Band Of Maine Brothers Pen St. Paddy’s Day Rally Song

British Neurologist Oliver Sacks (think "Awakenings") once said, "Music has a bonding power, it's primal social cement."

Music is the reason people have gathered together, for generations, to join in the tradition of turning a tune.

In this case, the people turning the tune are two pairs of brothers from Orrington, who started as friends decades ago, while students at Brewer High School.

Eldest of the two sets of brothers from the Class of 1991, Aaron Hart (who played saxophone)...

...and Dana Jellison (who played trombone.)

Both Aaron and Dana had younger brothers, Brett and Matt, who also played instruments.

Brett played the trumpet in the school band, but also started playing guitar when he was 8.

Matt was a drummer. He got his first snare when he was in the 5th grade.

(Fun fact: Music runs in the Jellison blood. The boys' mom was an organist at St. Mary's Church, and a music teacher with SAD 63.)

Despite having all played in the school band, it would be almost 20 years before the Hart and Jellison brothers would start their own band together.

As many friends do, Aaron and Dana kept in touch after graduation and into adulthood. The two brothers, along with another friend from school, Chad Houseweart, had made it a yearly tradition to get together and have some drinks, and reminisce about times gone by. Unfortunately, Houseweart passed away, so in 2010, Aaron and Dana got together in his honor.

Dana brought an acoustic guitar to their meeting and started to noodle around a bit. Aaron joined in. It wasn't a terrible experience, so they decided to do it again.

Eventually, they asked their younger brothers if they wanted to join in.

Later that year, the Hart and Jellision brothers decided to officially start a group together, and "The Band Tim" was formed.

According to Aaron, "We bounced a few ideas around but ended up with Tim (aka The Band Tim, which is what we're listed as on Spotify) as we're all Monty Python fans and there is a character in the Holy Grail named Tim."

The band consisted of Aaron (who currently works for the pulp and paper industry) on the guitar, keys, and vocals...

...Brett (who works as a Civil Engineer) on guitar and vocals...

...Dana Jellison (who works in retail) on bass and vocals...

...and his younger brother Matt (who also works in retail) on the drums...and some "teeny-tiny" vocals, as he puts it.

They started with some simple cover tunes, said Matt.

"I think 'Hey Joe' was the first song, and 'Rockin In The Free World.'"

"It was great! I loved it. They were like campfire songs for the first year.  We got together and drank beer to get the creative juices flowing."

There was no real goal in mind, initially. "It was cathartic; an excuse to meet weekly, drink beer, and play."

As they got more serious, Tim started to write original songs.

It was in 2014, that Dana and Aaron wrote the first draft of "Puke and Rally".

It started as kind of a joke; a catchphrase Dana had come up with.

The song was about the importance of what we would now call a good "work/life balance"...as the lyrics go "As hard as you work, that's as hard as you must play!".

The advice is relayed from the point of view of a father to his son.

Aaron wrote the chords on a plane ride, during a business trip.

It was rough but fun. An Irish-drinking style song, in the same vein as something you might hear from a band like the Drop Kick Murphy's, "Puke and Rally" is simple, gut-punching entertainment; a rally song, true to its title.

The band would tool around with it here and there, but ultimately put it on the backburner for a while.

It was also in 2014 that The Band Tim would play their first gig, performing at that year's Bucksport Bay Festival. (Matt and Dana's dad was their sound guy.)

They were asked to return to Bucksport to play again in 2015.

The Band Tim would go on to play a car show in Searsport (where they debuted their rough cut of "Puke and Rally" and an Austim Benefit.

Then life kind of picked up. Kids came along, and their free time to play together began to wane. There were varying degrees of desire to play out with the band; some wanted to, some wanted not.

Band practices went from once a week to once a month, as families and home obligations grew. Then once a month became a couple of times a year.

But then, as life does, things started to swing back around. Kids got older, and life slowed down a bit, and the brothers found themselves coming back together to play music again, more and more frequently.

"We've always had fun being a basement band."

A month before COVID hit in 2020, as a birthday present, Aaron's wife gifted him some studio time at Main Street Music Studios in Brewer. He knew exactly what song he wanted to record with the band. It was the song they had written half a decade ago, "Puke and Rally."

"It was a mix of life experience and drunken gold."

But because of the pandemic, it would have to remain on the back burner, yet again, for another few years.

In April of 2023, when the world seemed to finally settle a bit, The Band Tim went into the studio to finally record "Puke and Rally."

The first session was a learning experience. It was rough and raw, not unlike their song.

In June of 2023, when they went back into the studio to master the song, things went a little more smoothly. All they wanted to do was record a really good demo. And they did.

They had the finished product. But now what?

"Our kids had released their own stuff on various streaming platforms, so we figured if they could do it, we could figure it out. "

Aaron's daughter, Chloe Hart, designed the cover for the single.

On 2/4/24, they put "Puke" out on Spotify, Amazon Music, Apple iTunes, Pandora, and Deezer, hoping to get their little Irish drinking song out to the masses in time for this St. Paddy's Day.

Half the band has no expectations of what the song will do. The other half is hoping it will spur a Tim World Tour (gotta love the ambition!)

Mostly, they think it would be cool if people liked their song, or if other bands even wanted to play their song for the Irish holiday.

The brothers plan to purchase more studio time at Main St. Music and plan to write and release more original music...not with any grandiose ideas of "making it big" but simply to have some good laughs, as good friends. And they hope that comes through in what they do.

"It's music, and camaraderie and brotherhood."

What did Mama Jellison, the music teacher, think of the song that her boys and their friends put together?

According to Matt, "She was not ashamed."

So that's something.

Puke and Rally: A good song...and great advice to live by, especially this upcoming St. Paddy's Day weekend.

You can get the song in the following spots:

Youtube

Apple Music

Pandora

Spotify

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