Californian rockers BUCKCHERRY have released an original Christmas song, "Christmas Is Here", via iTunes..

Commented the band: "We have been wanting to write an original Christmas song for some time and never had opportunity until now.

"'Christmas Is Here' got started with a simple melody in the spirit of traditional Christmas songs, then Josh [Todd, vocals] took the melody to Keith [Nelson, guitar], who came up with the music and it came together very quickly with all five of us jamming up at the Bastard Ranch where 'All Night Long' [BUCKCHERRY's latest album] was made.

"Like everything BUCKCHERRY, we hope it puts a smile on your face. Merry Christmas."

BUCKCHERRY's latest album, "All Night Long", sold around 28,000 copies in the United States in its first week of release to debut at position No. 10 on The Billboard 200 chart.

BUCKCHERRY's fourth studio CD, titled "Black Butterfly", opened with around 47,000 units back in September 2008 to land at No. 8.

BUCKCHERRY recently teamed with the Natural Resources Defense Council to send all the proceeds from sales of their new song "Our World" to the NRDC's Gulf Recovery Fund.

A new version of the song, which was taken from "All Night Long", was made available for purchase as an iTunes exclusive. All the proceeds are going directly to Gulf Coast non-profit groups working to help people, wildlife and fragile ecosystems recover from the BP disaster. -blabbermouth.net