Words By Zach Collier
Photos By Ivan Martinez
Ahead of a sold-out arena performance, I spoke with almost monday backstage about baseball, avocados, life on tour, and their much-anticipated LP.
Not gonna lie: after traversing the maze-like inner-corridors of the Delta Center in Salt Lake City, Utah it’s nice to kick back and talk baseball for a bit. Especially after navigating a downtown parking nightmare in the late July heat. Sitting in a green room before showtime, Dawson Daugherty, Cole Clisby, and Luke Fabry – the indie rock trio known as almost monday – share with me their dreams of visiting every ballpark in the country. Most recently they hit up Wrigley Field in Chicago, landing some seats way up in the bleachers.
Their love for sports doesn’t stop at baseball. I learn that both Dawson and Cole are also huge basketball fans (a close second behind baseball). “This tour's been awesome because we're in all the basketball arenas,” Cole grins. He strikes me as the quietest of the three, and the way he says this is almost sneaky. I’m starting to think that joining AJR and mxmtoon on a national arena tour is just a long con for their sports dreams.
While these guys have been functioning as almost monday since 2019, Dawson (lead vocals, guitar), Cole (lead guitar), and Luke (bass) have been friends since high school and have been playing music together for just as long. The bond between the three is evident by how easy the quips come, how readily they’re able to share details about each other, and how stoked they all are about a bowl full of avocados.
“This tour they asked us, ‘What do you guys want on your hospitality rider?’” laughs Dawson. “We asked if we could get some water, we could get some chips, maybe some tequila – that would be great!” almost monday was thrilled to be outfitted with the basics at every stop on the tour, which was a huge step up from previous tours. Their initial request was humble, grateful, utilitarian, with a pinch of fun. They weren’t expecting a challenge from the tour organizers. “But they were like, ‘No. What do you guys want? Anything.’ So yeah, we've got avocados right there. We've got some avocados!”
I look behind me. They’re not peeled. It’s just a bowl of unpeeled avocados that they don’t quite know what to do with yet. But by golly, they have them!
But Dawson wants it absolutely clear that the avocados aren’t going to their heads. While AJR may have several semi-trucks full of elaborate set pieces lining a closed-off city street, almost monday doesn’t even have a tour bus yet. They’re still in their van. It’s parked out back. “I mean, this tour's been great,” he says gratefully. “Just, like, the catering alone is the dream. This tour has been cush, man, because, I mean obviously we’re a part of something that is way bigger than what we've done before. But we're still putting in our 15-hour drives in The Green Machine, man. We're cush, but, you know, the audience at home can still know we're still hitting the highways.”
The thought of these guys playing sold out arena shows and then having to drive themselves and their bowl of avocados to the next stop on tour is comical. But for anyone who hangs out regularly with working musicians, it tracks.
“The bands that slug it out, they all know,” laughs Luke. “The funny thing is, I've noticed with bands you could stay at a really sick hotel, have a sick hospitality rider, and the next day, you're at the Red Roof Inn somewhere and there’s no food around.”
Then in unison, all three of them say, “The lows. Are. LOW.”
After the laughter subsides, Luke continues, “It’s a long way to get to where it just stabilizes – where everything's great. I feel like it's a lot of that hard work. It keeps it interesting.”
These guys are all about the work. They’re enthusiastic and down for the ride. I don’t think it’s possible to write the kind of music and put on the kind of show they do and not carry themselves with humility, good vibes, and a healthy sense of humor.
almost monday’s unique flavor of indie rock has been winning them fans the world over since they dropped their debut single in 2020. While cohesive, their sound has almost three distinct sides. The first is the rowdy, summery, almost neo-surf rock sound that’s embodied by tunes like “life goes by.”
Another side of their sound feels like a late night on a pier somewhere on the American West Coast, with seagulls calling distantly over flashing arcade lights. This side incorporates elements of disco. It’s more danceable, groovy, funky, glitzy, with rippin’ bass lines. Their recent single “can’t slow down” is a perfect example.
And the third side is softer, more subdued. It’s almost like LANY, The 1975, and The Band CAMINO-adjacent pop rock. If the other two sounds are reminiscent of the beach, this is like “I’m sad in my room and I didn’t go to the beach.” More emotional, but still anthemic. Their early song, “hailey beebs,” is an excellent sample of this side of their songwriting.
After exploring these styles for nearly five years, almost monday is building toward their first official LP in 2024. Many fans have been wondering: what will it sound like?
“The album is a great combination of where we have been, where we’re at right now, and the future – or, like, a different sound people haven't heard,” explains Luke. “But it definitely feels connected. It doesn't just feel like a playlist. We've always tried to not be pinned on one sound. Like, ‘Oh, I've heard the main one, I'm skipping the rest.’ So, I'm kind of hoping the record has something for everyone in there.”
“Part of being in a band is just finding your sound,” adds Cole. “Some people find it quicker than others, but we’re just writing different types of music and figuring out what works for us, what stuff we end up liking in the long run, and just kind of figuring out our parameters of how far we can go in terms of the genre. Everything blends genres nowadays. Nobody's stuck in one. So being able to have that flexibility and range in our music has been interesting to figure out.”
“We've always wanted to be a band who puts out records, you know?” says Dawson. “And in the current landscape it’s all TikTok. 15-seconds. Labels are just like, ‘Where's the single? Why an album? It doesn't make sense. Where's the ROI on an album?’ But as a band, you grow up and you want to put out a record. This is a really exciting time for us, and we're gearing up. It's just exciting, man. We love world-building. That's something we really like doing: creating a place that represents the band.”
A lot of the world-building with this record has been made possible due to the stunning single artwork from Dave Bowers that has dropped with each single. Cole found him on Instagram, the band fell in love with his work, and they’ve been following and working with Dave “@oldsweaty” Bowers ever since. Part of this growing up – as Dawson mentioned – has been growing their team. They’re learning to not wear every hat like they had to in the early days and instead come to trust new, talented people like Bowers to elevate their art and help share it with the world. It’s been a period of rapid growth, but the future has never looked brighter.
For a band with songs about literal sunshine and a lead singer who always wears sunglasses, that’s saying something.
This LP will be the sonic embodiment of half a decade of exploration; dozens and dozens of 15-hour drives; hundreds of shows; running their own merch before and after shows and the painstaking effort of developing their own film; and ultimately learning to let go and trust others. Hard work, fun, and faith.
While details on the upcoming album are still forthcoming, and almost monday has concluded The Maybe Man tour in support of AJR, the band will continue their world building in September with a European tour. Their first show will be September 14, 2024 in Lisbon, Portugal.
In the meantime, check out their latest single, “tidal wave,” below.