The Maverick Band are a ‘virtual reality’ band founded by John Cristal. He invites wonderfully talented guest musicians and singers to help him create and produce the songs he has written. Some of the guest musicians include Paul Viseey, Luiz Morais, Ines Lobet, and Graham Noon, who not only plays keyboards but he is also a fantastic producer and sound engineer. Maverick’s music is probably best described as ‘easy listening’ pop but perhaps with a little hint of folk music and occasionally some Latino mixed in.
John Cristal wrote two songs ‘Christmas Is Coming’ and ‘A Lonely Homeless Christmas’ in support of HRH Prince William’s ambition to end homelessness, with profits going to homeless charities. He says, “I originally wrote a cheerful, very family-orientated Christmas song called “Christmas is Coming”. The song is about all the things families typically do in the run-up to Christmas.”
But after writing this song and learning about HRH Prince William’s current homelessness initiative, The Maverick Band felt strongly that a song should be produced to promote such a great project—especially after reading the startling figures. John Cristal conducted extensive research to understand the various facets of homelessness; this was incredibly disturbing and eye-opening. He is hopeful that after hearing it, people would be inspired to support the many homeless charities, which carry out amazing work.
The Maverick Band comments on the releases: “These are two opposed songs; ‘Christmas is Coming’ is all about the typical things a family do during December in the lead up to Christmas, while A lonely homeless Christmas is about those less fortunate than ourselves who are living on the street starving when everyone else is having a great time and overindulging! You couldn’t get a more polarised situation if you tried.”
