A lot of artists have to use a lot of imagination in order to record Christmas albums in the middle of the summer, but for BEC Recordings' band All Things New, they're used to anticlimactic yuletide climates. Hailing from Central Florida, this "Southern pop" quartet doesn't get white Christmases, but they certainly get Christmas.

Still introducing themselves to the Christian music world, All Things New has taken a novel approach to releasing Christmas songs, tacking three holiday tunes onto their 10-song debut record. The All Things New: Christmas Edition features an original song, a remake of a well-loved Christmas carol, and a cover of a lesser-known song. 

I recently talked with lead singer Garrett Hornbuckle about the state of his band in 2013 and about Christmas music as he took a break from his second job, building decks in Florida. 

Thanks for taking the time to chat. I just want to take a few moments and find out what's going on with the band. What has 2013 been like for you guys and what's life been like since the release of the debut in April?

Yeah, 2013 has been an amazing year for All Things New. We currently just got off the road with Rhett Walker and Rush of Fools and that was an amazing tour. That was a good Fall. Those guys were just incredible to be with and really just genuine people—real people that love Jesus and love making music. 

When we got off the road on the God's Not Dead Tour with Newsboys and Building 429 and Britt Nicole, that was a fun tour. We definitely covered a lot of ground for our first tour. I think it was like 50 cities all the way from Seattle all the way to Miami. It was pretty crazy, man, but it's just been an amazing year and really cool to see how this record has been impacting people all across the nation and hearing fans' stories. It just keeps encouraging us to keep doing this and to keep writing music, and there's a reason and purpose of what we do this for.

So after a wild and crazy year, you're now home and working the other job. Talk about thatduality in a sense—the two different sides of your life like that.

A lot of people think that because we're on the radio that we're doing this that we make a lot of money, and the thing is as a new artist it's really hard to do well, financially. All of us in the band, we actually all work part-time jobs. One of the guys is on staff at church. I help out leading worship at church. I build decks. One of the guys works for a home renovation company and the other guy does overnight stock at a grocery store.

It's definitely nice to have some downtime with family and to be able to do these side jobs and to be able to really help us out financially, because it is really hard when you're not on the road as a new band, as an up-and-coming artist. It's not like how everybody thinks.

When did you guys record these songs? Was it the summer, these Christmas songs?

Yeah. We did Christmas in July. We were in the studio in Nashville and did Christmas music in July, which was pretty hard to get in the Christmas spirit when it was 90 degrees out and we're sweating and it was humid, but I think we did the best we could.

Does it take a little more imagination to feel all wintry and Christmassy there when the temperatures are a bit hotter and there's zero chance of snow?

It definitely does. It's November, it's almost Thanksgiving and I'm outside in a T-shirt and shorts right now, so it doesn't definitely feel like fall or winter, but you've got to have some imagination and you've got to listen to a lot of Christmas music and watch a lot of Hallmark Channel.

With these songs it's really a unique way of releasing some Christmas songs. Why did you guys decide to go about it this way, attaching it to your debut as opposed to releasing EPs? It's a neat way to introduce people to the full album.

It was really from a label side, a marketing side. I think the label thought it could really give people who are into Christmas music an opportunity to not only have Christmas music, but to have our debut album as well, for the listener who does not have that. So we packaged it together. I really believe it's going to do well and I think it's a neat idea and concept the way that they marketed that.

When you listen to the Christmas Edition that flow wise, sort of the continuity of what you were trying to say with the first 10 songs, do you feel like it continues that well?

I don't know if we really went into these Christmas songs with an idea or a concept. I guess we kind of did. "Go Tell it on the Mountain" is basically a song proclaiming Jesus Christ and proclaiming the birth of him. Then our original song is called "He Has Come." It's kind of the same thing. We have a line in it that says look at what the Lord has done. He has come. It's basically just rejoicing in the fact that our Savior has been born. That's what Christmas is all about. That's why we celebrate the season is to realize that Christ is born for us and because of that we have salvation. We have grace and love that we can never get.

Not a lot of bands do "Go Tell it on the Mountain." It's one of the lesser covered, I think, Christmas songs and it's cool that you guys picked that one. Why is that one special to you guys?

We played it for Fish LA, a station out in LA. We played it for their Christmas event last year and the way we arranged it and it just really felt right. We're from the South so we love like banjos and harmonicas and mandolins so we really tried to bring that organic, Southern element into this song when we were doing it in the studio and I really feel like we were able to capture that in this track.

Talk about for a moment the original song. Did you guys write that this summer?

We wrote "He Has Come" with Mia Fieldes and Jonathan Smith, one of the producers on our debut album and on our Christmas EP and it was just basically an idea. A lot of people write kind of the same things so we're just kind of having a fresh idea, a new concept on Christmas music and Mia Fieldes came up with the idea that "He Has Come / Sing it out, sing it out that He has come." Basically a song rejoicing in the fact that our Savior has been born. Let the drummer play. Let the Earth rejoice. Basically just a good time. Everyone understands what Christmas is about, that He was born as a baby to break our bonds and our chains. That's why we celebrate this season.

Then there's "Why Can't it be Christmastime All Year." That is not an original song?

No, it's from an artist called Rosie Thomas and we actually covered it. Our A&R Connor Farley kind of gave us the idea and we heard the song. We just really fell in love with it. It's a fun upbeat pop song and we were really excited about it and our good buddy Micah Kuiper produced the track. We really love that song. It's a fun song to listen to and get you in the Christmas spirit.

What's cool about the songs you picked is that they're not what you would just expect is going to be on any Christmas collection or EP or whatnot. It's definitely Christmassy, and yet it's stuff that you're not going to hear anywhere else. Is that kind of what you guys were going for?

We just really picked songs that we love, and songs that we wanted to sing for this Christmas season. We definitely just wanted to sing songs that we really loved and enjoyed and these were the songs that were chosen.

In the press release you talk about blasting Christmas music already. When's the earliest you guys listen to Christmas tunes? When is it appropriate?

I'm definitely a believer in after Thanksgiving, but I would have to say in Florida I might have to start a little bit early to get in that Christmas spirit. Any time in November I would say is acceptable.

Did you feel like it was easy to write a Christmas song? Even compared to just trying to write just a standard song. Does it compare? Is it easier? Is it harder? Is it just about the same?

I would say the Christmas song was definitely a bit of a challenge, because we never wrote a Christmas song before. But we definitely had some great writers in the room to really help us with that and to help us with the process and it's definitely a different approach than just a normal song, but I think it was definitely challenging, but it really turned out well and we're really excited about the original, "He Has Come."

So, 2013 is coming to a close. We've got this great collection, a re-release in a sense of All Things New. What does 2014 bring for you guys?

2014 we go on tour in January with Francesca Battestelli and Sanctus Real starting in February and we're really excited to go out with those artists. We cut one of Matt Hammitt's songs, "Borderline" with Jason Ingram on the record, so we're really excited about that.

How can we all be praying for you and your band?

Just travels. We're always on the road. We're always traveling, driving or flying, so save travels. Basically pray that these songs can reach people and these songs can speak the hope of Jesus Christ and let people know that they are a new creation. That's basically our heart at All Things New is to let people know the redeeming power of Christ.

Basically just to soften the hearts of the listeners that are going to be impacted by the songs.