Almost Monday discusses DIVE (deluxe), making music with fellow indie artist, Jordana, and touring with AJR and The Driver Era before their appearance at Shabang Festival.

Before their performance at Shabang Festival, I sat down and talked with the members of Almost Monday, an indie pop band from San Diego, CA. The three members, Dawson Daugherty (vocals), Cole Clisby (guitar), and Luke Fabry (bass), recently finished their first full international headline tour this past March. At the beginning of the year, they released the deluxe version of their debut album, DIVE, with their hit “can’t slow down” hitting #1 on Alternative Radio. The trio has gained hundreds of thousands of fans touring with acts such as AJR and The Driver Era, but they’re looking to dominate the indie pop world themselves, having just finished up their first international world tour and looking forward to a second US leg in the Fall.

Hi, how are you guys doing?

DAUGHERTY: Doing nice, trying to get my sleep back. I drove up from San Diego this morning.

Oh wow, and I thought my drive up from LA was far…

DAUGHERTY: Oh, is that where you’re from?

Well, kind of… living there right now, but I grew up in Chicago.

DAUGHERTY: Oh, nice!

Yeah, I love it there. Anyway, I wanted to congratulate you on finishing your first headline tour in Europe and the UK. Tell me a little bit about your experiences over there.

DAUGHERTY: Man, it was so insane, and I’m just really grateful. I mean, anytime we play a show outside of San Diego, you feel the weight of that. It’s so cool. Let alone going to a place like Warsaw, where people love your band - it’s mind-boggling.

CLISBY: Yeah, our first time in Europe was in the Fall. We were opening for a band out there. We also headlined a few international shows in Asia, which were amazing. This was our first full international headline tour, where we visited a different country every day or so.

FABRY: It was crazy, there was a moment in London, where it felt like we were opening for somebody, but it was our show.

What’s your favorite song to play live?

FABRY: I’m going to have to go with “life goes by”.

DAUGHERTY: Man, I echo!

CLISBY: I have to deviate, my favorite to play right now is “she likes sports”.

DAUGHERTY: Ah, that’s a good one, too.

You mentioned that before headlining your own tour, you supported acts such as AJR and The Driver Era. What is something you all learned from being on the road with them?

DAUGHERTY: I just put it together that both of those bands are family bands… I know that we (gestures to Cole & Luke) have talked about that

Family bands?

DAUGHERTY: AJR is a band of brothers, and The Driver Era, too.

Oh, right, yes, you’re right

DAUGHERTY: I guess you could say we blend in with the fam?

Yeah, you all fit right in!

DAUGHERTY: To answer your question, we experienced playing in large arenas like the Kia Forum and Madison Square Garden, which is different from what we typically do, so that was cool and exciting. From the Driver Era tour, their fans are super passionate. So, it was fun to play for fans like them every night. Honestly, both of those bands have passionate and open fans; they are people who are interested in hearing new music.

FABRY: With AJR, I noticed that you could go into their show without ever hearing their music, and still have the greatest time. They put on such a great show, it’s almost theatrical. So, it has me thinking about what we would do to have that same sort of effect on people when we play larger shows.

Well, speaking of great music, do you have any favorite songs or albums at the moment?

DAUGHERTY: I’ve been ripping Discovery by Daft Punk, which is a classic.

CLISBY: I’ve been listening to Vibrations by Roy Ayers.

FABRY: Natalie Bergman, who is releasing an album soon, I’m excited for it.

What type of music does she make?

FABRY: Ooh, I would say folk.

Nice, I’ll give it a listen when I get the chance.

DAUGHERTY: What about you?

My favorite album at the moment? I’ve been streaming The Crux by Djo a lot.

DAUGHERTY: Oh man, it was on my agenda to listen to that this morning on the drive up, and then I just listened to my jazz playlist and talked to my wife the whole time. I wanted to listen to it, I’ve heard good things about it. How do you pronounce his name? Is it just ‘Joe’?

Yep, just ‘Joe’. My favorites are “Potion” and “Back On You”.

DAUGHERTY: Awesome, it’ll be on my agenda to listen to it on the way home.

Great! Who would you say are your biggest influences, and how does that affect your performances and/or songwriting?

DAUGHERTY: We love The Beach Boys. They’re kind of like The Beatles in the aspect of being so iconic. I love their “ooh” ability, and I’m always in pursuit of that “ooh” factor in our songs. We have a song called “tidal wave” that we tried to achieve that perfect ‘ooh’ - and I’m happy with how the song turned out - but I want to build on that.

CLISBY: I feel like The Strokes were my main inspiration for wanting to start a band with my friends in a garage and play live shows.

FABRY: It’s going to be Phoenix for me.

When I listen to your music, it feels as if it’s been infused with San Diego sunshine. I wanted to know if that is an intentional aspect of your songwriting process or if you have a different approach?

DAUGHERTY: I think it’s more about trying to infuse ourselves into our music, which is why it our songs have seem to have a lot of San Diego DNA. In North County, a lot of people are excited to be alive, stoked to be breathing and going to the beach. We’ve failed at this in the past but we’re always attempting to write songs from a genuine place, asking ourselves who we are, what we like, what sounds we like, etc.

CLISBY/FABRY: 100%, we’re going to echo that answer.

Great answer. One of my favorite songs off your album is “jupiter”, and you’ve released a version with Jordana. What was it like working with her on it?

FABRY: We’ve been fans of her for a while-

DAUGHERTY: I remember Cole showed me her on a train!

FABRY: We were looking for people to hop on that song and thought she would be a great fit. Luckily, she was down to do it. She made a great verse, and we made a music video with her.

DAUGHERTY: She was really chill to work with, and she has this really cute puppy named Ducky that travels with her.

Ugh, that’s honestly the dream. What is the perfect song off DIVE for a summer playlist?

DAUGHERTY: Probably “tidal wave”. I saw somebody make a TikTok yesterday with it, and I saw the vision. They were getting ready for a beach day, and it reinvoked my love for that song.

CLISBY: I’m going to echo that answer.

FABRY: I am going to deviate from that answer and go with “life goes by”.

DAUGHERTY: Ooh, that’s a good one, too. They’re kind of sister songs.

I love that. You all are closing out Cuesta Ridge tonight at 7:30 PM, but what’s next for the band after Shabang Festival?

FABRY: We’re heading back to Europe for some headline shows and some more festivals. A lot of DIVE comin’ at you.

DAUGHERTY: It’s a DIVE summer!

Interview & Photos by: Katie Romo

This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity.

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Almost Monday answer our questions at SLO's Shabang Festival