Artist Spotlight: Almost Monday is ready for a jam-packed year; talks new music and 2022 tour

California trio Almost Monday has already kicked off the spring season with an appearance at Innings Festival in Arizona. Now out on tour with Joywave, the upbeat group is ready for another year of new music and more shows. Atlas caught up with Dawson Daugherty, Luke Fabry and Cole Clisby at Innings to talk upcoming releases and what they hope to see from the stage in 2022. 

Atlas Artist Group: You released a lot of music last year as the world started to open back up again. What was inspiring those releases and what’s inspiring your music now? Has it changed?

Dawson: In 2020 I think we had only one song out at the time the pandemic started, so we started releasing music. And then 2021 Lollapalooza was the first show back- which is always crazy to just be away from live shows and then getting back and playing it for people. I think it’s probably influenced by just being in front of people again and being like, alright, what feels good live and what do people react to? After we got back to playing some of those festivals, we realized we want these to go hard. I think that’s probably inspired some of the music from the last year and even some of the new music. 

Atlas: Everyone has this need to describe music and artists and put them in boxes. How do you describe yourselves and your music? 

Dawson: It’s a common question and it never gets easier. The way we write music is there’s so many different influences and whether that comes out intentionally… Or we’ll come in and just say  this is cool today and this is cool the next day. It all at the end of the day comes together and makes something that is hopefully original and somewhat your own. I’d probably say the genre is more like indie pop that has some rock in it too- it probably lives in that world.  

Something I’ve heard from multiple different people that I always felt was cool is “windows down on the coast” type of music and I’ve always really liked that so I’m gonna claim that and throw it out there.

Atlas: Out of all your releases so far, what song do you connect with the most? Which song do you think resonates most with fans?

Dawson: Like “Parking Lot View” which is a song we put out right as the pandemic happened is our most popular song. You always notice people singing it. For me, we have a song called “this is growing up”. The meaning and the lyrical content has always felt really special to me because growing up is just very odd and weird- just trying to navigate what being a human is and going forward and expectations and all these things. 

Luke: It’s “this is growing up” for me as well. It’s cool because every time we do something new or something happens- good or bad- we can always come back to that song. Growing up just is what it is and you just kind of take the punches and it’s cool that we can take them together as friends. It’s a cool song to come back to. 

Cole: I think as an artist, you always like the most recent stuff you’ve made so it’s probably stuff that’s unreleased, but of the stuff that’s out, probably “til the end of time”. 

Atlas: What are you hoping that listeners will take away from your music?

Dawson: You can want people to experience what you have but at the same time, you sort of want them to experience their own. There’s been so many times where I’ve talked to somebody and a song means so much to them and I’m like, ‘oh, that’s definitely what it means’. Like, yeah, we’re much more profound than we thought we were. I love just looking out at people just having a good time- as basic as that is. 

One of my favorite things is just seeing people dance and get out of their comfort zone. For me, going to live shows are some of the best memories I have because you get an hour and a half or whatever it is to just be yourself. It’s a really, really special and sacred moment in a weird way when everybody comes together and just has a good time. 

Check out Almost Monday, on tour with Joywave now! 

Story and photos by Olivia Khiel