Ever since Arizona emo group The Maine first hit the Top 40 with its 2008 debut album “Can’t Stop Won’t Stop,” the band’s goal always was to look out for its future, drummer Patrick Kirch says.
“I think we’ve always looked up to Wilco or bands that have had a long history and a catalog of albums,” Kirch says. “I mean, obviously, sure, it’d be great to, like, be Metallica or something, and be the biggest band in the world. But our thought process was always down the line.
“So I think the reason that we’ve been able to be here for so long is that we’ve continued to push ourselves as a band and not make the album that we think people want to hear. To go where we want, and the fans that want that type of thing are very connected to us.
“And we spend a lot of time trying to build unique experiences with fans that I think keep them wanting to come back.”
Nearly 20 years after that debut album, The Maine is still challenging itself, as shown by its album “Joy Next Door,” released in April.
Similarly, The Maine will be changing it up by playing a two-set show – one set acoustic, the other full rock band – when it performs at 6:30 p.m. Nov. 11 at Archer Music Hall in Allentown.
Alternative rock band In Color will open the show.
Tickets, at $55 for general admission standing, are available at archermusichall.com or at the box office at 939 Hamilton St., Allentown.
“I think our big thing with this album was wanting to really just make what we want to hear as a band,” Kirch says in a call from his home in Arizona. “Which we always do, but I think it’s so easy, even if it’s, like, a couple percent, to just get the pressures in the back of your mind of, like, ‘Is this gonna go over well with the fans, or is this gonna go over well at the concerts?’
“I think that our whole focus this time was we never thought about or talked about ‘What’s the single?’ or ‘What’s this?’ We just made what we felt we wanted to hear right now.
“And then the other big thing was just really wanting to hear the five of us on the album – to not overly computerize and edit all the drum takes or the guitars, just to really be able to hear what it’s like when the five of us are in a room.”
That approach gave The Maine success in the 2010s. After its debut, it produced six straight albums that charted in the Top 15 on the Alternative chart – four of which also hit the Top 40 on Billboard’s overall albums chart.
Its 2010 song “Inside of You” from the band’s second album, “Black and White,” hit the Top 15 on the Rock Digital Song Sales chart and “Right Girl” from the same disc hit No. 25 on the same chart.
More recently, the band has had even more success – hitting No. 8 on the Alternative Singles chart with the 2022 song “Loved You a Little (featuring Taking Back Sunday & Charlotte Sands),” No. 16 with “Sticky,” and the Top 25 in 2023 with both “Blame” and “Thoughts I Have While Lying in Bed.”
“Joy Next Door” is the band’s 10th album, “so there’s a lot of history there,” Kirch says. “I think while we embrace that, I think for the time period that we were in the studio making the record, it was important to not have that in the back of our heads, because all the albums that we’ve made before, there’s a lot of pressure to top something.
“So I think it was just about making whatever we wanted in this exact moment.”
The Maine has made several other musical diversions in recent years.
In 2025, it released “Dyed,” a compilation album that takes listeners on a journey through its evolution over its first 15 years.
“We always have tons of songs that are in some type of half-finished form, and things that we really loved, but just didn’t get around to it, or at the time it didn’t fit,” Kirch says.
“So we just thought, ‘Let’s take a half-finished idea from every album and complete it,’ and the idea was kind of to have it low-pressure because it’s like not an official album and the ideas are kind of already there.
“So it was just a really fun thing to kind of look back at where we were in each album. So basically, the idea is that one of the song ideas is from each of the albums.”
The current tour’s two-set/acoustic-rock format is yet another way for the band to stretch, Kirch says.
“I think a lot of bands at our age, they end up kind of going through the motions, where it’s, like, ‘Oh, let’s just like do the show we’ve been doing all year, so we don’t have to rehearse anymore,’” he says.
Doing an acoustic set means “you definitely have to work at it,” he says. “It’s fun, though, because on stage it’s such a different experience because you don’t have the loud stuff to, like, hide behind, and you kind of hear all the awkward in-betweens.
“And it isn’t so rambunctious between the songs, and that’s something that for us, for our genre, you’re not used to having a crowd that’s a little more tame, and that’s, between songs, it’s like kind of quiet. And you don’t have anything to hide behind.
“So for us, now by doing this, what can we take out of this to then bring to a regular show at some point.”
So what is it like to realize the band is heading toward the 20th anniversary of its founding?
“Insane,” Kirch says. “It really feels like the band just began.
“Obviously, when you really sit down and think about it, I’m like, ‘Oh, that was like a long time ago when we were on the first tour and the first album.’ But the excitement that we have for the band and for doing this is so high that we’re always looking ahead and excited for what we’re gonna do next.
“I mean, the biggest thing for me is it just brings up how thankful we are that the fans have been there this whole time – that there’s people that came to the first tour and are here still. So yeah, we are just so grateful to be able to do this all this time.”
The band’s early days included multiple shows at Allentown’s former Crocodile Rock Cafe, and Kirch says he remembers the venue well – and appreciates its role in the band’s history.
“It feels like there was a time period there – I don’t know, from maybe 2008 to 2012 or something – that we were there all the time,” he says. “And it was definitely one of those [places] where it was always a good show, and even if it was early on the tour, when you’re playing some not-so-good shows, there was a consistency.
“When you went to Croc Rock, it felt like there was kind of a scene there. Like, there were people that were just like going to the shows, regardless of who the bands were, just to kind of be a part of it.
“So yeah, we have a lot of great memories there. And always getting some pizza after the shows, and then getting in the van and headed off to the next place.
“When we had the opportunity to come back to Allentown, we jumped at it.”
