The Machine’s Pump Volume 28 – #10 – October 2025

Brave Combo made its first trip to Japan around 35 years ago. Hard to believe, but time moves quickly. We were, as usual in those days, just lost in the wilderness. We didn’t know what was going on, but we knew there was a growing interest in our music, and some very cool folks in Japan thought we were worth the effort. At the end of our trip, our promoters threw a party for us. As things were wrapping up, our road manager/babysitter, Junior, asked me if we would be interested in recording a Christmas album. I was surprised at the question and said that I was not aware of any Japanese Christmas music, and Junior said he meant the regular ol’ Christmas stuff we grew up with. It turns out American Christmas trappings are equally popular in Japan. Jesus just isn’t as involved as, say, Mickey Mouse. It’s party time! So when we returned home, we thought about it, wondered if it would make us look wimpy or even more like a novelty band, and decided to just release it in Japan and see what would happen. The next year, IT’S CHRISTMAS, MAN came out on NEC Records, and when winter rolled around, we went back to Japan for a pretty amazing tour with a big Christmas tree the stage crew hauled from city to city, at our request. So, it went well and we decided to release it in the United States the following year, on Rounder Records. Then for many years a lot happened with our holiday music, especially our cover of Mitch Miller’s “Must Be Santa.” We turned it into a rocking polka and, apparently, people everywhere dug it. Covers of our arrangement started showing up all over YouTube. Homes and entire neighborhoods all over the country started synchronizing their outdoor lights to the recording. Myriad other bands performed and recorded it and when we did our annual holiday tour it was always the big atomic bomb song of the night. And most unbelievably, our friend, Matt Groening, played it for Bob Dylan, who flipped his lid and recorded an almost note-perfect cover of it for his Christmas album. He did a video and everything and gave us credit and said nice things about us in interviews, although I’m not sure he’s ever heard anything else by us. Whatever, this whole Christmas/holiday music deal has been VERY important to Brave Combo and it does not appear to have damaged our coolness factor, too much, either. David Byrne told me once, “IT’S CHRISTMAS, MAN” was his daughter’s favorite holiday album. And rocker, Bryan Adams, included unique Brave Combo elements in his cover of “Must Be Santa.” You should check it out. Our influence is subtle, but it’s definitely there. So, life presents strange opportunities to you, on occasion, and Brave Combo ran with this one and it paid off.

With all this in mind, the 2026 holiday season is quickly approaching, and I’ve been conflicted about how to deal with it this year. The country’s psyche is a mess. A lot of folks feel like they are under attack by their own government, led by a madman and his weird-ass zombie Christian army. I’m not really digging the idea of happily bouncing through “Feliz Navidad,” or “O Holy Night (Cha Cha Cha)” as if everything is just hunky dory. So, I guess Brave Combo is most likely declaring a moratorium on performing Christmas and holiday music this year. A couple of us are busy with side projects anyway. Besides, as long as our dear leader continues to slam a wrecking ball into so much of what makes the USA truly great, we might as well pull the plug on music celebrating his lord and savior, too. I know this may sound harsh and counterproductive, but protest takes many forms, and I 100% believe it is everyone’s responsibility, especially concerned musicians and artists, to figure out how to get attention and make a point. Too much is at stake to ignore the obvious. Jeez, what could be more inspiring than witnessing the collapse of the United States. Don’t get mad, get creative! Start tossing monkey wrenches everywhere. Maybe I’ll write a new Christmas song. Something like “Let’s Have a Holly-Jolly Antichrist Christmas.” Come on all you clever songwriters. Or all you clever A.I. programs. Create the darkest, most hopeless holiday song imaginable. Hmmm, maybe Brave Combo should do one holiday show, after all, from some dreary location and rewrite the lyrics to all of the seasonal favorites, to reflect the bottomless pit of despair into which our sad country is tumbling. And, musically, turn every song into a depressing dirge. Hell, yeah! That sounds like fun. Damn, I guess I have to figure out what we’re going to do. Nothing at all or something potentially offensive and disturbing. Oh, the story of my life!

HAPPY HALLOWEEN. Denton declared itself the Halloween Capital of Texas a couple of years ago, so the whole month of October has been non-stop giant skeletons everywhere you look. Seriously, everywhere. Consequently, everyone I know burned out on Halloween halfway through the month. Nonetheless, to celebrate this orgy of ogres, we will be playing on Halloween night, at Rubber Gloves, in Denton, with our friends and fellow Dentonites, the Wee-Beasties and Slobberbone. Beware! I dare you to show up.

Okay, that’s all the downer vibe I can muster for one newsletter. It’s 4:30 am, and I have a few things to do before I can go to bed, all involving animals. Be glad you’re not me right now!