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Straight No Chaser Kicks Off Holiday Season with 'Text Me Merry Christmas ft. Kristen Bell

By: Nov. 18, 2014
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Atlantic Records recording group Straight No Chaser has unwrapped details of their festive new holiday single. "Text Me Merry Christmas (Feat. Kristen Bell)" is available now at all DSPs via a newly released version of their hit EP, "UNDER THE INFLUENCE: HOLIDAY EDITION" (see http://smarturl.it/UTIHolidayEdition).

A lyric video for the song premiered yesterday via RyanSeacrest.com, and is now available via the band's YouTube channel, https://www.youtube.com/user/sncmusic. In its first day online, the video garnered more than half a million views and was one of the top five videos on YouTube.

"The infectious song is filled with millennial slang and will fill you with merriment and joy," Buzzfeed said of the new track. Mashable called the song "a modern-day classic" and The Hollywood Reporter said, "Move over 'Baby It's Cold Outside,' there's a new holiday duet in town...'Text Me Merry Christmas'...is the perfect song for our technologically-dependent selves."

"Text Me Merry Christmas was so much fun to record," said Bell. "The lyrics are smart and creative, and musically it was a blast to sing a cappella with Straight No Chaser. I'm excited to be a part of what could be a Christmas classic for our current generation."

"We wanted a Christmas song that spoke to how informal communication has become," said Randy Stine of Straight No Chaser. "As soon as we heard the first demo it was apparent that it had to be a duet...the only voice we heard singing this was Kristen Bell, and she nailed every note and delivered the lyrics with the perfect comedic tone. We were hanging on her every word...when we weren't looking at our phones."

Emmy and Grammy Award winning writers David Javerbaum and Adam Schlesinger wrote "Text Me Merry Christmas." Javerbaum is a former writer and executive producer of "The Daily Show with Jon Stewart" and Schlesinger, his frequent collaborator, is best known for his work with the band Fountains of Wayne.

Straight No Chaser will rejoice in the release of "Text Me Merry Christmas" by performing live on NBC's TODAY. The appearance is slated for the 9am hour on Friday, December 5th (check local listings).

Straight No Chaser is currently traveling the US on their biggest headline tour to date. "The Happy Hour Tour" continues through the year, culminating with a New Year's Eve spectacular at San Diego's San Diego Civic Theatre on December 31st and a visit to Hawaii, set for January 3rd at Honolulu's Hawai'i Theatre (see itinerary below). Full details including ticket information can be found at www.sncmusic.com/tour.

As if a massive 59-city, 67-show US tour weren't enough, "The Happy Hour Tour" is set to resume in late January 2015 for an eagerly awaited European leg. The epic trek will see Straight No Chaser performing 21 shows in 14 countries, among them Russia, Germany, Denmark, Sweden, Finland, Czech Republic, Austria, Italy, Holland, Belgium, France, Switzerland, Ireland, and the United Kingdom.

Straight No Chaser's fourth full-length release, 2013's "UNDER THE INFLUENCE" saw the renowned vocal group reimagining a selection of their all time favorite songs alongside many of the superstar artists and undisputed music icons that made them famous. Produced by Mark Kibble (a founding member of the legendary a cappella group Take 6 and one of Straight No Chaser's primary influences), the album included unprecedented collaborations with some of popular music's best and brightest including Phil Collins, Stevie Wonder, Elton John, Dolly Parton, Rob Thomas, Seal, Sara Bareilles, and Jason Mraz as Straight No Chaser put their distinctive and inimitable spin on songs known and loved the world over.

Long beloved for their trademark takes on Yuletide favorites, Straight No Chaser celebrated Christmas 2013 with an all-new cache of Christmas classics, titled "UNDER THE INFLUENCE: HOLIDAY EDITION." Among the EP's highlights were renditions of "White Christmas (Feat. Cee Lo Green)" and "Merry Christmas Baby (Feat. Otis Redding)," alongside new versions of standards like "Amazing Grace." The EP further included a timeless rendition of Paul McCartney's classic "Wonderful Christmastime" featuring vocals by McCartney himself. "Text Me Merry Christmas" will be a new addition to the EP starting today.

