The likes of Mariah Carey and Michael Bublé have been defrosted for their seasonal reign over radio stations. Yes, it must be the Yuletide season, but now some new players are ready to bring 1990s-style Christmas cheer.
Kevin Griffin, Better Than Ezra’s lead vocalist and one-third of festive supergroup Ezra Ray Hart, reveals his recipe for the perfectly baked Christmas hit to Orlando Weekly.
“First thing is imagery. Part of Christmas songs is nostalgia — ‘chestnuts roasting on an open fire’ — any lyric that can conjure up nostalgia for family, Christmas, being together, food, presents and children. You also want to honor some of the greats. Christmas songs have very complex chord progressions because they were written by jazz musicians and stuff … lyrics, too, and pushing those emotional buttons, raising the bar due to what’s already been written.”
It’s a formula, sure, but it’s one that can work beautifully under ideal circumstances.
“When you’re writing a Christmas song, the bar is lowered on ‘Is this cool enough?’ You kind of throw coolness out the window, and you’re just like, ‘Is this fun? Is it nostalgic enough?’ When you can remove all the things that make you second-guess a song when you’re writing it, then it’s a really pure expression of songwriting,” Griffin adds.
Griffin, along with Mark McGrath of Sugar Ray and Emerson Hart of Tonic, will be comin’ to town under their joint banner, Ezra Ray Hart, later this month. The trio fatefully came together after a private client booked the three of them for a show in Little Rock, Arkansas.
“It started off as doing privates as sort of this ’90s hits supergroup juggernaut, and now it’s turned into a tour. So it’s really been organic the way it started and the way it’s growing into doing a fully fledged tour like we’re bringing to Orlando,” Griffin says.
Ezra Ray Hart’s first headlining tour promises ’90s hits and Xmas riffs, blending each member’s charting catalog. “This show, by design, is gonna put a smile on your face from start to finish. Every song that we play, you’re gonna know. We do Tonic hits, Sugar Ray hits, Better Than Ezra hits. Then we do covers from your favorite ’90s bands, whether it’s Blur or Chumbawamba or Marcy Playground or Third Eye Blind — it’s gonna be a ’90s deep dive,”promises Griffin.
Haters will say November is too soon to be listening to Christmas music. But Griffin believes that it’s not too early to get into the holiday spirit. “I think from Nov. 15 on it’s fair game. It’ll be the Yuletide season, and then by Nov. 30, when we descend upon Orlando, we’re gonna be in full swing. Thanksgiving will be over and it’s Christmas time.”
Griffin hints at the presence of Christmas inflatables, but believes the rest is a surprise for fans to unwrap at the show.
“We’ve got a full lighting package with the sing-along lyrics, you know, old big-screens,” says Griffin. “We really raided Costco of every great tacky Christmas decoration we could find. I can’t give you all the secrets, you just gotta come see it for yourself.”
Griffin says that Ezra Ray Hart’s holiday tour is not just for OG fans of Better Than Ezra, Sugar Ray or Tonic. Their lineup of Christmas staples and throwbacks is sure to entertain both longtime fans and younger ones.
“We are gonna check every box for what you want. It’s gonna be fun. We’re gonna be dancing, there’s silliness involved, there are sing-alongs involved and there’s crowd participation. We’ve really spent a lot of time dialing in what we think is an incredible show with ’90s hits and Christmas riffs,” Griffin promises.
(Ezra Ray Hart: 8 p.m. Sunday, Nov. 30; The Plaza Live , 425 N. Bumby Ave.; plazaliveorlando.org; $56-$168)
This article appears in Nov. 12-18, 2025.
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