The Maine on Expansion, Connection, and ‘Joy Next Door’
For a band that has spent nearly two decades growing alongside its audience, The Maine have reached a rare point in their career: one where longevity, ambition, and genuine connection all seem to be moving in sync.
With their tenth studio album, Joy Next Door (which dropped April 10), the Tempe, Arizona group is stepping into a new chapter that feels both hard-earned and creatively charged. Led by early singles “Die To Fall” and “Quiet Part Loud,” the record arrives with the kind of confidence that only comes from a band still pushing itself long after most of its peers have settled into repetition.
That sense of intention runs through the album’s foundation. Joy Next Door was written and recorded in sequential order, a choice that reflects The Maine’s long-standing investment in the album as a complete experience rather than a loose collection of songs. Even the visual identity feels carefully considered, with this era centered around green, continuing the band’s tradition of tying each release to its own distinct color and emotional world.
The timing only adds to the trajectory. As The Maine prepare to launch I Love You... But I Chose The Maine, their first headlining tour in nearly two years and the biggest on-sale run of their career so far, they’re doing it from a position of real strength. And, between major festival appearances, a thriving 8123 Fest, over 1 billion global streams, and a fan community that has remained deeply invested in every era, the band’s reach has never felt wider.
Still, what continues to set The Maine apart is the way scale has never replaced heart. Whether they’re unveiling an album through a hometown drone show or surprising fans with rides in the now-iconic green Mercedes, they’ve kept the experience personal—and that has made all the difference.
Joy Next Door is your tenth studio album. What did that milestone bring up for you creatively, and did it change the way you approached this record at all?
Jared Monaco: Joy Next Door was a great opportunity to reflect on what we’ve done right on albums prior. I think we wanted to push ourselves to leave these songs as close to real as we could. Way less editing, sort of embracing the uniqueness of individual takes. It’s something we haven’t really leaned into before. It was a really great way to break the mold we always end up in.
This album was written and recorded in sequential order. How did that shape the storytelling and emotional pacing of the record compared with past projects?
Jared Monaco: It was more of a road map for us. We had over-arching themes on the board each day for different songs. It sort of followed the trajectory of your typical story, beginning, middle, end. This really gave us direction when it came to setting the tone for each song.
The Maine has always treated each era like it has its own identity, and this one is tied to green. What did that color come to represent for you during the making of Joy Next Door?
Jared Monaco: I think there’s an easy and a hard answer here. One, we’re actually running out of colors at this point, but two, and more importantly, I think the green works perfectly against some of the more organic choices we made sonically on this album.
“Die To Fall” introduced fans to this chapter in a striking way. What made that song feel like the right entry point for the album?
Jared Monaco: We wanted energy out of the gate. We wanted to come out loud and fast, but I think the spirit of that song echoes through the rest of the songs as well, so it felt like a perfect way to introduce people to what’s to come.
You’re heading into your first headlining tour in nearly two years, and it’s the biggest on-sale tour of your career so far. What does it mean to hit this point now, especially after building your audience so steadily over time?
Jared Monaco: There isn’t a day that goes by that I take that for granted. We’ve been working our asses off for almost 20 years, but I’m so proud of the community we’ve created. So many things contributed to where we are today, but it’s a luxury that our fans will stand behind us no matter what. We’ve been able to take way more risks because of it.
You’ve cultivated one of the most loyal fan communities in the scene with the 8123 Family. How has your relationship with your fans evolved as both the band and the audience have grown older together?
Jared Monaco: We’re actually seeing this in real-time on this tour so far. We just wrapped our home show in Phoenix, and it was so wild to see how many kids we have running around backstage now. Same thing with fans, it’s really a trip to see fans our age or older who have passed the torch to their kids. It’s a reminder of how long we’ve been able to do this thing. Personally I love to see it.
After nearly twenty years as a band, how do you keep challenging yourselves without losing the core of what makes The Maine feel like The Maine?
Jared Monaco: Challenge is in our DNA. I think complacency breeds mediocrity. It also helps having five of us. It makes it easier to lean on somebody else, or to help them realize their idea fully. If there isn’t some sort of a struggle, I just feel like we aren’t pushing ourselves hard enough.
When fans hear Joy Next Door front to back for the first time, what do you hope stays with them after the final song ends?
Jared Monaco: My real hope is that fans can take a little piece of time in their day to sit with this album front to back. I hope they feel the depth of these songs. There are plenty of tracks that I’m sure could stand alone, but I really do wish that everybody can listen to everything all at once. That’s how we like to enjoy albums, and when we started album 10, the first question we asked ourselves was ‘can we make an album that sounds like what the five of us are excited to listen to?’ And I feel like we definitely did.
