition to compile an album that would be played at Christmas for years to come? Here is the verdict: A REMINDER OF THE INCREDIBLE REVIEWS FOR HAVE... (tumblr.com). I don't think there is anything else to touch it. For example, Rough Trade, as good an Indie label as there ever was, released a Christmas comp this year (some five or six tracks are on HYAMIC too), but it comes nowhere near the quality of any of the three volumes that constitute Have Yourself a Merry Indie Christmas.

Speaking of Volume III (you may have read the tracklist already at Have Yourself a Merry Indie Christmas Vol III: Line Up Reveal - Wales Arts Review), it matches the standard of its predecessors, featuring The Wedding Present, The Futureheads, Helen Love, Euros Childs and Buzzard Buzzard Buzzard.

The project closes then, having rounded up 143 distinctive, thrilling Christmas earworms into a three volume compilation that raises money for a cause which demands urgent support. This is the 21st Century and no one should be homeless in the United Kingdom. Thank you all for your generosity in helping others and for giving these forgotten songs a home too.

A track from Volume III "Xmas Trip" by Run On

You can purchase all three volumes here Music | Various Artists (bandcamp.com) If you do that on December 1st (after 8.ooam UK time) bandcamp waives its commission, raising more money for Crisis at Christmas.

The third and final volume of the 'greatest Indie Xmas compilation album ever' is available to pre-order now (hold on if you can and buy on Dec 1st, to maximise money being raised for Crisis).

Wales Arts Review has unveiled the line up today at https://www.walesartsreview.org/have-yourself-a-merry-indie-christmas-vol-iii-line-up-reveal/ The album is available at https://v4velindre.bandcamp.com/music

Following on from the huge success of Have Yourself a Merry Indie Christmas Volumes I & II, comes Have Yourself a Merry Indie Christmas Vol III. Okay, no prizes for originality on the title front and, in truth, the format for song selection hasn't been updated either - it's the same eclectic mix that led to reviewers declaring the original compilation as 'potentially the best Indie Xmas album of all time'. That means more celebrated indie bands, more cult combos and more underground groups from all over the UK, Europe and America that you will be thrilled to discover for the first time. Indeed, having worked harder than a lorryload of enthusiastic elves for the whole of 2022 to earn reviews like these https://redsoapbox.tumblr.com/post/703978515931054080/a-reminder-of-the-incredible-reviews-for-have , I had no intention of letting my standards slip in any way on the third and final volume.

The 35 tracks on Vol III (the track listing will be unveiled by Home - Wales Arts Review next week, but will include bands from Berlin, Brighton, Oslo, Chicago, New York, Cardiff, London, Los Angeles, Hawaii, Seattle, Adelaide, Leeds, Wisconsin, Glasgow, Sunderland and St. Louis. Suffice it to say, if you enjoyed Volumes I & II then you will be 100% on board with the new release.

Have Yourself A Merry Indie Christmas Vol III will be on sale from https://v4velindre.bandcamp.com/album/v4velindre priced at £5 (don't forget, you can always pay more!) on December 1st. The eagle-eyed amongst you will have noted that is a bandcamp Friday, which means the company waives its commission, resulting in every penny going to Crisis at Christmas. The album will be available to pre-order a few days before (you can listen to five tracks too), but Crisis makes more money if you purchase on bandcamp Friday! As per usual, I won't be making a penny.

Having tweeted out plans to release deluxe versions of Have Yourself a Merry Indie Christmas volumes I & II for 2023, I have had a bit of a re-think and decided to abandon that idea and instead press ahead with a third volume.

It just seemed easier to market a separate volume and that makes it easier to raise money for Crisis, which is the point after all. This will be a smaller scale affair, though, with maybe 20-25 tracks rather than 54 this time around. That is going to be reflected in the reduced price of £5.00. The reason for the reduced number of tracks is that it took me a whole year to hone down the hundreds of Xmas songs that I tracked down into the 108 tracks that comprised volumes I & II. This somewhat last-minute decision won't result in a compromise in the quality of the material for a number of reasons though - I received some excellent songs after the deadline for submissions last year which I can now revisit, plus the contacts that I made through 2022 have enabled me to gather in some great new songs in double-quick time. Having had sensational reviews for the first two volumes (see archives), I won't be diluting the standard I have set myself now. It will be the same eclectic blend of Indie, perhaps slanted slightly more in the direction of garage rock/post-punk, with the quality control set to stratospheric. I will start revealing the line-up, one act a day, in November.

The album is set for release on the first bandcamp Friday in December (the 1st) with all monies again going to Crisis at Christmas. I'll be blogging/tweeting about the contributing artists through November.

A reminder that you can still purchase volumes I & II here

Music | Various Artists (bandcamp.com)

Have Yourselves a Merry Indie Christmas (digital volumes I & II plus the Selected Songs CD) raised nearly £6,000 for Crisis at Christmas last year. The album, championed by internationally renowned critics such as John Harris (Guardian & Rolling Stone) & Pete Paphides (The Times, Mojo), received sensational reviews across the board, genuinely staking a claim to be the best-ever Indie Xmas compilation of all time. (see reviews in the archive section).

For 2023, in order to raise more money for Crisis, I will be releasing a deluxe version, with a half-dozen or so extra tracks. If there are any artists who have an original Xmas song, past or present, that they want to submit for consideration, then please email me at [email protected]

The original digital albums can still be purchased here - V4Velindre | Various Artists (bandcamp.com), but the CD has sold out.

I’m very pleased to announce the final figure raised by Have Yourself a Merry Indie Christmas as being £5,801.66. Huge, huge thanks to the 108 artists who contributed a song and to all those who purchased or promoted the album. 

The money raised exceeded my expectations (my previous fundraising album V4Velindre has just topped the £2,000 mark). I had a twin purpose in curating the album - the most important being, of course, to raise as much money as possible for Crisis, but as a music journalist, and as somebody who has always loved Christmas music, I wanted also to compile an album that was good enough to become part of peoples’ Christmas for years to come.  

If you have already read the incredible critical reception afforded Have Yourself a Merry Indie Christmas (see archives), then you just might be able to guess how proud I am of the album.

Thanks again,

Kevin McGrath

As of the 1st of January 2023, the amount raised for Crisis at Christmas currently stands at £5,365. £5,000 of that has already been banked by Crisis, with the remainder due to be sent at the end of the week. There is a chance that Spillers records will have sold a few copies of the limited-edition CD Selected Songs From Have Yourself a Merry Indie Christmas, although the chances of that went down a little when my plan to distribute 300 leaflets at the sold out Al Lewis Christmas Show had to be abandoned when Al lost his voice on the day of the show.

There are still a handful of CDs available as a result, which I intend to reduce to £5.00 for one day only on the next Bandcamp Friday (February). There won’t be a better CD available for a fiver in 2023, so get in quick and you will be one of only 100 people in the world to own the CD. Despite the kind offer of Subjangle to extend funding into next Christmas, I don’t anticipate my following up on Have Yourself a Merry Indie Christmas next year. After all, how can you better 108 songs and the universal acclaim with which the Christmas album(s) were greeted? The album will remain on sale via bandcamp https://v4velindre.bandcamp.com/music with all monies still going to Crisis. I may even be tempted to add a few new songs to each volume.

All of the credit goes to the musicians who kindly contributed their incredible songs and to the people who played or purchased the albums. You helped put a roof over the heads of a lot of people this Christmas. Thank you.