almost monday

San Diego-based band almost monday got their start playing self-booked shows in their hometown, soon drawing a rabid following on the strength of their larger-than-life energy, effortless charm, and sing-along-ready anthems. Since forming in 2015, best friends Cole Clisby (guitar), Dawson Daugherty (vocals), and Luke Fabry (bass) have gone from performing in the back room of a local surf shop to collaborating with Mark Needham (The Killers, Imagine Dragons). Signed to Hollywood Records in early 2019, the trio now introduce the world to their brand of alt-pop: irresistibly fun and impossibly feel-good, but full of genuine heart. With each member now 21-years-old, almost monday’s origins lie in the near-lifelong friendship between Dawson and Luke, who grew up playing music together. After crossing paths with Cole while surfing, the three multi-instrumentalists headed into the garage and started dreaming up songs with a distinct surf-rock feel. almost monday’s debut material artfully mines such influences as Coldplay, Oasis, The 1975 and Frank Ocean while revealing the many eclectic elements that inspired them to make music: Cole’s passion for punk (sparked in part by attending countless blink-182 and Foo Fighter shows as a kid), Luke’s longtime love of The Beatles, and Dawson’s childhood exposure to seminal alt-rock bands like U2 and The Smiths. almost monday instill each song with the same unstoppable joie de vivre they bring to their onstage performance. “At some point I started dancing really crazy at our shows, and I feel like it helps the whole crowd to put their guard down and let loose,” says Dawson. “That’s what we want for our music in general: to give everybody that feeling of dancing alone in your bedroom, where you’re not self-conscious at all—you just feel completely free to be yourself.”