Arkells release a music video for their holiday song “Pub Crawl”

Arkells have become one of the most prolific Canadian bands of the last decade. They’re always writing, recording, and releasing material, even when we least expect it. This year, they decided that another Christmas song was in order, so they wrote one called “Pub Crawl.”

The song requires a little context. After working like dogs through 50 weeks of the year, Arkells come home to Hamilton to catch up with friends. Everyone gets together at a pub and throws all their credit cards in a hat. When everyone drinks up and it’s time to move to the next pub, cards are drawn out of the hat and the final two people are stuck with the tab. Then it’s off to the next pub where everyone does the same thing except that the two people who paid that first tab. And on it goes until everyone pays for a round.\

This song was commissioned for Amazon Music–it’s one of their exclusive thingies–but back in November, the band leaked the song to bars across Canada and a few in the US. Fans were encouraged to go to these spots and request the song from the bartender, which he or she would then play. Cool idea, no?