For more, please visit www.sncmusic.com, www.facebook.com/StraightNoChaser, twitter.com/SNCmusic, and www.youtube.com/sncmusic.

(TOUR ATTACHED BELOW)

STRAIGHT NO CHASER
THE HAPPY HOUR TOUR 2014/2015

NOVEMBER
19 Portland, ME Merrill Auditorium
20 Lowell, MA Lowell Memorial Auditorium
21 Buffalo, NY Shea's Performing Arts Center
22 Baltimore, MD Meyerhoff Symphony Hall
23 Providence, RI The VETS
28 Red Bank, NJ Count Basie Theater
29 Uncasville, CT Mohegan Sun Arena
30 Albany, NY Palace Theatre
DECEMBER
2 Columbus, OH Palace Theatre
3 Midland, MI Midland Center for the Arts
4 Erie, PA Warner Theatre
5 New York, NY Beacon Theatre
6 Hershey, PA Hershey Theatre (2 Shows)
7 Cleveland, OH Palace Theatre (2 Shows)
9 Pittsburgh, PA Benedum Center
10 Champaign, IL Virginia Theater
11 St Louis, MO Fox Theater
12 Detroit, MI Masonic Temple
13 Cincinnati, OH Proctor & Gamble Hall at Aronoff Center
14 Chicago, IL Chicago Theater (2 Shows)
16 Fort Wayne, IN Embassy Theater
17 Richmond, KY EKU Center for the Arts
18 Bloomington, IN IU Auditorium
19 Muncie, IN Emens Auditorium
20 Evansville, IN The Centre
21 Indianapolis, IN Murat Theater at Old National Centre (2 Shows)
22 Indianapolis, IN Murat Theater at Old National Centre (2 Shows)
26 Seattle, WA Paramount Theatre
27 Portland, OR The Arlene Schnitzer Concert Hall
28 San Francisco, CA Davies Symphony Hall
29 Thousand Oaks, CA Fred Kavli Theatre for the Performing Arts
30 Riverside, CA Fox Riverside Performing Arts Center
31 San Diego, CA San Diego Civic Theatre
JANUARY
3 Honolulu, HI Hawai'i Theatre
28 London, United Kingdom London A Cappella Festival at Cadogan Hall
30 Birmingham, United Kingdom Town Hall
31 Gateshead, United Kingdom Sage 2
FEBRUARY
1 Edinburgh, Scotland Queen's Hall
2 Dublin, Ireland Vicar Street
3 Manchester, United Kingdom Lowry Quays Theatre
5 Hamburg, Germany Fabrik
6 Aalborg, Denmark Musikkens Hus
7 Stockholm, Sweden Maximteatern
9 Helsinki, Finland Savoy Theatre
11 Berlin, Germany Heimathafen
12 Prague, Czech Republic Lucerna Music Bar
13 Vienna, Austria Porgy & Bess
16 Assago, Italy Teatro Della Luna
18 Amsterdam, Netherlands De Meervaart
20 Antwerp, Belgium Arenberg Theatre
21 Dusseldorf, Germany Savoy Theater
22 Munich, Germany Freiheiz
23 Paris, France La Cigale
24 Zurich, Switzerland Kaufleuten
26 Moscow, Russia Crocus City Hall
APRIL
2 Beaver Creek, CO Vilar Performing Arts Center*
3 Pueblo, CO Memorial Hall Theatre*
4 Ft. Collins, CO The Lincoln Center (2 shows)*
7 Madison, WI Overture Center*
8 Topeka, KS Topeka Performing Arts Center*
9 Kalamazoo, MI State Theatre
10 Kohler, WI Kohler Memorial Theatre
12 Lafayette, IN Long Center for the Performing Arts (2 shows)*

* On-sale Friday, Nov. 21 at 10 AM local time.

For more, please see www.sncmusic.com/tour



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