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ALTerEGO’26

“On The Red Carpet”

January 23rd, 2026

After being cancelled last year due to the CA wildfires, ALTer EGO returned in a big way and it was definitely worth the wait. Green Day, Twenty One Pilots, Cage the Elephant, Sublime, Good Charlotte, Gigi Perez, Mt. Joy, and Almost Monday all gave incredible performances onstage, which we have already shared a review of. But OCMN was also hiding backstage to capture some intel from the artists – and some surprise guests – before they went into rock show mode.

Rock and Roll Hall of Famers Green Day had an amazing 2025 headlining Coachella, releasing a deluxe edition of their latest album, “Saviors,” and the 25-year celebration of “Warning.”

For 2026, the trio of Billie Joe Armstrong, Mike Dirnt, Tré Cool will give us “New Years Rev,” a “coming-of-age” movie that follows a band of three teenagers traveling to LA expecting to open for Green Day.

Of course, it was also announced last week Green Day will open the Super Bowl on February 8th. With the game being played in their hometown area Santa Clara, the guys are sure to keep things free from the “MAGA agenda.”

Also, congrats to Mike Dirnt on being honored with a lifetime achievement award from Bass Magazine last week at The Observatory!

Twenty One Pilots is another band who had a monster huge 2025. Their worldwide, sold-out tour is still headed towards Europe as they promote their albums “Clancy” and “Breach.” Fans will get an inside look at the tour thanks to their upcoming concert film, “More Than We Even Imagined,” which hits theaters February 26th and features their Mexico City show.

Tyler Joseph and Josh Dun – who became a first-time dad last month – are also still getting praise for their Rock and Roll Hall of Fame performance of the White Stripes’ “Seven Nation Army,” which they performed at ALTer EGO to the delight of the crowd.

Cage the Elephant… I mean, they opened for Oasis in 2025, so what more could be said? Matt Shultz, Brad Shultz, Daniel Tichenor, Jared Champion, Nick Bockrath, and Matthan Minster have just finished up their album cycle for “Neon Pill” with their own tour, Ohana Fest, and those little shows with Oasis – including the Rose Bowl. The guys will play a few festivals in 2026, but have earned some time off.

Perhaps one of the busiest bands of 2025 that will likely be busier in 2026 is Sublime. Jakob Nowell, Eric Wilson, and Bud Gaugh had a number one hit last year with their new track, “Ensenada,” and a new album, “Til the Sun Explodes,” is due this year. Nowell confirmed it is still on track: “Yeah, it’s the plan for sure. We’re going in and doing some finishing touches this next week. And we’re really excited about the material.” Then he laughed and said, “We’ve heard from scientists that it will happen one day.”

The guys have also announced their Me Gusta Festival, launching May 9th in Texas, and “accidentally” let it slip about their cruise with Nowell shouting, “Can we talk about the cruise yet, Joe, or no? We’re not doing a cruise. If we were, it probably would happen this year, and it would be rad. I told them we’re not doing it, Joe. They don’t suspect it.”

(Photo by Jesse Grant/Getty Images for iHeartRadio)

Fortunately, they have since “officially” announced it: The Sublime Reef Madness Cruise will set sail November 15th through the 19th, depart from Miami and head to Great Stirrup Cay, Bahamas on Norwegian Jewel.

The cruise will include two headline performances from Sublime, including “a front-to-back performance of their iconic self-titled album and a greatest hits set.” There will also be performances from Yelawolf, The Elovaters, Common Kings, Amigo The Devil, Long Beach Dub Allstars, DJ Muggs of Cypress Hill, Codefendants, Jakobs Castle, Strange Case, and more. The first round of presale sign-ups are available now and the general on sale begins February 17th.

Good Charlotte appeared at ALTer EGO and it was surprisingly their first LA show in 10 years. Joel Madden has his various jobs (podcast, “Inkmaster”), as does his twin brother Benji (artist management), but they have made time for new music. The gents were joined by Paul Thomas and Billy Martin onstage to play tracks off their 2025 album, “Motel Du Cap,” their first album in seven years.

