A BAND of brothers are set to release their new EP after two days of filming a music video at Gwyrch Castle with drones, grand pianos and “a hell of a lot of smoke”.

Mc3LROY, named after the surname of its three band members, have made their first set of songs together after years apart following the break-up of their noughties kids’ band X-ELL, which had signed to Universal and supported the likes of Girls Aloud and Shayne Ward.

Last year they met at their parents’ house in Towyn and the trio, who still live in the Rhyl area – Chris drives for the family’s dairy delivery service, while eldest Stephen works at Ysgol John Bright and youngest Lewis is a firefighter in Rhyl – “threw a few ideas of songs together, realising that the magic was still there”.

Mc3LROY band members Chris, Stephen and Lewis.

Mc3LROY band members Chris, Stephen and Lewis.

“It came easy as if we had never broke up,” said Chris, aged 36. “Our big rock sound was still in us, but because we are all older we could bring more emotion and meaning to the music.

“Our passion for music is and has always been writing and recording music. Our moto is the bigger sounding the better.”

The six-track EP features rock ballads and arena riffs inspired by big American bands such as Aerosmith, Bon Jovi and Meatloaf. Much of the music was recorded at their parents’ house and produced by Stephen at his own studio.

Talented Stephen plays the keyboard, piano, guitar, Chris carries the guitar and lead vocal duties, while Lewis plays the drums.

After recording Give Me Tonight, about heartbreak and wanting a second chance, they needed a huge venue to shoot the video. Lewis contacted Mark Baker, who runs the castle and “pushed our luck”. The video was then filmed by NYQUEST, which has worked with the likes of UB40, Noel Gallagher, Paul Weller and Ozzy Osbourne.

“We never thought after I’m a Celeb had been there that we would get to use it,” said Chris. “The castle is gothic looking which suits the songs mood well.

“We had a two-day video shoot with lighting rigs, drones, grand pianos and a hell of a lot of smoke.

“We got spooked a couple of times though, thinking we had seen things moving in the dark, but it was probably our inner child coming out.

“The EP is better than we ever expected; it calls on all of our combined experience from over the years and, now that we are a bit older, we can control more of the direction we want to go.

“We have children, houses and full-time jobs now, but music has never left us. Now we’re back with a new band name, with a bigger epic rock sound, and bigger epic rock videos.”

The EP is available on October 15 on Spotify and all major downloading sites.

Watch the One More Time video at https://youtu.be/xUxpg_ZGQLc