Holiday playlist must-have: Hamilton songwriter records Christmas song for good cause
Published December 16, 2020 at 8:25 am
A Hamilton songwriter and father of two has devised a way to raise some money for some important causes and spread some cheer, all while he makes one of his own dreams come true this holiday season.
Tom Flood, like the rest of us, spent a lot of this year at home and during that time, his passion for music and songwriting was reignited and he set out to fulfil a long-held desire to compose a Christmas song.
“I have always wanted to write a Christmas song,” Flood told InTheHammer. “I had no intention of releasing anything, though.”
But the need to spread some positivity seemed particularly important this year, Flood said. In that spirit, he and his co-writer, Toronto-based Pat Rijd, decided to release a holiday song in support of causes that are near and dear to their hearts.
‘Streets of Snow’ was released this week and is available to download through the Bandcamp online music platform.
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It can be downloaded for $1 and all proceeds go towards Friends and Families for Safe Streets (FFSS), a group of advocates pushing to change the laws and enforcement on the roads to make them safer for pedestrians and cyclists. They also provide support groups for the families of victims of road violence.
Proceeds will also go towards Speqtrum Hamilton, a youth organization that supports our local LQBTQ+ community and a portion of the proceeds will go towards The Casbah, one of Hamilton’s favourite live music venues.
“Given the recent horrible tragedies on our streets, [we thought] it was important to support FFSS,” Flood, who is a vocal cycling advocate in the city, said.
“And The Casbah is one of the great music venues in Hamilton. I’ve always loved going there,” he said, adding that its been really challenging for them and other music venues in the city.
In fact, Flood has hosted several evenings as a DJ at The Casbah in support of Speqtrum, an organization whose work has proven invaluable in supporting Hamilton’s LGBTQ+ community, he said.
“It’s such a worthwhile organization,” he said.
The song took Flood and Rijd a couple of months to compose, arrange and produce and the effort is well worth it: the pair have managed to pair perfectly their ‘noisy-indie’ roots with the liveliness and hope of classic Christmas music.
“It was extremely enjoyable to do something like this again,” Flood said. “I forgot how much I loved it.”
Dialogue from ‘It’s a Wonderful Life’ — one of Flood’s favourite movies — is also layered into the song to further drive home the song’s theme of hope.
“The message in the movie is that everyone makes a difference; everyone’s life is valuable,” he said. “I think it’s important to remember that.
“[The song] is a little bit of light in a dark time.”
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