Hey Monday lead guitarist and co-lyricist Mike Gentile, 22, and the other members of the South Florida pop rock five-piece band, appreciate Bakersfield. During the Decaydance/Columbia Records band’s very first tour in 2008, Hey Monday played at the Bakersfield Dome and it was there that Gentile noticed the crowd’s reaction.
“The thing about Bakersfield is that it’s a special place for us to play because on our first tour ever with the Cab on the Why So Serious? Tour, it was the first show we played where kids actually sang along with our songs.”
Gentile added how Hey Monday’s March 25 Alternative Press Tour performance at the Bakersfield Dome went compared to their first show in Bakersfield, “We played there (the Bakersfield Dome) for the first time since that show over a year and half ago, and kids were awesome. It was a great show.”
Hey Monday formed in late 2007 as lead vocalist and co-lyricist Cassadee Pope, 20, finished high school, according to Gentile.
“All of us were in different local bands . those bands broke up and Cassadee [Pope] and I started Hey Monday and we asked [rhythm guitarist] Alex [Lipshaw] to join and we had a different drummer at the time, Elliot [James], who quit, so we asked Pat [McKenzie] to play for us [after James left in September 2009].”
Gentile also talked about the band’s search for a bass player.
“We needed a bass player that could sing backup vocals well. We got into contact with Michael “Jersey” Moriarity through mutual friends. He used to intern at Columbia Records and a friend that we know through the label and management told us about him.”
Gentile added how the first sessions went with Moriarity.
“He came down [to Florida] from New Jersey and just jammed with him and vibed really well . so it just worked. That’s how Hey Monday came together.”
Gentile later went into detail about former drummer Elliot James’ departure.
“Music is awesome and everybody loves playing it, but touring is a whole other level and some people are just not cut out for it. There’s a lot of sacrificing, you don’t get to see your loved ones.”
One of Hey Monday’s biggest influences, according to Gentile, was San Diego’s Blink 182 and other pop punk artists.
“Blink 182 was a big influence on all of us. I remember growing up, before [we] started writing [our] own songs we would all play in bands that would cover Blink 182 and Good Charlotte.”
Gentile added, “They’ve [Blink 182] always been a huge influence on our writing.”
“All of us grew up loving and listening to New Found Glory, Green Day, Something Corporate and a lot of those Drive-Thru [Records] bands like Midtown, stuff like that.”
Gentile does not stray far from what he and the band listened to when they were younger.
“All of us are really hook-orientated, pop-driven music followers. We like music that’s catchy, that’s going to grab your attention. We always gravitate toward that pop rock music. That’s what we grew up listening to, that’s what we still listen to and that’s what we love to play.”
Gentile went on to describe the way simple hooks in songs appeal to him.
“All those bands, if you listen to those songs, they’re so simple but there’s so much dynamic to it. It’s a lot harder to write a simple song that is going to have something for everybody in it.”
Gentile said that the Goo Goo Dolls and Matchbox Twenty influenced the band and that Michelle Branch influenced Pope.
“That’s [Branch’s music] one of Cassadee’s [Pope] huge, huge, huge influences and that influence comes out a lot more on this new record.”
Hey Monday’s follow-up album to their 2008 debut, “Hold on Tight,” is set to be released in mid-June, according to reports.
Gentile commented on the name of the band’s second full-length album.
“There’s nothing official. There’s been a couple names tossed around but we don’t have a name for the new album yet.”
As of early April, the band has stated the name of their sophomore album will be named “Beneath It All.”
When asked how difficult it is for a band to tour in today’s music business, Gentile responded, “It’s hard, especially the way the music industry is right now with album sales and everybody always downloading music . it used to be huge revenue for a band to make money off of their album sales. Kids don’t buy albums anymore – it’s all on the Internet.”
Yet, Gentile had optimistic words about Hey Monday’s fans.
“We have incredible fans and supportive fans that will come out to shows and buy merchandise. It’s like hustling: What you put in is what you get out.”
Gentile added, “We feel that incredible fan base, even with a really shitty economy, kids are always there backing us and supporting us to make sure we have enough gas to make it to the next state.”
He added with a realistic view, “It does affect us, but you’re a touring musician and you’re not in it for the money – for the love of playing your music in a different city every night with some of your best friends.”
Being on tour with a female singer with four males can be challenging, but Gentile sees no difference in Pope compared to the rest of the guys in Hey Monday.
“We don’t look at it like that. Yeah, she’s a girl and we’re four guys but it’s like four or five best friends. Granted, things will get said sometimes but we are respectful of one another and we’ve been together so long you know what to do and what not to do around certain people. Honestly, we’re so used to being around each other. It’s like five people living together: a family.”