When Bad Bad Hats staged their first Winter Ball in 2019, it was going to be an annual December event at First Avenue. Ope. The venue was closed due to the pandemic when the 2020 show was set to happen, so the “second annual” Winter Ball is Friday, December 10.

The show comes at the end of another big year for the Twin Cities-based indie rock band, who released the lauded Walkman in September.

Ahead of the Winter Ball, there’s more new music: a holiday tune called “Sally Sweet Tooth.”

On the song: We initially wrote “Sally Sweet Tooth” a year ago for our Patreon page. Every month we write an original song based around a musical theme. And December's theme was 'Christmas song', of course. I was listening to all the holiday classics to get inspired and I was struck by how many great characters there are in the Christmas canon: Rudolph, Frosty, a run-over Grandma. So I wanted to add a new character to the mix. She's a little sweet, she's a little sassy. She's Sally Sweet Tooth. And you'd be wise to give her your cookies.

“Her deal is that she's an enterprising young woman,” frontwoman Kerry Alexander tells Jill Riley on The Current Morning Show. “She realizes that Santa is getting too many cookies probably for one Santa. So she just would suggest that he offered her some of those cookies.”

In the conversation, Alexander also confirms that Bad Bad Hats has indeed opened for ‘90s alt-rock stars Third Eye Blind. “After every show, I would run from [working] the merch table back to the room to hear ‘Never Let You Go,’ which is my jam.”

Winter Ball is Friday, December 10, at First Avenue. With Nur-D and VIAL. Tickets