Mary Strand Shares Beyond The Madness From Christmas Album I Wanna Believe

Minneapolis singer, songwriter and guitarist, Mary Strand has shared Beyond The Madness, the first single from her forthcoming Christmas album I Wanna Believe.

The track is out today via Hygh Tension Records/Virgin Music Group, with the full album of 10 original holiday songs due on November 27.

Further singles Happy Holidays and Crazy Hazy Daze follow on November 13 and November 20 before the record arrives in full.

I Wanna Believe leans into Strand’s garage-rock grit, punk energy and sharp pop hooks rather than soft seasonal gloss. Tangled lights, chaotic family gatherings, unexpected reunions and a little Christmas mischief all sit inside character-driven songs that treat the holidays as lived-in scenes instead of postcard slogans.

Strand frames the project as Christmas music with a rocker’s sensibility, the kind of seasonal writing she felt was missing from her own playlists of favourites by The Kinks, U2, Bruce Springsteen and fellow Minnesota artists.

Beyond The Madness finds the heart under the seasonal noise. Amid tinsel, rum balls, tangled lights, inflatable penguins and the annual debate over whether Die Hard counts as a Christmas movie, the song lands on the connections that make the season matter: friends reaching out after years apart and late-night conversations that pull people closer.

It is festive without going soft, and it sets the tone for an album built around humour, nostalgia and storytelling rather than obligatory cheer.

The album’s roots stretch back to a January when Strand was not quite ready to pack Christmas away. “I wrote my first Christmas song, ‘I Wanna Believe,’ in January 2024 on a lark, when my own holiday decorations (indoors and outdoors) were still up,” she says. “And my band and I loved it so much that we recorded and released it late that year.”

While promoting that track she built a playlist of holiday favourites by rock bands and Minnesota musicians, and the gap became obvious. “I loved songs by the Kinks, U2, Bruce Springsteen, and more, but I realized that there was a gaping hole as big as the North Pole in the existence of Christmas songs that rocked,” she adds. “I decided to fill that gap, so that became my goal for the first part of 2025. I love Christmas songs! But I particularly love ones that bring a rocker’s sensibility into play.”

Strand’s path from lawyer to novelist to rock artist shapes an album full of vivid scenes and personalities. Her storytelling instincts leave room for both the ridiculous and the heartfelt, capturing a season when affection, expectations and everyday absurdity often share the same crowded room.

That background also helps explain why I Wanna Believe feels like a set of short stories as much as a holiday record: characters move through rooms, arguments, reunions and quiet asides, and the songs keep one eye on the joke and the other on the feeling underneath it.

To build the project she wrote five tracks herself and co-wrote the other five with Minnesota songwriters Ted Hajnasiewicz, Sarah Morris, Amanda B. Perry, Katy Tessman and Doyle Turner. Their Americana leanings meet her garage-rock instincts in what Strand calls controlled chaos.

Red Velvet Suit, co-written with Morris, takes a playful look at what Mrs. Claus might want for Christmas. Truth North, written with Turner, imagines Santa and the future Mrs. Claus meeting in high school. Cheer Up (It’s Christmas), co-written with Hajnasiewicz, brings a reggae-driven bounce to a chaotic family gathering.

Tessman and Strand lean into fireside warmth on Lights May Be Twinkling, while Perry and Strand reflect on the annual gathering of family and friends in One More Christmas Song, which features piano from Tommy Barbarella of Prince and The New Power Generation.

Across the album, Strand’s influences include Joan Jett, The Pretenders, The Clash, The Dollyrots and hometown favourites The Replacements and The Melismatics, with familiar Christmas melodies tucked into intros, solos and unexpected corners.

The record was cut by Mary Strand & The Garage, with Strand on electric guitar and lead vocals, Ryan Smith (Soul Asylum, UltraBomb, The Melismatics) on electric guitar, additional instruments and vocals, Mark Wade (The Melismatics, The Mood Swings) on bass and vocals, and Peter Anderson (The Ocean Blue, Maygen & The Birdwatcher) on drums. Strand’s son, Jack Strand of Loondale, plays drums on the opening title track.

Following the album’s release, Mary Strand & The Garage will celebrate on Friday, December 4 at The Hook & Ladder’s Zen Arcade in Minneapolis. Four of the five co-writers are scheduled to take part, bringing the album’s Minnesota songwriting community into the same room for a night that also features The Hell And The Quiet and The Silverteens. It is a hometown launch that matches the collaborative spirit of the record rather than a standard album-release victory lap.

Strand’s 2025 album I Don’t Need Your Permission was also released through Hygh Tension Records/Virgin Music Group, and I Wanna Believe keeps that label home while swinging hard into seasonal territory.

The singles campaign is already rolling: Beyond The Madness is out now, Happy Holidays arrives November 13, Crazy Hazy Daze lands November 20, and the full album follows on November 27. For listeners who want Christmas songs that still sound like a band in a room, Strand is aiming straight at that gap and filling it with garage grit, pop hooks and Minnesota songwriting company.

Release schedule:
November 6: Beyond The Madness
November 13: Happy Holidays
November 20: Crazy Hazy Daze
November 27: I Wanna Believe

Mary Strand & The Garage live:
December 4 – Minneapolis, MN – The Hook & Ladder (Zen Arcade)