Todd & Chris OwyoungAfter a year that saw them headline a sold-out tour and release their first new album in 14 years, Hootie & the Blowfish are ready to give thanks.  Front man Darius Rucker says he plans to eat so much on Thursday that he loses consciousness.

“I mean, I’m the stuffing/gravy guy, but my plans for Thanksgiving is to eat myself into a coma,” he tells ABC Audio. “It always is. It’s my favorite holiday!”

The fact that the Hootie guys are able to be home and eat like pigs is, in itself, something to be thankful for since there are bands out there who have to perform on Thanksgiving Day.

“We’ve been really lucky. I don’t think we’ve ever decided that it was so important to work through the holiday that we would, like, be out touring during Thanksgiving,” says drummer Jim “Soni” Sonefeld. “It just was never an option. That’s the one holiday at least they’ve sort of kept pure. I think a few stores stay open, but we get to be off.”

Bassist Dean Felber agrees: “I don’t remember missing a Thanksgiving, actually.”

So, in addition to eating, what else is on the Thanksgiving schedule?  Football? The band are massive fans of the South Carolina Gamecocks because they all attended the University of South Carolina, but they apparently don’t want to watch them in action on Thursday.

“I think we’re just hoping our football team is not playing on Thanksgiving, so it can be a better Thanksgiving [for them],” says Soni.

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