Out everywhere now, we thought it would be a good opportunity to have a chat with old friends DAY TRIP TO MONACO about the new song and all other things music
So it’s been about 15 months since we last chatted. How have you been? What have you been up to?
It’s been a busy time! We’re both still full-time students at the Liverpool Institute for Performing Arts (LIPA), and we both play for other bands or projects as well, so finding time to sit and write together hasn’t always been easy, but it means we enjoy any opportunity we get to get back working together. We’ve also taken some time just to enjoy each other’s company as friends as well as band mates, so it would definitely be wrong to say that we only see each other to work on band things. We’ve definitely become really close friends over the past nearly 2 years we’ve been doing this now. So from that, it’s definitely a key motivator to keep the band going and pushing forward, as whenever we’re working under the umbrella of ‘Day Trip’ related things, we’re always working with one of our best friends.
For those who might not remember, who is Day Trip To Monaco and where are you from?
We’re a 2-piece band, made up of Alex Howley (Drums and keyboards) and Megan Gallagher (Vocals). We’re originally from Gloucestershire and Oxford respectively, but now we’re living in Liverpool while we’re studying here. For any other instruments we need on any songs/gigs, we get some of our friends in (who are all insanely talented musicians) to play with us.
If you had to sum the band up each other in three words, what would you say?
We’ve both always described us simply as ‘Coffee-fuelled Indie’ band, which is the most
accurate description of the 2 of us… at any given point in the day, one of us will be either getting a coffee, or will have just had one. I suppose is perfect given the title of our latest song!
I hear there’s a new single on the way? What can you tell us about it?
There is! ‘Morning Coffee’ is being released on Wednesday 6 th April on all platforms. It’s
been a long time coming. Our initial first version was done as a demo as long ago as early January 2021, but we decided it was never quite what we wanted it to be. We then played it at our live shows at the end of 2021, more up-tempo, punchier, and it went down really well, so we went straight in the studio and recorded it, which is how it’s finished up for its release. It’s definitely the best track in terms of production that we’ve offered up so far.
Where did the inspiration for this one come from? It sounds like a pretty emotionally charged song.
As we said before, we’ve always described ourselves as a ‘coffee-fuelled Indie’ band,
which is actually our bio on our socials, so it was more of a more in depth look into it.
On the surface, we get coffee before lectures to keep us going, but the song goes further than that. It reminisces to a time where a cup of coffee could’ve been for an early morning walk in the cold of autumn, or times spent with a specific person which may not
be possible any more. We try to keep a certain amount of ambiguity in lyrics so that they
can relate to different people in different ways. There is still imagery in there, but it leaves it more open to interpretation. Even the line ‘The sound of Stevie on the radio’ is
open for discussion. Alex loves Stevie Wonder, whereas Megan loves Stevie Nicks, so even just between the two of us, it means something different.
We see you’ve also been playing some live shows. How did these go?
Yes! We played a support-slot for a band from Bath called China Bears when they played in Liverpool last October. It was our first gig, and we had a blast. The 5 original songs we played were really well received and it was a big boost for us to then play a gig at our uni the following week, which was properly filmed and recorded, which was great for us to have and look back on as our first ever setlist. It gave us a solid foundation to build on looking ahead. The best bit of feedback we got from those was an audience member saying to us after the show ‘You guys are definitely a live band, no doubt about that’. We definitely gave a load of energy to the shows, and it seems to have reflected really well.
Are there plans for any more soon?
Oh yes. Our first headline gig! Jimmy’s Liverpool, Thursday 28 th April 2022. Doors at 7pm, evening of 3 acts runs from 7:30-10:30. We’ve got 2 fantastic support slots joining us too: Naila (a fellow LIPA student who’s absolutely smashing it at the moment), and Slow Falling Sun, a band which Alex has been on tour with since October 2021. Seeing as we’re headlining, our set is growing to an hour long for this one, there will be 5 of us on stage once again, so Megan and Alex will be joined by our friends Freya Hann (keyboards), Josh Hanstock (guitar) and Ben Hands (bass).
Tickets available on Jimmy’s Liverpool Website!
What advice would you give to those looking to start making their own music?
Great question. Definitely don’t quit as soon as it starts to get tricky. Stay with it. It’s like
learning an instrument in that sense. You may start listening to things you wrote a long time ago and think ‘wow, that really sucks’ but if you think that about things you did when you first started, it’s usually because you’ve improved with experience and means
that you’ve come a long way since that early time. Your music will grow with you as you
experience more in both the world of music, and life in general. It’s a project! It won’t
ever have a finish line, but just enjoy it and let whatever you have in your head come
out.
Remind us where we can find out more about you?
Our Instagram is @daytripto_monaco which is the best place for keeping up to date with
everything. We’re always looking to grow our social following as much as we can, so a
follow would be really appreciated!
Our website has just had a complete revamp which we’re really happy with, and that’s
got all our other social media links, songs, and videos etc on it.
Anything else you’d like to tell us?
After our gig in late April, we’ve got another new single (which is on our setlist) called Baby Don’t Go, which we’ll be getting ready to release. We took our debut EP off of all platforms last week, as we thought we could make the songs sound a lot better, so we’re releasing 3 of the songs from that, completely remastered over the summer. When they’ve released, we’ll have 5 of our songs out everywhere as we enter into our last year of uni.
I’d like to thank Alex and Megan for taking the time to answer our question and wish them the best of luck with the upcoming shows and new music!
TrueStyleMusic 