A BAND made up of three brothers from Towyn have looked to show “exactly how a Christmas song should be done” through the release of their own new festive track.

“afterPARTY”, which is made up of Lewis, Steve, and Chris McElroy, shared their song, “Give It Up For Santa Claus”, on all streaming platforms on Friday, December 1.

The music video premiered on the same day on the band's YouTube channel.

Having originally played and written together in the late 1990s (under the name “X-ELL”), the brothers started by playing pubs, clubs and holiday camps in and near their hometown.

They eventually went on to play headline gigs across the UK, Ireland and even in New York.

In the mid-2000s, the brothers signed a major publishing deal with Universal Music, and wrote music for artists including Atomic Kitten and Ash.

X-ELL took a hiatus in 2010, but the brothers continued performing live in separate projects, but reformed as a collective in 2021 and started a new rock project called “Mc3LROY”.

Following the release of the song, Steve McElroy said: “Since the release of Give It Up For Santa Claus on December 1, the reaction has been overwhelmingly positive!

“The video has had thousands of views, shares and comments on both Facebook and YouTube.

“And it seems everyone has understood exactly what we were going for: a fun, classic, old-school, positive, family-based, festive rock 'n' roll song - but not just any song, a magical Christmas movie!

“We really appreciate the support everybody is giving and we'll be doing some radio interviews, live videos and live performances of the song.

“Thank you to everyone - you'll all definitely be on Santa's nice list!”

When lockdown restrictions used in 2020 during the COVID-19 pandemic, Steve said Lewis contacted him and Chris as he'd “had an idea for the greatest Christmas song ever written”.

The brothers then set up a makeshift studio in Lewis' garden, and began to record “Give It Up For Santa Claus”.

Ironically, recording of the Christmas song began during the height of the summer, with Lewis’ neighbours treated to the sounds of sleigh bells during blistering sunshine.

Steve added that the song was influence by such Christmas anthems as Wizzard’s 1973 hit “I Wish It Could Be Christmas Every Day”, and Slade’s “Merry Xmas Everybody”, released in the same year.

After recording and production was finished, the aim was to record a music video and release the song that Christmas (in 2020), but the pandemic ultimately put a stop to that.

“Fast-forward to 2023 and we storyboarded a new idea for an epic music video and filmed it that same September,” Steve said.

“Due to Lewis being the lead singer of the song, the band decided to use the dedicated name, afterPARTY - which also suited for the fun, party-atmosphere of the track and video.”