My Backyard: Fayetteville Ska Alliance CD

Updated with a new teaser!!!!

Warning! This is a brag post! For those of you who don't know him, I'd like to you to meet my son,

Chris Harriman.

Okay, so he's a little older now but I just had to add this cute picture of him at Christmas holding a puppy dog. Very appropriate.

He is my favorite child and I have told him this many, many times over the years. His interests are music and puppy dogs. He graduated from Rogers High School Class of 2002 and he was the Human Jump Rope on David Letterman. He played in a ska band call "Hustles the Hall" and currently works as a vet tech in Fayetteville. Back in November of last year he came up with the idea of making a CD of ska Christmas music. He called a buddy of his, Scott Cornish, and they began writing the very next day.

What is Ska music you ask? Good question... I had to ask him myself.

"The style of ska music that we enjoy the most has its roots in the Caribbean. The reggae music of the islands made its way to Europe where it was infused with the distorted guitars and punk beats of the counterculture. Our music is the American version of that style, also known as "third wave ska". Our particular brand of ska relies on guitars playing upbeats, distortion guitars playing power chords, horns playing melodies, and drums switching back and forth between half and full time. This album features primarily fast, upbeat guitars in a "typical" ska style, as well as a hearty dose of straight ahead disco, blues, and punk rock. There is one song that would fit in on a modern alternative rock radio station and another that could get radio play on an oldies station, but ska is the backbeat that holds it all together."

Still unsure? The group recorded and released Deck The Halls earlier this year. Take a listen.

How about a video of them hard at work... something a bit more traditional.

Charity

Instead of doing this for profit, Chris decided to make this CD for charity and he chose Spay Arkansas. This is a program that provides low income people the means to have their pets altered at a very reasonable price throughout NWA, thus reducing the amount of unwanted pets. Learn more here:

Rest assured that 100% of the sale of this CD will go directly to Spay Arkansas. Chris is not getting a dime. He launched a fund raiser this year to pay for the base costs of producing this CD. He reached his goal of just $2,500 with the help of family, friends, a huge garage sale, a hot dog raffle, and a few local businesses.

Chris is surrounded by some very talented people who like to have fun, too. This was filmed in the studio.

And here is a teaser of some of the music that will be on the CD.

There are 10 songs on the CD, seven are standards that we all know and love. Also, there are three original Christmas tunes written specifically for this project.

The album is titled "Merry, Happy, Jolly, Good Time."

1. Deck The Halls

2. Jingle Bells

3. Carol of the Bells

4. Hark The Herald

5. Up On The Housetop

6. God Rest, Ye Merry Gentlemen

7. Christmas Popcorn (A Medley)

8. Why Can’t Every Holiday Just Be Christmas?

9. Merry, Happy, Jolly, Good Time

10. Have Another Piece Of Pie

I had Chris answer a few questions.

How many people were involved with the project? The musical portion of the project took 18 musicians to complete, however it took many more people to make it all come together. We had a huge group helping behind the scenes helping with our website, graphical design, and fundraising. Without the help of our donors and business partners, we could not have raised the money to produce the album. This project has truly been an Alliance.

When and where is the CD release party? The Fayetteville Ska Alliance is hosting a CD release party at Rogue on Dickson in Fayetteville, Arkansas, on Saturday, December 1st.

Where will the CD be available for purchase? The physical CD will primarily be sold locally to the Fayetteville, Arkansas, area in local businesses. Physical copies will also be available via Amazon. Digital purchases will be available on many different websites such as iTunes, Amazon, Google Play and Spotify.

So there you have it, folks. Keep your eye out for this CD and I'll keep you updated on where you can purchase it, either the physical CD or the digital copy.

Have a look at the official website and you can learn more about the entire project and even Meet the Alliance.
Fayetteville Ska Alliance

Also, give them a like on Facebook.

FSA on Facebook

And as always... We wish you a Merry Christmas...