Ten albums deep and still refusing to play it safe, The Maine’s Joy Next Door is an autobiographical record built on raw instinct and full-band chemistry. Drummer Pat Kirch opens up on defying expectations, staying true to the music, and why happiness isn’t somewhere you arrive at…

Words by Cydnee Brook | April 07, 2026

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A double-digit feels big; no matter if you’re turning 10 or you’re on your tenth time making an album, it feels like a bookend to something, but definitely not the close of the book. And that’s where we stand with The Maine, right before the release of their 10th studio album.

I had the opportunity to sit down with drummer Pat Kirch while on the band’s headline “I Love You… But I Chose The Maine” tour via video chat, and it becomes clear pretty quickly that “Joy Next Door”, the Arizona five-piece’s tenth studio album, out April 10th, wasn’t made to tick boxes. It was made to mean something.

“It feels like the completion of something,” Pat says of reaching the ten-album milestone. “I didn’t think we would get to this many records. I don’t even know many bands that have made this many albums.” But rather than resting on the weight of that legacy, the band have used it as a reason to push harder. “The fans make it feel like it’s album one,” he adds. “So it’s very exciting.”

That energy is baked into the record’s DNA. Unlike the conveyor-belt approach Pat describes in modern album-making writing, with a different producer each day and letting a label pick whichever songs perform best on TikTok, “Joy Next Door” was recorded start to finish, in track order, with the full band in the room. “There was never one conversation about, ‘oh, this one could be the single,’” he says. “We just were trying to make an album that the five of us were absolutely in love with.”

The result is something that feels unmistakably, defiantly theirs, and their singles prove this: “Die To Fall”, “Quiet Part Loud” and “Palms” are all very different songs in their own right, spread across the album, while still holding that The Maine energy throughout that links them. With each album cycle carrying a colour, this is their “green era”. They’d chosen green because it comes naturally, and then deliberately left imperfections intact on the green grass of the album cover. As this represents who they are, letting each member’s individual touch stay in rather than smooth it out in post. “The way Jared plays guitar, the way his right hand hits the strings, that’s very him,” Pat explains. “If you edit it to all hell on a computer, it could have been me playing. And I don’t even know how to play guitar.”

Where the band’s previous self-titled album cast an observational eye on social media anxiety and the world around them, “Joy Next Door” turns entirely inward. Pat describes it as an autobiographical record, with every song written from John O’Callaghan’s internal perspective. “It’s not a concept album,” he clarifies, “but it’s like these are the things that have been on my mind for the past couple of years.”

What does he hope listeners take away once they’ve heard it through? Pat doesn’t hesitate.

“I hope it gives them a sense of peace that other people feel the way they feel. That happiness isn’t a destination. It’s somewhere that you’re always trying to reach for, and that’s okay.”

Ten albums in, across 19 years, The Maine are still saying exactly what their fans need to hear and getting better with every release.Make sure you get your copy of “Joy Next Door” at themaineband.com and catch them on their upcoming European tour:

Joy Next Door is out April 10 via Photo Finish Records

Catch them on the following dates later this year:

The Maine European Tour 2026

September

17 Cologne Stadthalle

18 Amsterdam Paradiso

19 Berlin Kesselhaus

20 Luxembourg City den Atelier

23 Glasgow SWG3 TV Studio

24 Birmingham O2 Institute

25 London Roundhouse

26 Manchester Academy