It's Chriiiiiiiiistmas!

After such a busy summer season the wait is over and our vocalist Charlotte finally gets the opportunity to belt out a few Christmas songs! After all, we all love a bit of Mariah don't we? Although we don't have many public engagements over the festive period that's not to say we're slacking off at all! We've all been busy with individual projects, school concerts, and our smaller band "Hoo22ers" has been out and about in the county playing various events too. We're also in the process of adding new songs, and maybe a couple of instrumentals (watch this space) to our ever-expanding repertoire. No spoilers just yet I'm afraid! So, what's occurrin? Hoo22ers, our smaller band comprising of Charlote on vocals, accompanied by our brass section of Tom, Emma and Andrew recently played for the annual Switch-On of the Christmas lights at Riverside, Haverfordwest hosted by our friends at Pure West Radio. Local artists provided entertainment on the main stage all day including Cantabile, Matt Baker, Abi, Ebony & Lucia, Vision Arts, Choirs for Good and FF Dancers. Special guests including the Snow Queen, Sparkle the Elf and the Mayor of Haverfordwest joined with Santa on the stage for the countdown to the big Switch-On and begin the fantastic fireworks display.

The weather was a little chilly but families and friends came out in their droves to support this amazing annual event.

In other news, Tom, our trumpet player recently released his debut CD with Desert Life, a alt-folk, alt-country, American, Welsh duo partnership with ultra talented multi instrumentalist Chris Swales. To say this CD is good is a complete understatement - it is outstanding! I have been listening to it on loop since it's release and I must say that we're all incredibly proud of Tom and it highlights how very fortunate we are to have such talented people in our band. The reviews speak for themselves and it's getting plenty of air time on various radio stations and streaming platforms. Check it out for yourselves, you will not be disappointed.

A record that contemplates lost love, our place in the universe and, as the Welsh would say, expresses a powerful sense of *Hiraeth *translates to "longing" Check out Desert Life here. Links to the album here.

Talking of album releases and Christmas songs, it would be criminal of me not to mention The Hooves! Craig, our drummer is half of "The Hooves" alongside his partner and our good friend Emma. They write fun, catchy, Christmas songs and have released a fresh new album for this year. The lyrics are brilliant, the tunes are even better and the composition and musicianship delivered by Craig and Emma is wonderful. It's particularly nice to hear Craig on lead vocals and again, highlights how lucky we are to have such talent in our ranks.

Check out The Hooves YouTube Channel here. Check out their Facebook page here. Listen to the album here My favourite track is Hoof on the Roof but I will let you decide which is yours. Listen to the whole album as there is a cheeky little guest appearance on one of the tracks, see if you can figure who it is!

Rhys and Matthew, on keys and guitar are both educators with Pembrokeshire Music Service and have both been extremely busy over the last few weeks preparing their pupils for exams and Christmas concerts. Rhys, in particular loves rocking a Christmas outfit and we're led to believe he won a prize for this years effort! Can you spot him?

So, what's in store for 24? We have lots of events in our diary for next year including weddings, birthday parties, festivals, carnivals, corporate events and even a few bars have booked early too. As mentioned earlier we like to keep our setlist fresh and we will spend the next few weeks adding some new tunes but certainly not neglecting the old ones! Chris, our bass guitarist has such an eclectic taste in music and always manages to find that special arrangement that will suit our band. He deserves a fair bit of credit for our existing repertoire too. We'd like to wish everyone that has supported us this year a very Happy Christmas and we hope to see you all again next year, we're looking forward to it! Thank You from everyone at Funktion 22 Charlotte Emma Tom Andrew Rhys Matthew Chris Craig