A seven-year-old girl from New Brighton has released a Christmas single called ‘Before Santa Arrives’ by ‘Eliza & the Monkey Butts’ (more on how the band name came about later!) Chester Zoo’s ‘Save our Zoo’ campaign will benefit from the money raised.
The theme of the song is how Eliza saves Christmas by having a Zoom party, after what has been a difficult year for everyone. The video shows her singing and walking around local landmarks, including Liverpool ONE, New Brighton beach, and the Albert Dock, and then finally having a Zoom party sing-along with all of her friends.
birkenhead.news spoke to Eliza and her dad, Andrew. Of course, the very first question was about how Eliza chose the somewhat unusual name for the band. Eliza’s backing musicians are collectively known as the Monkey Butts, but individually, they are her dad, Andrew and his friends Paul and Mark. Eliza told us, “Earlier in the year were walking to school and Daddy meant to call me Monkey Bun but accidentally said Butt! When we decided to form a band it seemed like a good name, and now he’s the Monkey Butt!”
Andrew told us, “Eliza came up with most of the lines and the catchy sing-along chorus, I just steered her into shaping it into a song with a traditional structure and turned her ideas into reality! Fellow Monkey Butts Paul and Mark – who I’ve been in bands with for many years – provided some additional instruments.”
I’m incredibly proud of Eliza, not just for how great her songs are but how selfless and caring she is. The main reason she’s doing it all is to put smiles back on everybody’s face, especially those of her family and school friends. She’s certainly gone above and beyond what we could have imagined when we first sat down to write her first song!”
Andrew, Eliza’s dad.
Eliza said that she hoped the song would help raise money for the Chester Zoo Campaign, but mainly, “I want to make people smile and cheer them up after a difficult year” The family has membership for Chester Zoo as it is one of Eliza’s favourite places to visit. Eliza said, “It’s horrible to see them struggling to look after the animals so I thought it’d be nice to try and raise some money to donate.”
Eliza told us, “We wrote a song about our feelings during the first lockdown called “I’ve Got You Around”, and it went down so well we decided to do more. It’s been a good way to pass the time when we’ve not been able to go out much. I love being a singer because it is a great way to cheer people up.” We asked if Eliza planned to record any more songs and she replied, “I have a few ideas planned for the new year and I’d love to do a live gig one day”
Our last question for Eliza was about what she wanted for Christmas, “I’ve asked Father Christmas for some dolls and board games.” And, showing that the pandemic has affected everyone young and old, in one particular way that is common to all of us, she continued, “and I can’t wait to maybe get to see some family I’ve not been able to see much of this year.”
‘Before Santa Arrives’ is available now on all streaming services Spotify and Apple Music and can be bought from digital stores iTunes, Amazon and Bandcamp. Links to all can be found on www.elizaandthemonkeybutts.co.uk