Polish Club haven’t ever been particularly interested in doing things the normal way, and Christmas, of all traditions, was probably going to cop it eventually.
Enter Christmas Stinks!, an unhinged seasonal project that feels less like a novelty and more like a pressure valve. Equal parts satire and sincerity, the album reframes Christmas as a loud, communal excuse to gather, shout, laugh, and survive the end of the year together, as opposed to a silent night.
The project was released alongside Polish Club’s Xmas Bowlo Bash, a one-night-only blowout where David Novak and John-Henry Pajak, joined by special guests, tore through their unhinged takes on festive staples. It was exactly the kind of setting the band thrives in, from sticky floors and too much noise to a crowd more interested in yelling in participation rather than observing tradition politely from a distance.
Rather than dropping their album all at once, Polish Club put effort into the rollout, releasing it out through the ‘Twenty Days of Christmas Stinks!’, a chaotic advent calendar where they’re releasing 20 songs in 20 days.
It kicked off with a rework of Wham!’s “Last Christmas”, before spiralling through the historic canon of “Feliz Navidad”, “Jingle Bell Rock”, “Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree”, Paul McCartney’s “Wonderful Christmastime”, and a newly recorded version of their 2017 cover of Mariah Carey’s “All I Want for Christmas Is You.”
It’s not an ironic exercise, though, as Polish Club aimed to give the songs some grit, as they’ve mostly been worn thin by shopping centres.
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Christmas Stinks! isn’t trying to fix the holidays at all, it’s just making space to feel them honestly, and have fun while doing so.
Whether you love Christmas, hate it, or are just trying to get through the holiday season, this record meets you where you are, hopefully with a full belly, drink in hand, and the volume turned all the way up.
Check out Polish Club’s Christmas-themed Rolling Stone AU/NZ’s In My Room session above.
Polish Club’s Christmas Stinks! is out now.
