Let’s “Live Forever” With Almost Monday

If you’re looking for a band that has the sound and energy of a hot summer day, almost monday will fill that desire and leave you wanting more. Named one of 2021 GQ’s breakout musicians, the San Diego alt-pop band, almost monday features best friends Dawson Daugherty (vocals), Cole Clisby (guitar), and Luke Fabry (bass). Unpublished Magazine had the opportunity to attend an exclusive press conference and hear all things new about almost monday. 

The origins of the band began with the early friendship of Dawson and Luke, spending their time making music together. Soon crossing paths with Cole while surfing and discovering his talented guitar skills, they headed to the garage and cooked up some California heat. Since forming in 2015 and now into their early 20s, the group quickly created a brotherhood as they built an impressive body of work encapsulating an essence of happiness with the main goal of bringing people together. Starting as a band to play live music for their friends, they kept growing, gaining a wider fanbase – eventually, making the big move to pursue music full time. Almost monday proudly represents their hometown of San Diego, as they are strongly connected to the surf community and indirectly showcase the chill vibes of California through their sound.

“It’s interesting because there’s not a whole lot of bands that come out of San Diego, so it’s cool to represent it through us and a couple others,” Luke says in reflection of their hometown roots.

The group announced on their Instagram with the release of their most recent record “live forever”, that they will be entering a new era with their upcoming EP. It was evident that the group is very excited to release their next batch of music and to show the world what they have been working on. Almost monday was asked what this new era would entail and if there was a general theme/idea involved in the release. 

“The general idea is not taking things for granted, not taking relationships or time for granted, and really trying to live in the present and not worry so much about the past or future,” Luke shares.

“The new EP is very different from the first in terms of the sound,” Dawson says. “That’s definitely a theme throughout the new EP...we’re excited to jump into new visuals and new everything.”

With a vibrant, storytelling atmosphere – almost monday always delivers exceptional music videos embedded with multiple popular culture references. As the music video for “live forever” is quite the artistic journey, Unpublished had the chance to ask almost monday what their favorite moments were to film in the “live forever” music video. The video itself is a nod to the Beastie Boys, Monty Python and the Holy grail, among other hidden easter egg pop culture elements.

“The most memorable moment was we had to get in this koi pond which was up to our waist and there were turtles and rocks in there. Cole was standing on his tippy-toes cause it was so uneven,” Luke begins. “It looked really cool so I think that was the most memorable for me.”

“There were so many locations that we went to around San Diego, it was kind of an abnormal music video,” Cole shares. “We went to probably 12 different locations just driving around for two days, everywhere from the beach to this iconic restaurant, Captain Keno’s, in our hometown.”

For listeners who have been with almost monday throughout their musical journey, it’s amazing to see the growth of the group and how they have evolved through their songwriting. Unpublished asked almost monday about their creative process and where they draw inspiration from when writing music. 

“This question is hard because for us there’s not really a method to what we do. We get into a room with our producer, we all talk about the music we’ve been listening to and the ‘magic in the room’ just kind of happens,” Dawson shares. “We’re very versatile like Luke’s the bass player but sometimes Cole will write a bass line, or Luke will write a guitar line and I’ll write a key line. So we get into the studio and anything goes, and hopefully, we have a song come out of it at the end of the day.”

They reveal the different elements of who has inspired the beginning of their musical careers as seen through Dawson’s dad religiously playing U2 while he grew up, Luke listening to his dad play “Blackbird” by The Beatles 24/7, and Cole learning covers from bands like The Strokes and The Cure inspiring him to continue playing.

”I think going to live shows as a kid really inspired me to be like ‘I want to do that when I’m older’” says Cole.

There are so many amazing things coming up for almost monday this year. One being a huge music festival this fall, performing alongside artists such as Lizzo and Tyler, the Creator. The group talks about how surreal it is to be performing at this festival as Luke says “it’s really trippy, it doesn’t feel real”. From DIY gigs at the back of a surf shop to sold out shows – almost monday delivers breezy California grooves and we can’t wait to hear what’s next!

Check out almost monday’s music here!