Alternative pop darlings almost monday are back again as they take their fans along with them on this journey with their feel-good groovy single. All fans can say is that they definitely 'enjoy the ride'.
The trio recently released the track that showcased their laid-back and carefree beats that spark a sense of warmth and happiness within listeners. We jumped on that ride with Dawson, Cole and Luke as they discuss the process behind creating 'enjoy the ride' and the inspiration that went into creating the track — culminating in a funky tune that radiates good vibes.
We stopped for a quick detour as we discussed who their dream artists to join on tour would be, as they wracked their brains to come up with a star-studded collection of artists and bands. We also made many pitstops as almost monday talked about topics ranging from their experience working with Jordana on their track 'Jupiter', to having a laugh about their craziest and silliest moments while performing, that crack them up to this day.
‘enjoy the ride’ is such a carefree and unapologetically fun track that has a very strong message. What was your thought process behind creating this track?
Dawson: I think this song, yeah, this song is kind of just about slowing down and like enjoying the present and just being really grateful for where you're at right now and kind of not like getting too lost in like your own projection of the future. So yeah, it's a fun song. We wrote it with our producer Simon. And yeah, it's one of those songs that we wrote pretty fast and then released it really quickly after we finished, which is kind of different — usually we have a song for a bit before it gets put out. So this one was just like finished, and it's out there.
You collaborated with Jordana on one of the additional tracks, ‘jupiter,’ on the deluxe version of your album DIVE. How was the experience collaborating with her, and how did the collaboration come about?
Cole: Yeah, she's a great singer and artist and she's just someone we've been listening to for a long time, and then we were like, oh, it'd be sick to have her on this track. So we hit her up and she was down, so she wrote a great verse, and then yeah, we’re super happy with it. We got to play it live with her for the first time ever a couple weeks ago. Palm Springs — awesome.
Your songs feel like the perfect reflection of summer. What is your favourite summer activity that you’re most likely to write a song about, and how do you think it would go?
Luke: I gotta go surfing. I love surfing. We all surf, actually, we do. And I don't know, what's a better summer activity than hanging out at the beach with your friends and surfing.
Dawson: Yeah, it feels pretty much exactly what I'd like to do.
I should try it sometime.
You guys have opened for bands like AJR, Kings of Leon, and now you guys are joining The Band CAMINO on The NeverAlways Tour. Who is one band or artist, dead or alive, who would be a dream to tour with?
Dawson: What do you got? What are you thinking?
Cole: Dead or alive? Yeah, it's even harder.
I think it opens a lot of possibilities.
Dawson: I think it'd be sick to tour with Harry Styles. That'd be pretty cool. I would love that. I feel like Harry Styles fans are really, really good fans, and I think it'd be a fun tour to be on. Like that's my alive answer, and then my dead answer would probably be rest in peace, Brian Wilson, but the original Beach Boys, that would be pretty cool. They're kind of the goats. So that'd be kind of cool to get to be on a bill with The Beach Boys.
Yes, actually, wait, that's like a really good two answers. Harry Styles and The Beach Boys.
Cole: My alive answer would probably be Oasis. I would be interested to see what the vibe would be, and just, I got to see their show, so I would love to see their show every night. And dead, I have it, I just forgot it. (Laughs)
Dawson: I'd be way too nervous to open for Oasis, dude. (Laughs)
Cole: It would just be quite the experience, but yeah, I mean, yeah, of course.
I feel like it would be so intimidating to open for Oasis.
Dawson: I know, I know.
Cole: Oh! I remember my dead answer. It would be like the full Beatles.
Dawson: Oh yeah, but that's a good one, yeah, but hats off to that.
Luke: I like these guys' answers. I'll go with those. (Laughs) No, you know, it would be cool to go, yeah, OK, it would be cool. Yeah, I mean, I like Phoenix a lot. Honestly, like Foster the People would be pretty cool to do a live one with, just growing up with them, which is always cool to do.
Dawson: We kind of did that one time.
Luke: Yeah, we did play one show with them a long time ago. And then, dead, it'd be cool to have gone to like The Ramones or something, like a classic, like cool, like what was music like back then and like how people really were rock stars back then and you know, now we’re all like TikTok and Instagram stuff, so it'd be cool to kind of just experience what music was like back then.
