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What do you get when you have “Santa Claus is Coming to Town” in the style of ZZ Top? Or a version of “White Christmas” that’s strongly reminiscent of “White Wedding”?
You get December People, a band comprised of former and current members of well-known classic rock acts like Boston and Sammy Hagar who play with their respective groups throughout the year and come together every holiday season for a series of shows under the billing “A Classic Rock Christmas.”
This year the band will be making a stop at the Firehouse Arts Center in Pleasanton for two performances Dec. 15 and 16, with food drives both nights benefiting Open Heart Kitchen. December People last played there in 2015.
“We’re happy to be back at the Firehouse — we just love it there,” said Robert Berry, who founded December People and is the bass player with the Greg Kihn Band during the year.
A South Bay native and Campbell resident, Berry’s Classic Rock Christmas concept came together in 2010.
“A record company asked me to do a Christmas album and I didn’t want to do a Christmas album because everybody sings Christmas songs…(but) I came up with this concept of morphing together the biggest classic rock songs of all time with the most popular holiday songs,” Berry said in a recent interview.
“What I didn’t know is if it would work or not,” Berry continued. “I started with ‘Stairway to Heaven’ and put ‘The Night Before Christmas’ together with it and the record company loved it so I went ahead and did a full album with that in mind. I didn’t know how successful it would be but the record company entered it in the holiday music category for independent record labels and it won album of the year in 2010. So I thought, ‘Well I think I have a good idea here.'”
And so December People was born. The band includes Berry playing bass; singer and guitarist David Victor, formerly of the multi-platinum band Boston and stepping in for current Boston band member Gary Pihl; fellow vocalist and guitar player Jack Foster (Jack Foster Band); keyboard player David Medd (The Tubes), and drummer David Lauser (Sammy Hagar).
A quick glance of the band’s website provides a good introduction to their style. There’s a clip of “Angels We Have Heard on High” sung against the familiar instrumental of Journey’s “Don’t Stop Believin'” and “Joy to the World” a la The Who.
“It fits like a glove, that’s the cool thing,” Berry said.
And the band enjoys seeing audience members “getting the joke.”
“The discovery involved in it makes it a lot of fun,” Berry said. “Plus we’re doing the real holiday songs you’ve known since you were five years old so you can sing along.”
While December People enjoy playing the Classic Rock Christmas shows, what they particularly like is that the performances serve as a way of giving back. Each show benefits a local organization that serves those in need in that community.
“The reason the band started playing was because we wanted to make a difference in the cities we play in,” Berry said. “It’s not like we needed to play more — we’re touring all year in our respective bands. They just wanted to give back at the end of the year what they could.”
Attendees of this year’s performances at the Firehouse are asked to each bring five canned goods for Open Heart Kitchen. Their most needed items include canned fruits and vegetables, canned tuna and chicken and soup, among others.
“What we hope is that we’re the entertainment and people have fun, but during the year they’ll think back that the reason December People is playing is because they want to bring awareness,” Berry said. “People don’t just need food in November and December — they need it all year long.”
A Classic Rock Christmas
What: “A Classic Rock Christmas” benefiting Open Heart Kitchen
Who: December People
When: 8 p.m., Dec. 15 & 16
Where: Firehouse Arts Center, 4444 Railroad Ave.
Tickets: $30-40 each; go to www.firehousearts.org or call 931-4848. Performances are family-friendly.
