2026 has been a busy year for Tempe-bred alt-rockers The Maine.
The band released its 10th album, Joy Next Door, April 10 and is set to play another home-state gig at La Rosa Aug. 20.
Drummer Pat Kirch said the remainder of 2026 will represent the payoff from years of work.
“I think anything in life is difficult if you really care,” he said. “For us, we just care so much about the music that it almost consumes us.”
New tunes
The Maine vocalist John O’Callaghan began writing lyrics for the band’s latest full-length album around August 2024, according to Kirch. Around that time, the band agreed on a bold concept: recording the album chronologically.
Typically, bands like The Maine will record songs out of sequence and assemble them later. But The Maine wanted to try something different — and more challenging — with Joy Next Door.
Despite the album’s whimsical title, Kirch and co. have echoed the same sentiment regarding the album’s recording process.
“The album was very hard to make,” Kirch said. “While we were in the process, every detail felt so dire because we wanted to push ourselves and we wanted the record to feel a certain way.”
However, the final product brought him a feeling he hadn’t felt in over a year.
“When we had it mastered and done, I listened to it and I felt almost like a fan of the band again,” said Kirch, a Mesquite High School alumnus. “That was the best feeling ever. In a second, all of the tension that I had about making the album and the frustrations about things were just gone.”
Headlining momentum
With the record complete, the band has shifted its focus to the spring headlining tour — a task that presents its own challenges.
With 10 albums and nearly 20 years of EPs and B-sides, Kirch said building a set list has become increasingly difficult.
“With 10 albums and almost 20 years of EPs and the B-sides record we did, it’s been really hard to make a set list,” he said.
Still, the band has embraced the challenge.
“Our focus is to try to have a giant catalog of songs so that way, we can change up the set each night to keep it entertaining,” Kirch said.
He noted that many fans attend multiple shows — sometimes traveling between cities — so the band tries to vary performances.
“Our fans tend to come to a lot of shows, so they’ll travel,” he said. “We want there to be a surprise each night.”
Some songs, however, are staples. Kirch said “Black Butterflies and Déjà Vu,” “Bad Behavior” and the lead single from Joy Next Door, “Die To Fall,” are locks for each show. The March 25 gig will mark only the third live performance of “Die To Fall.”
Filling out the remainder of the set list is where the difficulty begins.
The band has teased that it will perform at least one song from each of its 10 full-length albums on the tour. To decide which tracks make the cut, Kirch said the band combed through its catalog — relying in part on his near-eidetic memory.
“I can remember almost every show that we’ve ever played and what songs we played,” Kirch said. “I have a pretty good idea of what goes well, what might not go as well and what we haven’t done yet.”
The big 2-0
The surprises will not end on stage. Kirch hinted that the band has even bigger plans for its 20th anniversary in 2027.
“We generally don’t look back on the past all that much — I guess that’s pretty obvious, since we’ve continued to make album after album,” Kirch said with a laugh. “I think we’re going to spend the 20th year of the band actually doing some looking back, repressing old vinyl and playing some special shows to celebrate.”
With nearly two decades of music behind him, Kirch credits the band’s longevity to camaraderie.
“We enjoy what we do,” he said. “We like making music together. We enjoy being around each other. Everybody’s in it for the same goal. Everybody wants the band to continue and to expand what we can do artistically and within our performance. We’re very lucky in that way.”
The Maine with Hellogoodbye and In Color
WHEN: Thursday, Aug. 25 at 6:30 p.m.
WHERE: La Rosa, 800 N. Country Club Rd. Tucson
COST: tickets start at $70
INFO: themaineband.com, larosatucson.org