Wow, those are really good answers, like a lot of classics, a lot of modern bands.
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Could you share the story behind naming the band such an interesting name like almost monday?
Cole: OK, I think, yeah, it's not really like a profound story, it's just like our friend in high school was like, you guys should be The Mondays, and we were like, all right. For some reason we didn't care that much about what the band name was. And then we realised that it was already a band and it's like so hard to have a band name because everything's taken, and we were like, I guess we could be the almost, almost monday, so we ended up landing on that and we stuck with it for 10 years now, yeah.
It might not be profound, but it's a good story.
All: Thank you!
What is one unforgettable memory from when you guys have toured together that you still laugh about now?
Luke: Laugh about? Well, one popped up specifically in Philly, and they ordered pizza. I ordered KFC. And it was the craziest versions of those things that we've ever had, and we were eating in like this, like it was kind of like a dungeon of a green room or like in the corner, there weren’t many lights on. (Laughs)
And you know, there's a photo of that moment, me eating my chicken and it's obviously funny, you know, it's a good memory we laugh about today. That's mine. What do you guys think? (Laughs)
Dawson: I love that one. That's a good one. One time we did this headline show at our hometown, and I like twirled into the drum kit. (Laughs) What was that, years ago? No, it was a few months ago. So yeah, I twirled into the drum set and fell in front of all of our friends and family and it was pretty embarrassing. But yeah, good job, yeah.
Cole: The first one that popped into my mind was we had this tour manager on our first tour ever. His name was Johnny. But yeah, he was like, he's a great guy. We saw him recently, but we were driving through Salt Lake City and it was like 100-mile-an-hour winds or something and literally the van was like swerving off the road in snow.
Johnny was holding on and, (Laughs) yeah, don’t ever, never risk your life. Kind of wild. But yeah, that was wild. I don't know why that popped into my mind first, but there it is.
Wow, those are definitely unforgettable, crazy memories. (Laughs)
Alt-pop/indie is such a broad field. How would you define almost monday’s sound or aesthetic (both musically and visually)?
Dawson: I don't know. I think it's like… it probably falls in the indie pop, indie rock kind of categories, I'd say.
Luke: Feel good.
Dawson: Feel good, yeah.
Cole: Mood booster.
Luke: Funkadelic, yeah. (Laughs)
Dawson: Funkadelic apparently. That's the big one. Yeah, it probably does.
If your fans could have a fandom name (e.g., Barbs, Beliebers, Directioners), what kind of name would you give them?
Dawson: There's a… I know that there's a few. I remember, I think the running one is Sundaes, yeah, Sundaes, so like, like ice cream sundaes.
Luke: Love that, yeah.
Dawson: Don't ask me. I didn't start it. Well, what would I name it? Oh, I don't know. It's hard. almost monday, dayers? I don't know. I feel like, what are they usually like? They kind of always like to end with “er” — Beliebers or something, mondayers? I don't know, that's a hard question.
But yeah, I think Sundaes is too perfect. I think it's untouchable. Yeah, it's like the perfect one, yeah.
Are there any directions you’re itching to explore genre-wise that might surprise listeners in your next era?
Cole: Yeah, we've been messing around a lot in the studio with different, like… (Laughs) Sorry, too many memories, you made me laugh.
Dawson: Yeah, no, that question really did spiral my brain on so many memories. (Laughs)
Luke: We've been messing around on this next, this new album with a lot of different styles. We've been experimenting a lot. So yeah, we’ll see.
Are there any upcoming projects that fans can look forward to?
Dawson: Yeah, yeah, we've been in the studio, like literally we're in LA right now making a ton of music. We literally have the one-year anniversary of our debut album DIVE coming up this Friday, which is kind of cool. But yeah, just making a bunch of new music and yeah, just trying to do it. (Laughs) We're making a new album and it has been, yeah, very fun, can’t wait for people to hear it.
I'm sure your fans, the Sundaes, are really excited to hear them.
Yes, but I haven't seen it in a while, but, you know, Sundaes.
Maybe you can bring it back.
Yeah, bring it back.
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