After a year where all we need our spirits lifted more than ever, The High Plains Drifters are helping us just to do that with the release of their animated lyric video for hilarious upbeat holiday single “Santa! Bring My Girlfriend Back!” which PopWrapped are delighted to premiere.

The song, which just got praise from father to the Jonas Brothers: Kevin Jonas Sr, emphasizes the effortless versatility of the band by fusing traditional holiday sounds with modern instrumentation and lyrics, making the track a contender for an instant holiday classic. The animated music video portrays various scenes of a distraught man drinking his sorrows away as he witnesses Santa Claus taking his girlfriend and eventually making her Mrs. Claus. The cartoonish style, along with the swaying, rhythmic movements of the video, will fill you up with the holiday spirit and will make you sway side to side and laugh. The inspiration behind the song comes from the band’s front man Larry Studnicky. After hosting a family party for the holidays, filled with drama and booze, Studnicky woke up the day after Christmas with a melody ringing in his head like a hangover. The melody came to Studnicky along with the first two lines.

The indie band, who have earned notoriety for their ability to intertwine various genres of music, have given their creations the holiday treatment with “Santa! Bring My Girlfriend Back!” by combining their authentic sound with upbeat marimbas, electric guitar and smooth horns that are reminiscent of holiday classics. The band shares their music with light-hearted lyrics to give you a nice hearty laugh, along with production that makes you want to dance and remember the days of office holiday parties that we once took for granted.

Can’t get enough of The High Plains Drifters? You’re in luck. The band’s second studio album is set for release in 2021.

What does releasing this track this year mean to you?

Releasing “Santa! Bring My Girlfriend Back!” this year has meant that The High Plains Drifters can bring some much-needed Christmas cheer to a world that has been beaten down by crazy events. 

We figured that, especially this holiday season, people could use some upbeat, happy, light-hearted music that would lift their spirits and put smiles on their faces. So, we pushed ourselves to get this fun Xmas tune out to a weary world. And it means also that we’re back! We are recording again and will have our 2nd album released sometime in 2021. 

Tell us about the inspiration behind “Santa! Bring My Girlfriend Back!”

Hmmm. I think the song was more “provoked” than inspired. Two Christmases ago, I was hosting a chunk of the Studnicky family at my home in Connecticut. On the afternoon of Christmas Day, after all the presents had been exchanged and some alcohol had been imbibed, there was a bit of family drama — call it what you will:  donnybrook, brouhaha etc. All those words would apply. I don’t want to go into details, except to say that some tempers flared. 

So, the next morning – Boxing Day, as our UK pals label it – I was the first one awake; and I was maybe a bit hungover; and was trying to make the coffee while pondering how such a fabulous holiday had gone so horribly awry. This song came out of nowhere in a flash. Well, at least the first few lines did -the lyrics with the melody all at once, as if sent by some Spirit of Christmas – “I’ve been drinking way too much this Christmas. My friends all wanna know the reason why. I’ve been drinking like a fish all Christmas. Well at Thanksgiving my love told me goodbye.”

I liked what I was hearing in my head. I instantly sang it into my iPhone. But I wasn’t immediately sure WHY the narrator’s gal had dumped him. I pondered that briefly. Then inspiration actually did hit: Santa stole the singer’s girlfriend. Once I had that concept, the rest of the song’s lyrics and melody flowed almost as easily as had the booze on Xmas day. 

How has 2020 inspired you musically?

This year has been a tough one to think about in terms of being “inspired”. I think that the best thing that has come out of the whole COVID thing has been that I’ve been home so much, with lots more quiet time than I used to have — when I had to schlepp to and from my office in Manhattan. The quiet time has given me the opportunity to focus on finishing a lot of songs that were only partly written. And the threat of getting really sick, if the virus hit me (which it did not), really did motivate me to get the band working on our second album. Because you just don’t know what life’s going to throw at you, or how much time you’ll be given to finish the things that make you passionate about living. 

What can listeners expect from your forthcoming second album?

I hesitate to predict things about our next album, for throughout my life I’ve long walked the fine line between quiet self-confidence and overbearing arrogance – and, yeah, I’ve crossed that line at times. But I truly think it’s going to be a quantum leap better than our self-titled debut album. The band really gelled as we finished recording the last half of album 1. That was clear this past August, when we went back into the studio to record the new “Santa!” song along with a ballad called “Since You’ve Been Gone.”

Both songs came together magically fast — we were done in a single afternoon, after recording between 5 and 7 takes per song. The guys were playing together superbly. It was amazing to watch. And I do I just watch when they record, for I don’t play an instrument — I just mimic – when we are demo’ing the songs I write – the sounds of whatever instruments I hear in my head.  

Anyway, album 2 is developing as a modern rock/singer-songwriter collection of songs — but without any blistering rock guitars. There won’t be quite as much diversity of genres exhibited as on the debut album. For instance, I’ve not written another pop-punk song to go on this record. But the album will, like our first one, feature quite a few tunes that are going to get stuck in people’s heads. 

That’s our promise to our listeners. You’ll be hearing upbeat, catchy tunes that, like “Santa! Bring My Girlfriend Back!”, are going to put smiles on your faces — and, in some cases, make you think wistfully of some girl or guy in your past who was one of the ones that got away. Most of the songs on album 2 are about that: lost love. 

Check out the lyric video for “Santa! Bring My Girlfriend Back!” below and for more information on The High Plains Drifters, give their page a like on Facebook or follow them on Twitter and Instagram.