Still Chasing the Dawn: Sparks The Rescue on Reunions, New Music, and 20 Years of DIY Spirit

Still Chasing the Dawn: Sparks The Rescue on Reunions, New Music, and 20 Years of DIY Spirit

For nearly two decades, Sparks The Rescue has been one of New England’s most beloved exports—an energetic blend of pop‑punk hooks, post‑hardcore grit, and the kind of earnest storytelling that defined an era. After years of quieter activity, the band has reunited with its original lineup and is stepping back into the spotlight with renewed purpose. Fresh off two sold‑out Boston shows and gearing up for a run of spring tour dates, guitarist Toby McAllister sat down with us to talk about the band’s past, present, and future.

From the early MySpace days and DIY tours booked out of a college dorm room, to the surreal highs of Warped Tour and the evolving realities of adulthood, McAllister reflects on the band’s journey with humor, gratitude, and a clear sense of why Sparks The Rescue still matters. With new singles, more music on the way, and a fanbase that continues to show up after all these years, the spark is far from gone.

Let’s talk about this tour coming up. What are you looking forward to most about your upcoming dates in May?
We’re really excited to finally play some shows outside of Maine. It’s been a long time since we’ve played anywhere beyond our home state. We actually did two shows in Boston last week at a small club called O’Brien’s—both nights sold out. It was really cool to see that people still want to come out and see us. So we’re psyched to branch out again, hit the Northeast, and play some shows. It’s been way too long.

At this point in your career, is it still exciting to head out on tour?
Absolutely. It’s still really exciting. We all have families, kids, houses now, so it’s definitely different from back in the day when we’d just hop in the van and disappear for six months. Now we’re doing two long weekends, and that’s kind of the plan moving forward—short runs, four-day stretches. Boston was a good gauge that people still care enough to come out, so we’re excited to see old friends and get back out there. It’s still a blast.

When was the last time you were out here in the Los Angeles or Orange County area?
A long time ago, honestly. I couldn’t even tell you exactly when. But we always loved playing out there. I miss the West Coast—it’s so beautiful. We got to check off a lot of bucket-list venues: The Viper Room, The Troubadour, The Roxy. And of course we did the Warped Tour dates out there. We loved playing California, and I really hope we get the chance to do it again. It’s always such a fun place to be.

Did you guys ever play Chain Reaction? It recently closed out here.
We did, yeah. It’s really sad that it closed. When that happened, I actually dug up an old video of us playing at Chain Reaction and shared it on our socials. It’s such an iconic club. It’s a shame that these legendary small venues are closing all over the country. Hopefully something new pops up to keep those intimate shows alive.

What can fans expect from the current Sparks The Rescue live show?
We’ve got the original lineup back together. We’re a six‑piece again, like when we started, and honestly we’re a little heavier than people might remember. We basically have two frontmen now—Alex Roy and Marty McMorrow—so we’re tapping back into our early roots, when we were influenced by both pop‑punk and hardcore. Even the new material Patrick has been writing feels reminiscent of our first EP, The Secrets We Can’t Keep, which was heavier than Eyes to the Sun. For the live shows, we’re building a setlist that has something for everyone, and of course we want to play the songs people really want to hear.

Let’s talk about the recent singles. Starting with the newest one, “Chase the Dawn”—what can you tell me about that track?
Pat has been doing a lot of the writing these past couple years, which has been awesome. He brings in ideas that feel like our early days, but more grown up—heavy pop‑punk, basically. With “Chase the Dawn,” Pat and Alex worked a lot on the vocals, and we wanted it to feel like a love letter to anyone who’s ever cared about our band. Lyrically, it’s basically a thank‑you to everyone who’s supported us. It’s definitely one of my favorites we’ve done.

Let’s talk about another song you released last year, “Ice Storm of ’98.” What’s the story behind that one?
Ice Storm of ’98 was actually a demo from way back—between The Secrets We Can’t Keep and before we made Eyes to the Sun. It never made it past the demo stage at the time. We thought it would be cool to dust it off and revisit it, and once we did, it really came to life. It’s been super fun to play now that it’s a fully realized song.

