the story of the PUNCHLINE holiday classic "ALL HOPPED UP ON JINGLE BELLS" from Redeye 2008 Holiday Sampler (Modern Short Stories)

Last year, we spoke with Pittsburgh Pop-punk band Punchline about one of our personal favorite tracks from 2003's A Santa Cause: It's A Punk Rock Christmas, "Icicles." It's easily one of the shining moments on the back half of said CD comp. leading into Nerf Herder's special hidden track, "Santa's Got A Mullet." Lo and behold, this is just one of Punchline's lesser-known Christmas classics; actually, there seem to be four total (one, we just discovered this monring while writing this!) including "All Hopped Up On Jingle Bells" from Redeye 2008 Holiday Sampler, "I Always See You In December" from Happy Holidays, I Miss You, "Christmas (Baby Please Come Home)" from Punk Rock Christmas 2, and, of course, "Icicles" from A Santa Cause. Following the widespread success of last year's the story of the PUNCHLINE holiday classic "ICICLES" from A Santa Cause: It's A Punk Rock Christmas, we decided to reach out to Punchline frontman Steve Soboslai, via email, for yet another festive feature.


We spoke with Steve and quickly decided this year's feature would be centered around "All Hopped Up On Jingle Bells" from Redeye 2008 Holiday Sampler. It was included on a 2007-08 comp. released by Modern Short Stories, a Pittsburgh-based "media label" founded by Punchline's own Steve Soboslai & Chris Fafalios and a friend, Amanda Yu. Rather than type out a lengthy backstory on "All Hopped Up On Jingle Bells," Steve Soboslai sent us a podcast-style audio file, which we uploaded to our Soundcloud page, and, then, embedded within this very post. So, if you enjoyed last year's the story of the PUNCHLINE holiday classic "ICICLES" from A Santa Cause: It's A Punk Rock Christmas, we would strongly recommend checking out this year's installment! Both "All Hopped Up On Jingle Bells" & "Icicles" have been effectively re-released on Punchline's Night Lights comp. being billed as "a collection of B-sides and previously unreleased songs released in 2009."


Earlier this year, Punchline released two stand-alone digital singles, "Just Stay Home" & "Be Right There," as well as a special strings version of their song "Universe" from 2012's So Nice to Meet You EP. Additionally, Punchline have released their own musical special fittingly titled It's The Punchline Music Special available exclusively on Amazon Prime Video. Amazon's on-site description describes it like this: "The Punchline Music Special is a glimpse into the minds of a band that has carved their own path over the course of the past two decades. Under brilliant lights and surrounded by friends, join Punchline for an intimate and visually stunning time capsule that captures the essence of Punchline, a Pittsburgh band that has stood the test of time thanks to a passionate fanbase and a true love for music." Thanks again to Steve Soboslai and the Punchline fellas for agreeing to do this! Here's to a safe, happy, and slightly different holiday season to all!