Des Moines Register : The Nadas dream of a green Christmas

The Nadas play their last local show of 2009 Friday with their annual Nada Silent Night concert, a benefit for Toys for Tots. It’s the band’s sixth year putting on the show. We sat down with band members Jason Walsmith and Mike Butterworth to answer a few questions about the popular holiday show and their Christmas faves.

DREAMING OF A GREEN CHRISTMAS: Each year the band tries to do something a little different with the show. This year they’re going for a green theme: printing fewer posters, focusing on digital press, and using recyclable wristbands for attendees and more efficient LED Christmas lights instead of regular ones. Decorations on stage are made from old cardboard boxes, and the silent auction before the event benefits green building projects for Habitat for Humanity.
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The show will also be streamed on the band’s Web site (as all the band’s shows are), but they want to encourage fans to carpool, take public transit or walk to the show rather than just watch it from home. Butterworth said a portion of the evening’s entertainment will be green-powered, but wants the specifics to be a surprise until performance time.

THE MOST WONDERFUL TIME OF THE YEAR: The Nadas play multiple Des Moines dates each year, including the Iowa State Fair and the Simon Estes Amphitheater, but they try to make Nada Silent Night different than a bar or outdoor show.

“The band and the audience are always on their best behavior, which lends to a different show,” Walsmith said. Past shows have featured choirs and special guests on stage.

Still, “best behavior” can be subjective. “You’re supposed to remain seated at Hoyt Sherman,” Butterworth said. “They have rules against standing up, but every year people do it and come up to the front to dance.”

OPENING ACT: Brooklyn indie band The Damnwells open the show. The two bands have been friends for some time, sparked by The Nadas covering The Damnwells song “Kiss Catastrophe.” This year The Nadas had an extra in with the band, too, since Damnwells frontman Alex Dezen recently moved to Iowa as a master of fine arts candidate at the University of Iowa’s Iowa Writers’ Workshop.

“Blue October is the band that hipped us to the Damnwells,” Butterworth said. “Back when we used to run around opening for each other, before they became superstars.”

FAVORITE CHRISTMAS TUNES: Butterworth: “I love ‘Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas,’ but I don’t have a favorite version. Does the Indigo Girls version of ‘River’ by Joni Mitchell count as a Christmas song?”

Walsmith: “I think my favorite Christmas song is ‘Silent Night’ actually. Sorry to be so cliche.”

LOOKING TO 2009: The band has written about half an album of children’s songs, and they plan to release a new studio album in an unusual way. They’ll write one song a month, releasing it online.

“We’re calling it ‘Almanac,’ and every song will be written, recorded and released in its month,” Walsmith said. “It’s kind of a picture of a year, month by month.”

The band’s label will also release a Nadas tribute album, spearheaded by Fat Andy singer Will Peterson.