{"id":976467,"date":"2026-08-02T21:15:25","date_gmt":"2026-08-02T21:15:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/976467\/"},"modified":"2026-08-02T21:15:25","modified_gmt":"2026-08-02T21:15:25","slug":"encinitas-almost-monday-catches-big-wave-with-sophomore-album-new-tour","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/976467\/","title":{"rendered":"Encinitas\u2019\u00a0almost monday\u00a0catches big wave\u00a0with\u00a0sophomore\u00a0album, new tour"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Three<\/a>Encinitas band almost monday. (Photo by John Mark Crenshaw)<\/p>\n

San Diego indie-pop trio\u00a0almost monday<\/a>\u00a0has been riding a wave of success since its 2024 debut album, \u201cDIVE<\/a>\u201d launched the No. 1 alternative radio hit \u201ccan\u2019t slow down.\u201d But not long ago, the band was trying to make a name for\u00a0itself\u00a0by booking gigs in the back of an Encinitas surf shop.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Growing up together in\u00a0the beach community, vocalist\u00a0Dawson Daugherty\u00a0and bassist\u00a0Luke Fabry\u00a0have been inseparable since childhood.<\/p>\n

\u201cEvery single chapter of our life, we\u2019ve been intertwined together,\u201d\u00a0Daugherty\u00a0said. \u201cLearning how to surf at the same time, then playing music,\u00a0then college roommates and then dropping out of college to be in the band.\u00a0So,\u00a0Luke\u00a0is\u00a0more of a brother at this point.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

Daugherty\u00a0met\u00a0guitarist\u00a0Cole Clisby, son of surf legend Gary Clisby,\u00a0on the water.\u00a0At first,\u00a0the singer\u00a0thought\u00a0Clisby\u2019s\u00a0surfing skills would lend the band extra cool points. Then he\u00a0discovered he\u00a0was also\u00a0a phenomenal guitarist.<\/p>\n

When they weren\u2019t ripping at Swami\u2019s Beach,\u00a0they\u2019d be at UNIV,\u00a0the former surf shop across from the Self-Realization Fellowship that doubled as one of the\u00a0area\u2019s\u00a0few all-ages\u00a0music\u00a0venues.<\/p>\n

\u201cJohn Humphrey, the guy who was running it, was so cool because there\u2019s not a lot of great venues in North County,\u201d\u00a0Daugherty\u00a0reflected.\u00a0\u201cJohn opened\u00a0up that surf shop in the\u00a0back,\u00a0and it played so well as\u00a0a sick little venue.\u00a0All of our homies would come up,\u00a0and\u00a0some of our best memories as a band happened there.\u201d<\/p>\n

As the band\u00a0built a local following\u00a0at those gigs in 2016-17, they\u00a0funneled\u00a0merch\u00a0sales\u00a0into studio time to record songs.\u00a0When\u00a0the\u00a0money ran out, they\u2019d\u00a0return\u00a0to UNIV and\u00a0repeat the cycle to fund their dreams.<\/p>\n

The group originally started out as The\u00a0Mondays before\u00a0discovering\u00a0a Syracuse-based cover band already\u00a0owned the\u00a0name.\u00a0So, they settled on almost\u00a0monday, stylized in\u00a0lowercase,\u00a0and never looked back.<\/p>\n

\"An<\/a>The band almost monday\u2019s new album is set for release in September. (Photo courtesy of almost monday)<\/p>\n

Mentor\u00a0Mark Needham\u00a0helped them get discovered when he invited a Hollywood Records A&R\u00a0rep\u00a0to one of the\u00a0band\u2019s\u00a0shows, leading to a\u00a0record deal\u00a0and the release of \u201cDIVE.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

Capturing youth\u2019s carefree moments in\u00a0such songs as \u201cjupiter,\u201d \u201csunburn\u201d and \u201cyou look so good,\u201d the album\u00a0introduced almost monday to audiences far beyond\u00a0Southern California.\u00a0It also opened the door to the band\u2019s first international tour, taking them to South Korea, the United Kingdom and across Europe.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe first time we played in Korea\u00a0was such an unbelievable experience,\u201d\u00a0Daugherty\u00a0recalled. \u201cThese fans who\u00a0don\u2019t speak\u00a0English\u00a0knew every word. To know that your songs\u00a0made it all the way to those ears\u00a0\u2026 it\u2019s really crazy.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

Fast forward to this summer: On June 27,\u00a0almost\u00a0monday\u00a0wrapped a\u00a0tour\u00a0supporting\u00a0Young the Giant and Cold War Kids,\u00a0leaving\u00a0Daugherty\u00a0battling\u00a0the \u201cpost-tour blues.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m always so\u00a0fascinated\u00a0by people who still have the spark of joy and wonder in what they do, even when they\u2019ve\u00a0been\u00a0doing it for a long time,\u201d he said.\u00a0\u201cBoth\u00a0of\u00a0those bands seemed like they\u2019re still really\u00a0excited to be doing it, and that left\u00a0a really big impression\u00a0on me.\u201d<\/p>\n

The band approached their sophomore release, \u201cTHANK GOD IT\u2019S\u00a0ALMOST MONDAY<\/a>,\u201d with that same verve. But almost monday experienced\u00a0an\u00a0emotionally challenging\u00a0year, and those life lessons\u00a0found\u00a0their way into several\u00a0tracks on the album,\u00a0due out Sept. 9.<\/p>\n

Two songs\u00a0explore\u00a0loss and grief.\u00a0Daugherty\u00a0explained\u00a0\u201cbuzz\u201d was inspired by his grandfather\u2019s passing, while \u201cleaving is easy\u201d cuts\u00a0even deeper.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cWe had a really hard loss of\u00a0a family member last year that was really tragic and unexpected,\u201d\u00a0Daugherty\u00a0said.\u00a0\u201cIt\u2019s something that\u2019s still being grieved and processed\u00a0and\u00a0not something that\u00a0I think we\u2019re going to\u00a0go into\u00a0as a band because\u00a0it\u2019s still so real.\u201d<\/p>\n

The introspection continues with the\u00a0mid-tempo\u00a0\u201closing streak\u201d \u2014 recorded\u00a0with\u00a0\u201cleaving is easy\u201d\u00a0at Switchfoot\u2019s\u00a0Spot X Studio\u00a0in Carlsbad. The song wrestles with the emotional push and pull of life on the road\u00a0while loved ones wait at home.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis\u00a0is easily the most personal song for me on the record,\u201d\u00a0Daugherty\u00a0admitted.\u00a0\u201cIt\u2019s just kind of dealing with the guilt of living this really fun life and feeling like, \u2018Man, am I doing the right thing by being out here chasing this dream I\u2019ve had since I was a kid and not being home as much as I want to be for the people I love?\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

An advance listen\u00a0to\u00a0the 13-track album\u00a0finds almost\u00a0monday paddling past its big pop sound and venturing into new styles,\u00a0from the reggae-tinged title track\u00a0and\u00a0funk-inflected \u201csuperprism\u201d to the\u00a0dance-friendly\u00a0new\u00a0single\u00a0\u201cbetter late than never.\u201d<\/p>\n

Fans also will\u00a0find familiar ear candy,\u00a0including\u00a0\u201cdelicate\u201d\u00a0and\u00a0\u201cno more regrets,\u201d both\u00a0boy-pursues-girl songs\u00a0driven by\u00a0falsetto-fueled choruses. But\u00a0taken as a whole, \u201cTHANK GOD IT\u2019S ALMOST MONDAY\u201d\u00a0feels deeper and more adventurous\u00a0than its predecessor.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat\u2019s really unique about this album\u00a0is\u00a0how it\u2019s revealed itself to me after being made,\u201d\u00a0Daugherty\u00a0confessed. \u201cWe\u00a0just got off the road from\u00a0the \u2018DIVE\u2019 tour and\u00a0went into the studio\u00a0to make the second album.\u00a0I think that stressed me out in a weird way, not feeling like I knew what it was or what we were trying to do.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhile making it, you\u2019re like, \u2018How do all these songs fit together on this record?\u2019\u00a0To be\u00a0completely transparent,\u00a0it\u2019s\u00a0probably\u00a0been in the last month\u00a0where I feel like I know what this album is and why we made it.\u201d<\/p>\n

In September, the band\u00a0kicks\u00a0off its\u00a0\u201cTHANK GOD IT\u2019S ALMOST MONDAY\u201d\u00a0North American\u00a0tour<\/a>, which includes an Oct. 22\u00a0stop at the\u00a0Observatory North Park<\/a>.\u00a0Daugherty\u00a0said he\u2019s excited\u00a0to\u00a0build a setlist spanning two albums and\u00a0plans to\u00a0make\u00a0it easier for fans to attend\u00a0by offering\u00a0affordable ticket prices.<\/p>\n

For a band that once relied on merch money to bankroll another day in the studio, a national headlining tour is\u00a0like catching the biggest wave\u00a0in the set. But for Daugherty, the music has always been about something deeper.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cWe made the album in a year that was the best and hardest year of our lives,\u201d\u00a0he\u00a0said\u00a0of the upcoming release.\u00a0\u201cI think it marks what it\u2019s like to be here in this human experience. I guess I\u2019ve landed on it just\u00a0represents\u00a0an honest year lived.\u00a0All\u00a0you can do as an artist is try to live an honest life, and then the art reflects that.\u201d<\/p>\n

Donovan Roche is a longtime music writer\u00a0and regular contributor to Times of San Diego.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Encinitas band almost monday. (Photo by John Mark Crenshaw) San Diego indie-pop trio\u00a0almost monday\u00a0has been riding a wave…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":976468,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[5134],"tags":[5229,1582,276,32310,975,3549,7264,71777,67,586,132,5230,68,2969],"class_list":["post-976467","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-san-diego","tag-america","tag-ca","tag-california","tag-encinitas","tag-music","tag-san-diego","tag-sandiego","tag-surfing","tag-united-states","tag-united-states-of-america","tag-unitedstates","tag-unitedstatesofamerica","tag-us","tag-usa"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/117027995646588842","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/976467","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=976467"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/976467\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/976468"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=976467"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=976467"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=976467"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}