EXCLUSIVE: Maine on ‘Joy Next Door,’ Touring and more

Few bands have built the kind of lasting connection with fans that The Maine have over the past two decades. The band surprised listeners today with a brand new track, “Parking Garage Song #5”, now added to their latest album, Joy Next Dooralong with an accompanying music video. They also announced their return to the road for The tour next door—part acoustic and part full band—with tickets officially on sale now.

In an exclusive interview with ThePlayerLounge, The Maine’s Jared Monaco opens up about the inspiration behind it Joy Next Doorthe excitement of touring again and what fans can look forward to next.

Joy Next Door marks your 10th studio album! How did you want this project to feel different or reflect where you are now as a band?

At first I don’t think it was really a conscious thought. We kind of amassed quite a collection of demos, and before we knew it we just started digging into them to shape the record. I will say that once we got going, it became clear that there was a through line from beginning to end, and we began to look at this album as a parallel to a conventional narrative [as] (beginning, middle, end) and all the tones and emotions that coincide with these points in a linear story.

The title Joy Next Door feels both intimate and hopeful. What does that phrase mean to you personally and creatively?

For me personally, it’s a reminder that the sum of the good things we already have is usually greater than the unknown things we desire.

You released ‘Palms’, ‘Die To Fall’ and ‘Quiet Part Loud’ before the album, how do these songs represent the body of work?

Die by the fall was our first opportunity to show people the energy and outer limits of this album, so that’s where we started. I think “Quiet Part” did a great job of representing the more reflective and melodic side of the album, and “Palms” was always a favorite track of mine, so I was only happy to share it ahead of its release.

There is often a strong emotional thread in your music. What themes or messages were most important for you to explore on this album?

There were many themes during the writing process, and most reflected the telling of a story. The beginning, the growth, into chaos and the unknown, into the discovery and the reflective part that leads us into the send-off with “And Then,” which in many ways feels to me like it leaves the future a little more open.

After nearly two decades together, how has your songwriting process evolved on this album compared to your previous records?

We’ve learned that being comfortable with the people you collaborate with makes it much easier to be uncomfortable with the things you create. The five of us can almost predict what each other will do at this point. It’s just something that has grown from one album to the next. Having Sean Silverman in this process really helped us see our band from a new perspective, and one that we all really know and respect.

With over a billion global streams and such a dedicated fan base, how do you balance staying true to your core sound while pushing yourself creatively?

Funnily enough, we made this record for ourselves first. We had so many discussions about what to do or how to do it. At the end of the day, it came down to making something that the five of us would actually want to listen to. My personal opinion is that having John’s stylistic vocals really allows us to take things as far as we want creatively, because at the end of it all, once he sings on a track, it sounds like us again.

This is your first stateside tour in almost two years! What have been some of your favorite songs to perform live?

This tour was a great step forward for our band. It’s been great playing all these new songs live every night. If I had to pick one, I’d say “Quiet Part Loud.” We’ve been messing around with the arrangement and instrumentation, and it’s fun to showcase it in a live setting.