Summer was over and we were freshmen in our respective colleges...we'd just recorded Mentally Retarded. Over the summer I had started working on this website to showcase and archive all things Derelllict. Brad went off to college in Memphis, TN, Jamey went to college in Mansfield, TX, and I went to college in Banner Elk, NC. Quite a distance! Thanksgiving break was creeping up and Jamey contacted me wanting to do a Thanksgiving-related Derelllicts' album. I was definitely keen on doing it, but due to some circumstances Brad wasn't able to make it back to Erwin, TN. Hmm, I've never worked with Jamey solo before. I've only done stuff with Brad, so I was definitely curious how the proceedings might turn out.

I believe it was the weekend before Thanksgiving and Jamey and I got together and set up the recording area in my bedroom. As it happened, my family had just adopted 4 children from Moldova, a region of Romania, so while we were recording, they would burst in, stand there, laugh until I shooed them out. I did lock the door but they managed to break that. Throughout the tapes you can hear all this going on. As for the sessions with Jamey, they were absolutely brilliant. I'd never worked with another guitarist before in such a manner. Like It's Over and Done I decided to try playing percussion and bass on Brad's keyboard (which I still had in my possession). We did a couple old instrumentals from the It's Over and Done sessions, some Thanksgiving-related songs, and a ton of MINIs. I always named the songs and albums unless Brad or Jamey implied it, but I was at a loss for what to call this album of music. It just so happened that I had a book of palindromes and thumbed through it to find a unique title. One was TELL ABE TO VOTE BALLET, but it was far too long. So I chose MR. ALARM. It has absolutely nothing to do with the album or what is on it. Working with Jamey was quite refreshing and you can definitely tell due to the creativity and concise improvisations.

What else was left to do but do a Christmas album? Even back during It's Over and Done and Mentally Retarded The Derelllicts had toyed with some Christmas tunes like "The First Noel" and "Good King Wenceslas". The effect was truly twisted during those takes and Brad got in touch with me wanting to do a Derelllicts' Christmas album. Jamey had also expressed interest. However getting together at the same time over Christmas break proved to be more of a problem than a blessing. Jamey had to go back to Texas two days before Brad could show up. It looked like it was going to be another Mr. Alarm set up.

If we were going to do a Christmas, I wanted it to completely focused so I started thinking of ways to stay on track. I printed out lyrics to traditional Christmas songs but no music. What we would do is redo the music resulting in a totally different feel. I set up the recording area in my bedroom again with some Christmas lights and a small pine tree to enhance the mood. Jamey was the first to arrive but our time was limited so we jumped right in with the traditional Christmas songs. Those worked out fine for awhile, but I could sense Jamey's interest waning, so we started doing some holiday MINIs. Of course they could only go so far after awhile, so instead of letting things peter out into complacency, we started improvising some non-holiday-related music. These songs I decided to put on an EP for Mr. Alarm and soon my time with Jamey was up.

The next day Brad showed up and what ensued was absolute magic and chaos. Brad had all these awesome and twisted holiday ideas that he wanted to try out. How could I refuse? I played him some of the music Jamey and I had produced. As it always with Brad and myself, we start jamming on an instrumental to kill time until we figure out what we're going to do. I think we started doing some improvisational Christmas songs which caused us to do some MINIs. Then we did some traditional songs. Just when things started to peter out, Brad noticed my record player. With a wicked glint in his eye, he asked if I had any old Christmas records. I found some of my mother's old albums from Pat Boone, The Brady Bunch, The Carpenters...oh, did we butcher! We did a ton of other stuff like a Derelllicts' Nutcracker Suite however when I was mastering all the songs onto an album the tape got screwed up and the tape was destroyed. A ton of memories gone. But all was not lost.

When coming up with the album title, I didn't want to call it a traditional 'A Derelllicts' Christmas'. Why not call it someone else's Christmas? And so it was called A Phil Collins Christmas. The album has nothing to do with Phil Collins, his music, or what he stands for. The album was absolutely brilliant. Truly twisted holiday fun. It had the most solid improvisations The Derelllicts had ever done. The music was also ridiculously tight. Who knew that spring of 2000 The Derelllicts would call it quits?

Written October 10, 2002