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Neko Case
My Wonderful Machine
Gordon & Cilla
Make Blair & The Stonewalls
Hammer No More The Fingers
SoftSpot
Bibis
Cazwell
Gordon & Cilla
The Kingston Springs
Onward, Soldiers
Rayland Baxter
Doug Keith
North Elementary
Benji Hughes
Fayaway
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With the holidays getting closer, as you can imagine, we get a little busier here - with us being a retail store and all. And with this added busy-ness, comes a little extra stress. As a matter of fact, I had no idea how much stress I had been harboring in my shoulders until Gordon Merrick and Cilla Danone walked into the studio for their featured musician photo shoot.
I can honestly say I have never in my life, ever craved a chestnut roasted on an open fire. I really don't even know what they would taste like. But within moments of the arrival of Gordon and Cilla, I felt a sudden need for a chestnut. And hot cocoa. And a sugar plum.
I felt as though I had just drank the perfect amount of mulled wine and been given the pony I've always wanted named Mitch, who was going to be my new best friend forever and ever.
How did they do this, I thought as I ran next door to the candy shop and bought out half their inventory. Where is that music coming from, and how do I suddenly know the words to every holiday song ever written?
After sitting on the corner for an hour and a half, sucking on a candy cane and thinking about how reindeer learn to fly, I realized I forgot to ask Gordon and Cilla anything during their photo shoot - I couldn’t even complete a full enough sentence to talk to them at all. So from a safe distance, I typed up some quick questions and sent them off to Gordon so that we could learn a little more about the story behind the music.
For more Gordon & Cilla awesomeness, visit gordonmerrick.com!
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 Why Christmas? What is it about the holidays that brings you out of hiding every year to record a new song?
G: Like most kids growing up in the American 70s, I loved and longed for Christmas-and the hours spent scheming over the toy section in the Sears and Spiegel catalogs were some of the most memorably-soundtracked moments of my life. Every holiday season my parents would play Willie Nelson’s Pretty Paper, Vince Guaraldi’s A Charlie Brown Christmas, and the truly amazing John Denver & the Muppets A Christmas Together over and over again. Ever since, I have really believed in Christmas and holiday music. There’s a sense that Christmas music is the most commercial, cynical music out there, but I think there is something to be said for music so firmly rooted in a particular time of the year and the warm, fuzzy feeling that often comes with it. This album is just our attempt to spend some (fun) time learning some really wonderful songs and sharing them with anyone who would like to listen.
C: I didn't realize there was anything other than Christmas. What exactly do you mean?
 What do you do during the non-holiday season?
G: Read, read, read. Teach, teach, teach. Sing, sing, sing. Run, stretch, run.
C: I bake. And for this past year I have been developing my super secret state of the art award winning peanut brittle recipe. It melts the iciest hearts.
How do you keep the smell of fresh baked cookies wafting around you at all times? Is that cologne or an essential oil?
G: I don’t think that’s me... maybe we’re just downwind from the cupcake place. I tend to prefer earthier scents-nag champa, warm electronics, pecan waffles...
C: Why do people keep asking me that?
Is your outfit carefully curated vintage, or are you actually from the past? (one theory around the office here at EoU is that you are frozen for the majority of the year and only thawed in time to make music for the holidays - therefore you don't appear to age over decades...)
G: I’m not quite cryogenic yet, but I can sit still for hours at a time. It’s an occupational hazard. About the clothes--I’ve been collecting old suits for a long time now. As a taller gentleman, I tend to prefer the mid-century styling for men’s suits-thin lapels, narrowness all around. In the 90s it wasn’t hard to find a tailored 60s silk suit for $25 at a thrift store-I just bought them when I came across them and now I have a closet full.
C: What do you mean? This is brand new! Except for the glasses of course.
Do you have any pets?
G: I’m proud to live with a 14-year-old philodendron named Maxine.
C: Just Gordon.
What does a sugar-plum taste like?
G: The fruit in a fruit-cake, just without the cake.
C: Your first kiss.
Who's more chatty - reindeer or polar bears?
G: Reindeer. They’re more social creatures. Polar bears brood.
WHERE THE MAGIC HAPPENS:
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