IT’S a festive song with a difference - and it’s made in Glasgow.
This Time In Between - about the chocolates-and-leftovers period between Christmas and Hogmanay - may be the brainchild of top TV funnyman Jon Culshaw, but it’s taken two of this city’s music experts to bring it two life.
Impressionist Culshaw, known for his parodies of Tony Blair, Boris Johnson, George W Bush and others, came up with the idea for the track in 1987 while working on local radio in Preston as a teenager when he struggled to find appropriate music for the days immediately after Christmas.
This year it’s finally hit the charts thanks to former Texas keyboard player Michael Bannister and Josie Smith of Nation Radio Scotland.
The couple joined up with Culshaw to form the three-piece Turk E Curry and release the festive pop stomp.
With Culshaw on vocals and his long-term friend Smith on drums, Bannister, who left the Halo hitmakers last year, played every other part on the record.
He got involved after Culshaw sent him the idea for the track as a voice note via WhatsApp.
“What day is it?” Culshaw asks, singing about the “sea of wrapping paper all over the floor”, leftover turkey and sales shoppers on the news.
Bannister, praised by Culshaw as a “brilliant musician”, rerecorded the vocals at the comic’s home in Lancashire.
They’d originally hoped for a Christmas 2020 release, but pushed it back due to the severity of the pandemic at the time.
Smith said: “This year is a bit different and we think people do need something that’ll bring them that bit of cheer.”
The trio hope the video for the track, which uses doppleganger puppets made by Glasgow’s Kaiser George Marionettes, will help to do just that.
Culshaw has described that as “a cross between Thunderbirds and Coronation Street” and Bannister says the likenesses are “uncanny”.
He went on: “When Jon sent me the voice note, it was really good. In the end, I was able to put it together in about a day. Everything just worked.
“We hope it’ll go out year after year.”
Available on Spotify, Amazon Music, YouTube and more, the three minute track has the same feel as Christmas classics from the 70s.
And Culshaw says the idea has been marinating for almost as long: “When I was 19 doing Christmas cover on Red Rose Radio in Preston, I noticed that there were loads of festive tunes that were played right up until Christmas, but then from Boxing Day to New Year’s Eve all those Christmassy songs just stopped in their tracks – there seemed to be nothing appropriate to cover that funny week from December 25 until December 31.
“It needed a song all of its own.
“Now I think we finally have a fitting tune.
“Hopefully this This Time In Between is something that people can relate to year after year, a time during which we can stop, re-set and reflect for a while, and relax and indulge wherever we can.
“It’s a reverential look at a traditional Christmas, one where you’ve made good progress through your tins of Quality Street and Roses and are fully indulging in your new Badedas bubble bath set.
“On the run-up to Christmas Day we have the likes of Mariah, Slade and Band-Aid classics to usher us into a festive frame of mind. With This Time In Between we now finally have a song that captures the mood of the days that follow; that funny, sometimes chaotic, sometimes contented, period of time where we’re more than likely to be eating turkey curry.”
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules here