A Mike Watt + The Bobblymen Christmas single

Mike Watt + The Bobblymen: Surfin’ With The Claus / The Wassail Song
(Red Parakeet Records, RP003, USA, 223)

How do you turn an existing instrumental non-Christmas song into a Christmas song? It's easy. Just add sleigh bells and the melodies of some well-known Christmas songs, and there you have it: a real Christmas song. Take, for example, 'Surfin' With The Shah', from the 1978 debut EP by Los Angeles parody punk band Urinals. A song that has nothing to do with Christmas. Until Mike Watt + The Bobblymen decided to record it and turn it into a Christmas song. Over the years, Watt had performed 'Surfin' With The Shah' live with his backing band The Missingmen. He went into the studio with one of his current backing bands, The Bobblymen, featuring Bob Lee (Crawlspace, Crawlhammer and many other bands) on drums, Pete Mazich (also in The Missingmen) on organ and Tom Watson (Slovenly, Red Krayola and also a member of The Missingmen) on guitar, added sleigh bells to 'Surfin' With The Shah', Mazich played the melodies of well-known Christmas songs like 'Rudolph, The Red-Nosed Reindeer', 'Deck The Halls' and 'Silent Night' and they retitled the song 'Surfin' With The Claus'. And yes, they had recorded a real Christmas song, the perfect A-side of a Christmas single.

For the B-side, the group decided to record 'The Wassail Song', a traditional carol and New Year's song from the English county of Gloucestershire. The Wassail Song' dates back to at least the 18th century, but is probably older. The lyrics now commonly used are those first recorded in the Oxford Book of Carols in 1928 by one of the book's three authors, Ralph Vaughan Williams. The tune to which the lyrics are sung is thought to be at least several centuries old. The song was sung during wassailing, traditionally on the twelfth day of Christmas, when people go from door to door singing and offering a drink from the wassail bowl in exchange for gifts. The roots of the wassailing ritual date back to the Middle Ages, when feudal lords gave peasants food and gifts in exchange for blessings and good wishes. To give the song a more authentic sound, the group is joined by Tim Kerr (formerly of the punk band Big Boys, among others) on accordion, Vince Meghrouni (ex-El Grupo Sexo and ex-Bazooka) on flute, piccolo flute and percussion, and Aoshi and Ljiljana (former singer of the Croatian band Magazin and Mazich's wife) on additional backing vocals.

Bandleader Mike Watt is considered one of the best bass players in the world. He was part of the Minutemen, one of the first hardcore punk bands to mix punk with jazz and funk. After the tragic death of his friend and bandmate D. Boon in a car accident in late 1985, he formed Firehose in 1986 with Minutemen drummer George Hurley and Minutemen fan Ed Crawford, while also playing in the duo dos with former Black Flag bassist Kiera Roessler. Throughout his musical career, Watt has been a part of so many bands and projects that he deserves a place in the Guinness Book of World Records. Watt has played on records by artists as diverse as Sonic Youth and Kelly Clarkson, and was part of the reformed Stooges from 2003 to 2016, replacing the late original bassist Dave Alexander.

To illustrate how active Watt is. In 2023 he released an album with Samuel Locke Ward on Kill Rock Stars, a live album with Charles Plymell on Feeding Tube Records, a split 7" as Mike Watt And The Secondmissingmen with Up Around The Sun on Red Parakeet, an album as part of the long distance band Spirit Of Hamlet on Broken Sound Tapes, as bassist on Tim Holehouse's 'Zen' album, a Record Store Day split 7" with Larry Mullins, 'TV Eye' on ORG Music and, as part of Il Sogno Del Marinaio, the 7" 'A Tribute To Miles Copper Seaton', also on Red Parakeet. And I will probably forget some projects. Surfin' With The Claus' was also released on Red Parakeet on three different colors of vinyl: 500 copies on black, 250 copies on white, 250 copies on green.

Listen to both songs on Bandcamp:


You can order the 7” through the Bandcamp site above or through American Laundromat Records.