Is there any new music on the horizon?
Definitely. The plan is to release more new songs this year. Right now we’re laser‑focused on the May dates, but after that we’ll be announcing more shows here and there. And yeah—the goal is absolutely to keep putting out new music.

Let’s go back almost 10 years to When It Thunders from 2017. Looking back now, what do you think of that release?
That was a weird period for the band. After we stopped touring heavily, it was just a few of us left, and we had some rotating members. I think it was me, Alex, and Nate who played on that EP. Alex and I just love writing, recording, and playing shows—we didn’t want to stop putting music out even if we weren’t super active on the road.

I remember The Truth Inside the Fiction, When It Thunders, and maybe one more release from that era. We weren’t touring, but it was still fun to get together and make music. I don’t know if we’ll ever play those songs live again, but there are a couple tracks on that EP I really love. I think one was called “Counting on Me.” It’s fun to look back at the different chapters of the band.

Speaking of chapters, let’s talk about your time on Fearless Records. When you look back on that experience and the album you released with them, what comes to mind?
Fearless was great to us. We did end up getting dropped after The Worst Thing I’ve Been Cursed With, which was disappointing at the time. But honestly, we were in that strange transitional period in the music industry—independent bands were becoming more popular, album sales weren’t the focus anymore, and everything was shifting. We were kind of caught in that gray area.

But Fearless themselves? Everyone there was awesome. They’d let us sleep on their floors when we came out to California. If our van broke down, they’d help us get it fixed. I really don’t have anything bad to say about them. Nowadays, I’m not sure a small independent band necessarily needs a label—it’s a weird time in the industry—but Fearless treated us really well.

Let’s go back even further—20 years—to 2006. You released Hey, Mr. Allure that year, and then The Secrets We Can’t Keep in 2007. When you look back on that era, what stands out?
I remember all of us being fresh out of high school. Ben, our bass player, and I shared a dorm room at the University of Southern Maine. We pretended to go to college for a semester, but really we were just writing songs, partying, and rehearsing four or five nights a week with all six of us.

By the end of that second semester, we’d recorded a couple songs with John Wyman—“Nurse Nurse” and maybe “Getting Clean with the Dirty South.” I booked our first month‑long tour myself on Myspace. We played biker bars, birthday parties, bar mitzvahs, backyards—anything. All eight of us piled into an eight‑seater Astro van and hit the road.

That DIY tour eventually led to us signing with Double Blind Records, and then Double Blind sold us to Fearless. Looking back, it was such a cool time. Everything was DIY. I was messaging people on Myspace like, “Please let us play.” We made it all the way down to Florida, up through the Midwest, and back to Maine—all booked on Myspace before we ever had a real booking agent.

The MySpace days were wild. Looking back, it almost feels like the wild west of music.
For sure. It really was. I remember when we put “Nurse Nurse” on MySpace—it was the first legit recording we’d ever done. We had an EP before that called Stumbling Skyward, but sonically it just didn’t sound good. It was super low‑budget, though at the time we were still stoked on it.

Working with Wyman—who’s one of the best, in my opinion—gave us a huge boost. Suddenly we were playing the same Portland shows, but instead of 30 people showing up, 700 people were coming out. It was like, “Wow, this is cool.” MySpace definitely helped us break into the local scene back then.

Another event that’s come back recently is Warped Tour, which you played in 2010. What was that experience like?
It was amazing. That’s the dream tour for any band in our genre. We all grew up going to Warped Tour in high school, so getting to actually play it was unbelievable. We roughed it out—we did it in a van, drove 12 hours every night from city to city—but no matter how exhausted we were, we were sharing the stage with some of our favorite bands: Sum 41, All‑American Rejects, The Early November.

I remember having lunch with The Early November every day—these bands we idolized growing up were suddenly our peers. It was surreal.

