CARRBORO -- The Trekky Yuletide Orchestra, formed last year from bands on the Chapel Hill independent label Trekky Records, spent a hot 2006 August day wearing sweaters to get in the mood to record their "A New Old Fashioned Christmas" CD. Last year's CD release party included a concert with local bands.

The orchestra is back this year with three more Christmas songs -- all originals -- and another concert with local bands. They'll perform a "Christmas at the Cradle" show at Cat's Cradle Dec. 19 with local bands Portastatic, Annuals, Ivan Howard, The Moaners, Midtown Dickens, I Was Totally Destroying It, Hammer No More the Fingers, Schooner, Robosapien and Sweater Weather. This year's 21-piece Trekky Yultide Orchestra is made up of Trekky bands The Never, Lost in the Trees, Auxiliary House, Butterflies, Embarrassing Fruits and Vibrant Green.

The orchestra's three new original songs are available on its MySpace page at www.myspace.com/trekkyrecordschristmas, and their CD is available at www.trekkyrecords.com. The orchestra also performed before performances of UNC PlayMakers' "The Little Prince" this month. Proceeds from the Dec. 19 concert and CD sales benefit the National Multiple Sclerosis Society.

Four of the orchestra's members -- two from The Never and two from Auxiliary House -- answered questions from The Herald-Sun about last year's collaboration and doing it again this year. Here's what they had to say:

What was your impression of the collaboration (CD and performance) last year?

Joah Tunnell (vocals, guitar, bass) of The Never: "Last year's collaborations were great. Artistically and socially it was great playing music with people I don't normally get to interact with that way and the CD is great! I'm a fan!"

Will Hackney (vocals, guitar, mandolin) of Auxiliary House: "It was a really fun, organic experience. There was less pressure to be creative, which made it a lot more fun and ultimately allowed us to be more creative. Christmas is funny like that. Getting the full orchestra together for the show was insane. We had never played with a band that big and it was pretty exhilarating to be able to fill so many parts and to be so loud ... It was about finding the common ground between all of us, so it was nice to see a lot of people be flexible and welcoming of different ideas."

Jonny Tunnell (vocals, drums) of The Never: "Christmas at the Cradle is the one show I look forward to the most out of the entire year! The Orchestra gives us a chance to really come together as a label, and that's really what Christmas is all about for me."

Martin Anderson (guitar, drums) of Auxiliary House: "An aspect of Trekky has always been collaboration within the artist roster, and that was in some ways a catalyst for doing the Christmas album in such a collaborative way. It was the first time a lot of us had been able to get in the same room together for a week and bounce ideas off each other. I love listening to the album because it's decorated with everyone's input and direction. We all basically lived together and only saw each other for about a week -- practicing or recording all day, playing soccer and tennis, screen printing, cooking, etc. I think how much we enjoyed being around each other came across on the album in this really intangible way. Getting the live band together was equally enjoyable ..."



How did these three new original songs come together? How did you get in the holiday mood?

Joah Tunnell: "I suppose I had some melodies for a few songs that I thought might become Christmas songs around the middle of the summer, but I didn't get serious about them until late summer/fall. My older brother Stephen is a great lyricist, so I gave him the idea of the song, the melodies and a few lyrics of my own and he took it from there. Jonny helped write the bridge [for "We Could Only See the Star at Night"]. As far as getting into the Christmas spirit before December, I think I just listened to Christmas music."

Will Hackney: "It was more during the fall this time around. We had different bands on tour and busy with other things, so the writing and composing was helmed by a smaller group of people. But within that group there was still a ton of collaboration. I think it's fair to say none of the new songs really sound like the primary band of the person who wrote them. It's not really too difficult to catch the Christmas spirit early. Most of us at Trekky Records celebrate the holiday season for about four months each year."

Jonny Tunnel: "I had definitely started listening to Christmas music in the summer and wearing Christmas sweaters as soon as it got anywhere cold enough, which is my favorite way to get in the mood ..."

Martin Anderson: "We've had a really crazy fall of way more touring and recording, so each song had one or two people heading up the writing and then the band came in to fill them all out. I guess it's easy for us to get in the Christmas spirit after rehearsing and recording Christmas songs for a few weeks in August last year."



What's different in your -- and your band's -- life this year?

Joah Tunnell: "Well, I'm married! And my band has done a lot more touring and we're starting work on our next record, which is exciting."

Will Hackney: "All of our respective bands are more established, more comfortable with being a professional musician, and that certainly helps us to frame the compositions more intelligently and more poignantly. Also, we have some anticipation for what we are going to do as we return this year, which is exciting."

Jonny Tunnell: "Well, there's a lot more of us this year, so a lot more merriment I'd say, and hopefully more cookies, candy corn, maple syrup and candy canes."

Martin Anderson: "As far as the band goes, we've got a much larger group than we did last year. We've made some really great friends over the past year that are also extremely talented and have come to help us out with filling in our horn and string sections ... The orchestral arrangements are much more realized than they were last year ... I'd say we're even more of a family. We moved from the office we were in last year to a house in which many members of the Yuletide Orchestra reside. Josh Kimbrough, Joe Norkus and Katie Zickefoose (all of whom were huge parts of last year's album) have all graduated from college and moved back to Chapel Hill from Greensboro, which has been amazing! Joah and Emma got married! That makes the second married couple within TYO. Ari Picker (Lost in the Trees) is a huge part of the label, but was in Boston when we did the last album/show, and he's here now and playing in the band. There have been a lot of exciting changes for us!"



What was it like performing before "The Little Prince"?

Joah Tunnell: "It was fun. The first set was a little odd because the theatergoers were mostly rushing past us on their way into the theater because it was a general admission show. The second set was great!"

Will Hackney: "We performed with only one microphone and pretty much pretended we were street busking, so it was interesting to see what some of the songs are like when they are really, really quiet. The crowd was very appreciative, though. They certainly weren't expecting a 15-plus orchestra to be playing Christmas tunes, but I think it was a welcome treat for people who are used to just seeing theater. We also got to use their grand piano! Beautiful."

Jonny Tunnell: "And apparently we completely saved some young lady's Christmas spirit!!!"

Martin Anderson: "It's always great to get in front of a different demographic than you usually play to. I was surprised: We've gotten some really positive response from people that watched the sets. We really appreciate PlayMakers giving us the opportunity to play!"



Any other thoughts on Christmas music, the upcoming concert, the holidays?

Will Hackney: "The holidays are a great time to not take things too seriously, be arbitrarily happy, give things to people you like and also sing. The concert is going to be the highly concentrated manifestation of all of those awesome things."

Jonny Tunnell: "Move over Trans-Siberian Orchestra, there's a new Christmas band in town."

Martin Anderson: "We are so excited about this year's show! We love every single one of the bands playing and are planning some really great festivities for during the show. It will be a night to remember."

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WHAT: "Christmas at the Cradle," music by the Trekky Yultide Orchestra (The Never, Auxiliary House, Lost in the Trees, Butterflies, Embarassing Fruits, Vibrant Green) with Portastatic, Annuals, Ivan Howard, The Moaners, Midtown Dickens, I Was Totally Destroying It, Hammer No More the Fingers, Schooner, Robosapien, Sweater Weather

WHEN: 7:30 p.m. Wednesday

WHERE: Cat's Cradle, 300 E. Main St., Carrboro

COST: $7 advance, $10 day of show.

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION: For tickets, call (919) 967-9053 or visit www.catscradle.com. Proceeds benefit National Multiple