In addition to their own album, they recently collabed with Yellowcard on a new version of their number one song, “Bedroom Posters.” After an Australian tour, Good Charlotte will be back in the US this summer as they take on a co-headline tour across North America with Avenged Sevenfold.

If you have not heard of Gigi Perez, you must acquaint yourself pronto. Perez began releasing music in 2018, but after the devastating loss of her sister in 2020, her song “Celene” went viral, leading to an opening slot for Coldplay in Florida.

I asked Perez about the first song she fell in love with and she said, “I have a vivid memory of hearing ‘Turning Tables’ by Adele. I think it was one of the first CDs that my dad had bought. That, and I really remember the Hilary Duff CD, ‘Metamorphosis.’ It was the ‘Let the Rainfall Down,’ and the Adele ‘Turning Tables.’ I remember being 12 and being like, I fully thought I could feel the weight of heartbreak as a 12-year-old. (chuckling) It’s crazy that Adele could do that to me.”

But as some of her Perez’s own songs are written from real adult heartbreak, I asked if it was therapeutic to go through it via songwriting. “Absolutely. I think all of the songs that I’ve written, no matter how insanely difficult a feeling may be, when I’m able to articulate it, the way that I feel,” she stated. “A lot of my emotions feel like, even though I can understand them through words and just overall, unpack them, it’s something different when I can do it through a song.”

Perez went on, “It’s almost like it satisfies, and it’s like a certain puzzle that unlocks my brain. I think even just with the really hard songs from my album, ‘Fable’ was a song that honestly, I can’t believe I even could describe it into a song. I could have probably a two-hour conversation about it. How do I take something that literally takes up all of my time and my whole entire thought? And how do I concise that? And it just happened. And so, absolutely, I think that there’s a healing element of that, of just being able to do that therapeutically for me and then getting to share it with others is also the aspect of community. It changes everything and how I cope with.”

Last year was insane for Perez. She released her debut album, “At the Beach, in Every Life,” her “Sailor Song” went mega viral, she rocked the stage at Lollapalooza, appeared on “Jimmy Kimmel Live,” and collaborated with Mumford and Sons, Alex Warren, and Mt. Joy. The insanity will keep up in 2026 as she heads to Australia next month (and will perform with her friends in Mt. Joy), and returns to the US as one of the acts at Coachella.

Perez’s friends in Mt. Joy have a busy year ahead as well. Yes, they are headed to Australia, then a whole mess of US festivals this summer, including Bonnaroo and Bottlerock, plus two nights at the iconic Red Rocks, and two nights at the legendary Greek.

Matt Quinn, Sam Cooper, Sotiris Eliopoulos, Jackie Miclau, and Michael Byrnes dropped “Hope We Have Fun” last summer and will spend 2026 celebrating 10 years of being a band. Quinn is excited because, “We’re just starting. I’m excited to get back out and play music with these guys because I’ve been sitting in my basement staring at the wall,” he joked.

Mt. Joy said they are working on some new music before hitting the road and when I asked about their first song loves, answers ranged from “Gravity” by John Mayer to “Ripple” by the Grateful Dead to “Brain Stew” by Green Day.

Perhaps the most energetic and nicest bunch on the red carpet was Almost Monday. Dawson Daugherty, Luke Fabry, and Cole Clisby exclaimed that it was their first red carpet and they seemed the revel in it. The guys admitted they were in disbelief about performing at ALTer EGO as they had covered most of the bands when they were in high school.

Almost Monday’s debut studio album, “Dive,” did the standard release in 2024, with a deluxe release in 2025. They toured the globe in support and are headed off to China next, then will “finish up some music.”

I asked what item they HAD to have on tour and they agreed headphones and AirPods. As for what the wildest event over the past year had been, Daugherty said, “Honestly, tonight. Really, tonight. We were sitting there and the spinning [stage] after Cage the Elephant is just so crazy. So we’re just really stoked.”

There were several surprise guests in the press area, including two of our favorite OC legends. Tony Kanal and Adrian Young from No Doubt would introduce Green Day to the stage later in the evening, but before that, they chatted with us.