Did Lady A (formerly Lady Antebellum) or Jane’s Addiction ever hear or comment on your covers?
I don’t think so. But that Jane’s Addiction cover we did is one of my favorites. I remember how loose and fun it was in the studio. We did it with Wyman, and we weren’t focused on getting the “perfect” sound—it was more like, “Let’s just rock.” Alex didn’t even go into a vocal booth; he just grabbed a mic and sang like he would live. That energy really comes through. Thanks for bringing that one up—no one ever talks about it.

I always thought it was cool that you guys did those covers.
Yeah, the Lady A cover is definitely our top song on Spotify. It’s the most streamed and it’s on a bunch of Pop Goes Punk playlists. But I have no idea if they’ve ever heard it.

Did you ever hear from fans of the bands you covered?
Not specifically, but I think the “Need You Now” cover is a great gateway. People hear it on a playlist, then check out our other songs. We’ve definitely gained fans and made friends who found us through the covers. It’s a cool entry point.

Are you involved in any other bands or projects outside of Sparks the Rescue?
Yeah—I have my own band called Toby McAllister & the Sierra Sounds. It’s me, Ben, and Nate from Sparks, and we do pop‑punk‑leaning alt‑country stuff. When Sparks isn’t active, we stay really busy.

Alex has his band Holly Heist, and both of us are full‑time musicians. We play festivals, gigs, write our own music—I’ve got a bunch of originals on Spotify. We’re also both in wedding bands, which keeps us working. We’ve managed to turn this thing we loved growing up into our actual career path, which is really cool.

Bottom of a Bottle is your latest single from your solo band. What inspired that song?
During the pandemic, when Sparks was getting back together, I had this itch to start writing songs again. I hadn’t really written for myself since high school. Back then, me, Ben, and Nate had a band called Pozer—with a Z, super cool—and we wrote tons of songs. They were terrible, but it was such a fun creative outlet, and I realized I needed that again.

So from 2020 until now, we’ve been consistently writing and recording. Bottom of a Bottle is just a fun one—I wanted to write a drinking song, plain and simple. And we made a really silly music video for it, which is up on my website.

Tall Grass looks intriguing. What’s the story behind that one?
That’s actually a cover of a song by our friends in a local band called Skosh. I’ve always loved Tall Grass, and I like playing friends’ songs—it feels very folk‑tradition, like trading songs back and forth. I got their permission to cover it, and that’s what we did.

Is there more new music coming from you as a solo artist?
Absolutely. We’re consistently working on new stuff and plan to release more songs this year—both with my project and with Sparks. Sparks is planning more music and hopefully more dates after the May shows. It’s really cool to look back and see how we’ve turned this thing we loved growing up into our actual career. It’s not an easy path, but we’ve done it, and it’s one of the greatest accomplishments of my life.

Do you have any messages for Sparks the Rescue fans who are reading this?
First of all—thank you for still caring. That means everything. Those two sold‑out Boston shows were incredible. I felt like I was shaking off cobwebs, and afterward people were coming up saying, “I haven’t had this much fun in so long,” or “It was so great to hear these songs again.” That’s what it’s all about—people connecting with the music, and us getting to play it for them.

We’re coming to a city near you, and we’d really love to see you, reconnect, and revisit these songs together. So yeah—thank you for still caring enough to listen.

In Conclusion

As Sparks The Rescue steps into this new chapter, there’s a sense of gratitude and grounded joy woven through everything Toby McAllister shares. The band that once booked shows through MySpace messages and crammed into an eight‑seater van is now navigating music with families, careers, and two decades of lived experience behind them—but the spark that fueled those early days is unmistakably still there. With new music on the horizon, a reunited lineup, and fans who continue to show up with open arms, Sparks The Rescue isn’t just revisiting their past—they’re building something meaningful for the present.

Whether you’ve been with them since the Hey, Mr. Allure days or discovered them through a cover on a playlist, the band’s message is simple: thank you for listening, thank you for caring, and they can’t wait to see you again. The story of Sparks The Rescue is far from over, and if anything, it feels like they’re just getting started—again.

(Interview by Ken Morton)

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