While you may not know Los Angeles’ new pop punk band Make Out Monday, there is a better chance you know one of it’s members.
Make out Monday comprises of Logan Charles (vocals/guitar), John Spicer (lead guitar), Seth Renken (drums), and brothers Zack (vocals) and Jeremy Shada (vocals/bass). Listeners may recognize Jeremy’s voice more than his name. He is best known as the voice of Finn, the star of Cartoon Network’s hit show, Adventure Time.
Having recently released their début single, Hope Less Romantics, and fresh off an appearance at House of Blues San Diego following the San Diego ComicCon, I sat down with the boys to talk about the band, as they get ready to release their first six-song EP.
We have all heard of (and most likely taken part of) Throwback Thursday or Flashback Friday. I couldn’t help but wonder if Make Out Monday set up for the purpose of becoming a viral hashtag.
Assuring me that wasn’t the idea behind the band’s name, “Zach and I were just throwing out band names and I liked the idea of using the word Monday. Jokingly we said ‘what about Make Out Monday?’ and it stuck,†Jeremy said. Though I was unable to coax the story out of him, “we all have an inside story about the name, too. But only we know about it.†Zach said.
Jeremy and Zack are brothers and while they have only just begun playing altogether in an organized band, the rest of the guys have known each other for most their lives. They all decided to play together after a jam session in Los Angeles.
“Logan and I were doing a duo project and Zach and Seth were thinking of doing something, and since we all get along so well, we were just like, ‘Let’s do this!’†Jeremy said.
They came together pretty fast. “I had known Zach and (Josh) Jeremy’s older brother and had worked with them for about eight years on different projects. One day I just texted Zach to jam and he said come over. We showed each other some songs and we weren’t even thinking about having an entire band, but then as soon as we thought about it we were like ‘Let’s try this!’†Seth said.
Growing up listening to Alice in Chains, 30 Seconds to Mars, the Beach Boys, and Led Zeppelin, the group’s sound pays homage to those different musical influences. There are big harmonies in their songs and big vocal groups, easy to do with three lead singers.
They have just finished working on their first EP that is currently being mastered. Each band member has creative input. Zach credits My Chemical Romance as his biggest musical influence, but adds that inspiration, “comes in all different forms… I’ll be driving and hear a jam and that will inspire me. I’ll take what I hear to heart and it inspires me. The lyrics usually come first, a lot of time I come up with lyrics in the shower. I then present lyrics to the guys and see what they think.†Zach said.
Currently they are deciding, “between two songs that will be the first single,†Jeremy said; it should be out in “about a month.†Los Angelinos, keep an eye out for their next show to be in Venice or the Hollywood area, and expect “a lot of high energy.â€
Jeremy promises that at their shows “mostly we try to make it an all-around show, just a good time. There is always lots of jumping around, and Seth making awesome faces.†With Jeremy’s enthusiastic fan base of “Shadanators,†I’m sure Make Out Monday will be playing to sold out venues in no time.