As the season turns to the holidays there are lots of thoughts of family and friends at Christmastime. If you're in one of the colder climates--snow falling outside, maybe a log crackling away in the fireplace, and presents round the tree. Maybe you're busy lighting your menora, or whatever you and yours get up to with holiday celebrations. Perhaps there's no better time for us at the Town Pants to answer the question if we're devil worshippers.

Don't laugh. The cover of our latest album and "Town Pants Gremlin Logo" found on our last run of Town Pants t-shirts that you may perhaps be a proud owner of, has sparked more than one curious, but terribly mistaken person ask why "the Devil" was on there, and what that meant.

The first couple of times we were asked at the shows, I laughed it off and wondered how somebody could be so mixed up. What were they thinking, that after the show we'd go back to the hotel and order some room service and have a Black Mass? But then a few more curious people asked on the last tour, and one rather irate woman who'd made up her mind about it already, even posted a hostile note on our message board accusing us of some pretty serious things by having "him" on there. Now some wise person once said "you can't please everybody all the time". Maybe that same person said "if everybody agrees on something and everybody likes it there's gotta be something wrong with it.". Whoever that guy was, I'd like to sit down and have a drink with him because I think we'd have plenty in common. But there's also something said for being totally misunderstood. So I took the time to write response to the lady who'd posted that note, and try to explain things. I don't know if she was prepared for this kind of response. I never did get a response from her..But here's the email below for you to read for yourself, and hopefully it'll set the record straight for everybody--even those fans out there that might have been afraid to ask thinking if you did we'd suddenly grow fangs, throw on our capes , laugh evily, and have a Dave put a banjo-hex on you. And top of the season to you all... whether Kris Kringle thinks this year you've been naughty or nice.

Here is the response we sent that will set the record straight...

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Thank you for your recent posting on the Town Pants message board. It's regretable that you misconstrued the Town Pants logo we believe so incorrectly or were confused by it in such a way to be offended.

To get to the heart of the matter and directly as I can, the Town Pants logo that you ask about has nothing to do with "Devil worshipping" at all. We were surprised and disheartened that you'd confused the image in such a manner.

The Town Pants charicature has direct associations to Irish culture and mythology, but goes further for us because that good-natured mischief is one of the many facets in the heart of celtic music, lyrically found in the traditional music we perform or some of our own original compositions...

The figure beset in the shamrock is that of a "Hob-goblin"--a common figure in celtic mythology, that ultimately the Leprechaun is derivative of. The figure of a Goblin or Hobgoblin is found in other celtic folklore including "the Scottish Trows, English Spriggans, Welsh Knockers, Cornish Knockers, German Kobolds and Wichtlein, the Irish Pooka and even Shakespeare's infamous Puck".

I'm quoting directly from a website there I'd like to invite you to browse though, and indeed see the illustration of a rather rogueish red goblin. As you can see, I think you'll find that our logo has much more in common with that than with any demon.
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