I asked the two what it was like to work on songs for so long to complete albums, and then release those songs for us to love. Can they still love and enjoy them too? Kanal answered, “I think we get to enjoy it through our kids. Our kids are growing up and they’re learning about all the albums and stuff. Now they get to see us play live. That’s a whole different thing; seeing it through their eyes is amazing. I never thought that would happen in my life with our music.”

Young added, “It’s beautiful. There’s actually points where I need to tell them I can’t listen to this anymore.” He chuckled and continued, “I need to take a break because it’s just over and over and over again. I appreciate it. I’m glad that the kids like it, because if they didn’t, I would be a farmer.” This drew laughs from us all.

We discussed their upcoming May and June residency at The Sphere in Las Vegas and I asked about the details they could share. “We’ve been preparing for three or four months. We’re deep in it,” Kanal explained. “We’ve been rehearsing. I found myself in the basement just getting ready. But we’ve been working on this amazing thing with team, putting the show together. And I can’t wait to see what’s going to be the rest of the conversation,” he went on.

“It’s such a different way to build a show compared to the tour,” Young said. “And I won’t give up song titles, but there are going to be a couple… I’m looking forward to playing a few of the old ones that we haven’t played in decades.”

The gents brought their kids and wives to the show and said it felt odd since their lives are very suburban now. I asked, with such famous faces, can they just pop over to a store like Target or go shopping without being recognized. Kanal laughed, “Not in Vegas in May and June!”

Finally, we spoke to Sugar Ray frontman, Mark McGrath, who jumped into some No Doubt photos and personified joy in human form.

After making sure to introduce himself and ask my name (which is not common for press), McGrath took my ribbing in stride. I said he had a career in music, TV, this, that, and the other thing, so I wondered if he ever just sat down and relaxed.

McGrath laughed and said, “If you talk to my wife and kid, she’s like, ‘Dad’s always in his robe and hanging around and lying in the bath.’ I move around a lot. It’s probably what the public sees and what dates are out there, tours are out there. When I’m at home, my dog, a rope, Lakers on TV, and I couldn’t be happier.”

He chuckled and went on, “I’m a lot lazier than you think I am, but I do enjoy every opportunity. I’ve just been so lucky in this business to do things I shouldn’t really be doing – hosting TV shows, hosting radio shows. I think I’ve spread myself thin and where people will have me, at least. I try to walk through every door in every new opportunity, try and check it out. Challenging yourself is a good part of this business, too. Staying around, the more things you do, the more people you meet, hopefully that’ll help with your longevity.”

We joked about parenting teens and I asked if his kids understand how cool he is or is he lame because he is dad? In his energetic manner, he said his kids will say, “Drop me off a block away. Drop me off three streets away with your frost tips.” Again we laughed about some current trends, and he continued, “It’s a whole new dialect and language, but they’re really cool. I caught my son singing a Sugar Ray song the other day, and I’m like, ‘Got you.’ He said, ‘I love your songs, dad.’ It hit me in my heart. They’re good kids. I’m trying to raise good human beings, and they’re both there.”

I asked if there was any Sugar Ray new music on the horizon since I heard someone mention it nearby and McGrath explained, “I think if you’re in a band, you do two things. You play live and you’re always writing songs. If you ever want to ask someone, if they say they’re a songwriter, then let me see your voice memos on your phone. If they don’t have 1,000 bad ideas on their voice memos, they’re not a songwriter.” We laughed and he continued, “I’m always writing songs. Now, we’ve been fortunate to have some hit songs, so we’ll put them in the set. We try to introduce new songs every now and then and if they’re good enough, we stack a couple, we’ll put out something there. But you know, people want to hear the hits, and so do I.” He summed it up with, “We know why people are showing up, and if you want to hear the hits, you’re going to hear them.”

What an absolute delight McGrath – and really, everyone at ALTer EGO – was to speak with. How can ALT 987 top it in 2027? I’m sure they are already working on it…

TO FOLLOW

SID 260122 | JIMMY ALVAREZ | EDITOR