Song of the Day: The Tacoma Four - Christmas Is A Drag

Every Monday through Friday, we deliver a different song as part our Song of the Day podcast subscription. This podcast features exclusive KEXP in-studio performances, unreleased songs, and recordings from independent artists that our DJs think you should hear. This week, we are featuring Christmas-themed songs selected by Sonic Reducer host Brian Foss.

Brian's pick for today is "Christmas Is A Drag" by The Tacoma Four from the 2006 album Seasonal Favorites: Volume One reissued on Double Crown Records.

• The Tacoma Four - Christmas Is A Drag (MP3)
• Says Brian...

• Evan Foster and his band, The Boss Martians, have been playing around the Pacific Northwest since the early 90's pumping out super fun garage & surf tracks, plus a fair number of Christmas songs to boot. Today's track, "Christmas Is A Drag", was first released on Double Crown records'Seasonal Favorites - Vol. 1 comp from 2000. Since the comp also has a Boss Martians track in the running, Evan used a different name, The Tacoma Four, for this super funny Xmas ditty. When I asked Evan about the song, he told me:

• "Story is typical Martians as usual from back then - Joel E. Trueblood (Untamed Youth, Alcohol Funnycar) played drums on the track, it was cut in 1999 in Seattle recorded by Erik 4-A @ Vagrant during the sessions for what became our record MOVE! - this was a complete bonus piece as we had kinda enough tape left for a few mins worth of drums. There was no "song" at first, just had Joel lay down a drum track with a rough guide gtr, then went back and threw it down quick as we could. An admittedly schlocky track but at least we had fun. I think... xoxo!! e"

One of Evan's current projects, The Dirty Sidewalks, just released an Xmas song this year too - "It's Xmas (and Everyone is Miserable)" is now streaming and available FREE on their Soundcloud page: