Maine musician is making a living on his own terms

For a while, it seemed like every rock and roll dream was coming true for Toby McAllister and his band, Sparks the Rescue.
The Maine-based power-punk ensemble had a record deal, a Billboard chart appearance and airplay on a couple MTV reality shows. Sparks even played on the 2010 Warped Tour with Sum 41, Dropkick Murphys and The Pretty Reckless.
But then, in 2012, everything crashed and burned.
First, the record company called and dropped Sparks after its newest album failed to meet sales goals in the first 30 days. Then, the band’s booking agent and manager did likewise, both over the phone.
“That was all within an hour,” McAllister said. “We were right in the middle of recording new demos. I think we started drinking.”
Sparks sputtered out for the most part, although it still plays occasional reunion shows.
McAllister faced a decision: try to stay in music, or get a day job, like everyone else in the band had already done.
He chose music.
Now, more than a decade later, McAllister has managed to pull off a rare feat. He’s making a living — and supporting a family — writing, singing and recording his own music, right here in Maine, without help from managers or record labels.
This month, McAllister, 37, is playing radio station-sponsored gigs and making television appearances promoting his newest five-song collection called “The Outsider.” He’s posting the tunes online one at a time and will host an official release show with his band, The Sierra Sounds, on Nov. 16 at Blue in Portland.
But to get where he is now, McAllister first had to start his whole music career over again, from the beginning.
That meant learning to play and sing three hours of cover songs a night in bars to make ends meet. Unlike most singer-guitarists, he’d never done other people’s songs before. From the start of his musical life, in Poland’s Bruce Whittier Middle School, McAllister had always been focused on original music.
“And I was never the singer in Sparks. I was just the backup guitar player, singing harmonies, McAllister said, “and I was not very good for a long time. I did bar gigs for like four years until I finally started feeling good.”
Going from national tours with big-name bands to Maine bars was a humbling experience, McAllister said.
“I was playing the London Roundhouse in the U.K. for 4,000 people — and then I’m at a Mexican restaurant in Falmouth playing for the bartender,” he said. “It’s quite a contrast.”
But McAllister remained motivated and never thought of quitting.
“I just wanted to work for myself,” McAllister said. “I didn’t ever want to get fired again.”
When the pandemic hit, McAllister’s bar gigs vaporized just as he and his wife welcomed their first child. But he didn’t panic and used the time at home to focus on writing his own music, in his own authentic voice.
McAllister released his first EP of original songs, “Daydreamin,’” in 2021. The jangly, country-tinged set of tunes set a pattern for what’s now become his trademark mix of heavy lyrics, often dealing with his own mortality, grafted onto mercilessly upbeat melodies.
He admits as much in the EP’s final song, “Long After I’m Gone.”
“If I wrote you a happy song, would you want to sing along?” McAllister intones. “I may not get the words quite right, but the melody is strong.”
It’s a prophetic line.
First time listeners are likely already humming along by the time he gets to the middle of the song and sings, “True happiness is hard to find without having a cry. As the years fly by, let go of those who leave you high and dry. We are here and then we blink and then we die.”
McAllister’s newest EP ditches the country sounds in favor of his radio-ready, pop-punk roots. However, the earworm melodies and arresting lyrical images are still there.
McAllister’s second single from the new collection is “Millinocket Stars.” It came out Monday and finds him comfortably planting a geographic flag in his home state while still thinking about life’s inevitable end.
“I will drag you down, six feet underground, until the daisies sprout out of your mouth, I will drag you down,” he sings in a high, cheerful voice.
McAllister is hoping the single performs as well as the EPs first song, “Ghosts of ’93,” which dropped last week and garnered more than 1,000 Spotify plays in its first 24 hours.
Nationally recognized producer and engineer Jonathan Wyman recorded McAllister’s new songs and has worked with him since his Sparks the Rescue days. Wyman said he’s thrilled to watch his old friend succeed.
“It’s his comeuppance,” Wyman said in a phone call from New York City, where he’s currently recording a nationally known band. “He’s worked hard — and he’s still doing it, getting better at it all the time.”
Bassist Ben Briggs has known McAllister most of his life. They first met in kindergarten.
“Toby is allergic to peanuts and would eat lunch alone sometimes,” Briggs said, “and I got picked to sit with him a few times.”
Later, in junior high, the pair formed the band Pozer, which eventually morphed into Sparks the Rescue. Now Briggs plays in McAllister’s backup band, The Sierra Sounds.
Briggs said he’s not surprised his old friend has managed to establish a thriving musical career in their home state.
“It’s his passion,” Briggs said. “It’s his drive.”
McAllister, now a father of two, said he’s still open to touring again, if the opportunity arises — but he’d insist on doing it on his own terms.
“The reality is, I’ve seen what this music business is like, and it is just awful. People want to promise you the world, but if you don’t fulfill whatever need they think you need to fulfill, you’re dropped like you were nothing,” he said.  “If I were to pursue this further than playing in Maine, I’d want someone who believes in me and is OK with not getting rich off me.”
As of today, that imaginary person appears to be McAllister and — for now — that’s enough.
“Success is playing, being happy, paying the bills,” he said, “and, you know, making noise.”
Toby McAllister and The Sierra Sound are playing at 1 p.m. Sunday at Fall Fest at Lost Valley in Auburn.