4 - Typically Christmas
Our fourth album titled "Typically Christmas" was released on December 1, 2015 and is available on iTunes.
Album cover photo by Bryden Kercheval and Kirk
Recording began after Christmas of 2014. gzuslivz has lead worship at Legacy Christian Church for over 10 years now. We have had a wide variety of Christmas music over the years including: acoustic guitar & vocals only, Handel's Messiah by Reliant K, Away in a Manger by Blind Boys of Alabama, Jingle Bells by The Brian Setzer Orchestra, We Three Kings by Amped, and Oh Come All Ye Faithful by Twisted Sister. Ironically, I (Kirk) don't really like Christmas songs. So why do an album of Christmas songs? I thought it might be interesting to create our own version of typical Christmas songs, maybe done a-typically; that's how I am. The original versions of all these songs are public domain ( http://www.pdinfo.com/pd-music-genres/pd-christmas-songs.php ) so we didn't have to mess around with licensing. Yay!
Instruments for this album
Electric Guitar - Kirk Hopkins
Bass Guitar - Kirk Hopkins
Drums - Kirk Hopkins
Vocals are listed for each song
All arrangements by Kirk Hopkins
01 What Child is This?
Vocals, Lead - Pam Hopkins
02 O Holy Night
Vocals, Lead - Bob Conly
Vocals, Choir - Carley Wesseler
Vocals, Choir - Kirk Hopkins
Vocals, Choir - Natalie Hopkins
Vocals, Choir - Pam Hopkins
03 O Come All Ye Faithful
Vocals, Lead - Pam Hopkins
04 O Come, O Come, Emmanuel
Vocals, Lead - Natalie Hopkins
Vocals, echoes - Carley Wesseler
Vocals, echoes - Josh Mains
05 O Little Town of Bethlehem
Vocals, Lead - Pam Hopkins
Vocals/yelling, Lead - Kirk
06 Angels We Have Heard on High
Vocals, Lead - Carley Wesseler
Vocals - Pam Hopkins
Vocals - Kirk Hopkins
Vocals - Josh Mains
07 Go Tell it on the Mountain
Vocals, Lead - Natalie Hopkins
08 I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day
Vocals, Lead - Pam Hopkins
09 God Rest Ye, Merry Gentlemen
Vocals, Lead - Natalie Hopkins
10 Away in a Manger
Vocals, verse 1 - Josh Mains
Vocals, verse 2 - Carley Wesseler
Vocals, verse 3 - Bob Conly
Vocals, a capella - Kirk
Vocals, a capella - Natalie
Vocals, a capella - Pam
11 Silent Night
Vocals, Lead - Natalie Hopkins
12 Jingle Bells
Vocals, Lead - Josh Mains
All songs were recorded and mixed on location in the Hopkins Studio in Okeana, Ohio by Kirk Hopkins
The album was mastered by Sam Freese of Black Creek Recording
Kirk's gear:
Vintage Ludwig drums with Remo Ambassador heads
4 concert toms with Remo Pinstripe heads
Zildjian cymbals
Wuhan cymbals
Sound percussion hardware
VicFirth 5b nylon tip sticks
Epiphone Les Paul electric guitar
iPhone running JamUp Pro (effects)
Griffin Guitar Connect cable
Bose Quietcomfort 15 (noise canceling headphones)
Bose AE2 (headphones)
Sennheiser HD 280 Pro (headphones)
MacBook Pro with Logic Pro 9
Tascam US-144MKII (4 channel USB mixer)
Tascam US-1800 (14 channel USB mixer)
2 sets of CAD 7 drumset mics
MXL 990 Condenser vocal microphone with shock mount and shield
Fostex powered monitors