The holidays bring cheer but sometimes also bring loneliness, a perfectly normal and common feeling as pop-punk band Tug of War Machine displays in their goofy new single and video. With the arrival of the holiday season, Tug of War Machine has resurrected “Emo Christmas”, a polished up version of an oldie but goodie unofficially released by Carpet Ride in 2011 for fans of early Blink-182. Wearing cheesy Christmas sweaters and surrounded by holiday decorations, the band is joined by Christmas carolers and the feeling that Santa can’t bring you what you really want.
Here is Josh Barnhard on the video:
A favorite holiday Christmas memory would definitely be when I was 12 and got my first guitar. It paved the way for a lot of exciting opportunities that were unknown at the time. Aside from that, the whole process of filming this video was top tier times.
As we all know, Christmas and the holiday season can be a struggle for so many. Yes, there is joy and celebration during the holidays, but it can be a very lonely and depressing time for so many people out there. Josh wants to encourage you to keep your head up if you’re going through difficult times on this holiday:
As far as mental health around the holidays, every year is different, there are good days and bad days just like good and bad Christmases. As stated in the first line of this song “I hope it’s better than last years” speaks to if you are having a hard time this year, that doesn’t mean every year will be difficult. Life is full of emotions and rollercoaster rides, and it’s important to be grateful for what you have in the moment, even if it isn’t a lot. We are grateful every day for waking up and being able to write music, but even still, if we didn’t make art, waking up would be enough to be fully content.
That said, 2020 is shaping up to be a great year for Tug of War Machine as they will be releasing their full-length debut album entitled “Child Like Symptoms” in summer of 2020. In order to keep tabs on Tug of War Machine, check them out at the following locations:
https://www.instagram.com/tug_of_war_machine/
https://twitter.com/machine_tug
http://tugofwarmachine.limitedrun.com/
