[Carol Lin, Cnn Anchor:] By now, you should be feeling the stress of Christmas. If last minute shopping, crowded malls and annoying in- laws are already weighing you down, boy, do we have a treat for you. Meet Bah and the Humbugs, an irreverent musical group said to be burning up the charts at mp3.com. Hi, guys.
[Amy Guskin, Bah And The Humbugs:] Hi. How are you?
[Lin:] I'm doing great. Amy, do a quick introduction of everybody over there.
[Guskin:] OK, to my right is Paul, my husband.
[Paul Nordquist, Bah And The Humbugs:] Hi.
[Guskin:] Vance, not my husband. Rick, equally not my husband. Gaydon, also not and Mike, again, not my husband.
[Lin:] We're relieved, OK. Hey, Amy...
[Guskin:] Yes?
[Lin:] You know, some of the I asked the audience to pay attention to the lyrics because these aren't just ordinary jingle bells. I mean the kinds of holiday songs that you sing about I mean, you talk about you sing about exploding holly. You talk about Santa as a thief.
[Guskin:] Well, our Christmas experience is a little different than most people's, it's true. And I think some of us are tired of the standard holiday fare. And so, over the years, we've just done our best to raise the bar a bit.
[Lin:] So Paul, who comes up with the lyrics?
[Nordquist:] Every member of the band is a songwriter. So we each come up with a song or two and then we, you know, just put them all together.
[Lin:] And what's your favorite one?
[Nordquist:] My favorite one?
[Lin:] Now what really...
[Guskin:] Capture many?
[Lin:] Yes, I mean, what captures the holiday spirit to you?
[Vance:] Christmas and Noel. [LAUGHTER]
[Nordquist:] This year I'd have to say "Santa Pulled my Icicle Lights."
[Lin:] What is that about? That's so hostile.
[Nordquist:] It's...
[Guskin:] Not exactly. If you listen to it, it's really not hostile.
[Lin:] How do the words go?
[Guskin:] It's just a total accident, actually. It talks about how this person's icicle lights got mistakenly pulled down. And they're conjecturing all sorts of ways that might have happened. And it's a little bit of a poke at people who have icicle lights of strange colors at all times of year, which seems to be a trend now.
[Lin:] All right...
[Guskin:] An unfortunate trend.
[Lin:] "Christmas Trees from Hell?"
[Guskin:] Oh, yes, that one.
[Nordquist:] "Christmas Tree from Hell," well, everyone just assumes that Christmas trees are beneficial, but you never know.
[Guskin:] You might get the wrong tree.
[Lin:] What could possibly happen?
[Nordquist:] Well...
[Guskin:] What could possibly happen with a Christmas tree?
[Nordquist:] If in the case of a song like that...
[Vance:] I'm glad you asked. Let me we trim the tree at night. Then we noticed something well, we're not actually going to sing that.
[Nordquist:] Okay, but yes, there might be a demonic entity in your Christmas tree and...
[Guskin:] It's just something amiss, you know? And how many of us haven't felt bedeviled by trying to put the tree up at one point or another? So...
[Nordquist:] Yes.
[Guskin:] So you know, it works.
[Lin:] Yes, I have a hard enough time just getting rid of the tree once I'm...
[Guskin:] Well, yes, yes. Well, that's being bedeviled a little bit, isn't it?
[Lin:] So how do you get your inspiration?
[Guskin:] Uh.
[Nordquist:] Well, we just look at every aspect of the holiday season and see what there is about that hasn't been talked about.
[Guskin:] And also, it's kind of a one upmanship as well, because no character is safe with us. We found out at one point we realized that there were no songs about Mrs. Claus, so I took up that one. And I did a little song about how she has this annual infidelity on Christmas Eve when her husband's out working.
[Lin:] Oh, say it isn't so!
[Guskin:] Oh, but it's very sweet. It really is.
[Lin:] Oh, yes. No problem there. All right, let's hear one from you?
[Guskin:] All right.
[Nordquist:] All right.
[Guskin:] Okay.
[Lin:] That's great, guys. That is so great. Are you going to come out with a CD? Or we just going to have to download you?
[Guskin:] We have a CD in fact. If you go to mp3.comhumbugs, you can link to our web site from there. You can buy the CD on mp3.com. If you don't want to download ithumbugs.
[Unidentified Male:] And you don't have to buy the CD. You can download the songs for free.
[Guskin:] For free. So you can get all sorts of Christmas cheer for absolutely no money.
[Lin:] Yes. Well that is the Christmas spirit. Okay, you guys keep it up.
[Guskin:] Thanks.
[Lin:] Sing us to the break. Thanks so much. Great to meet you.
[Guskin:] OK.
[Lin:] Merry Christmas.
[Guskin:] You, too. Happy Holidays.
[Lin:] Hit it folks.