Laguna Hills’ My Favorite Band will be releasing a remastered version of their album, Monkey Business, in January 2026 to celebrate the record’s twenty-fifth anniversary. My Favorite Band will drop a song each month leading up to the release. Along with a complete remaster of the album’s twelve tracks, this updated version will include some unreleased demos and live tracks.
The first song being released is “Questions,” two minutes of fun, riffy pop punk that will leave you clamoring for more. We were able to talk to Neal Malik, Justin Malik, and Adam Plost about their time in the band and the rollout of the remastered version of Monkey Business.
How did you guys form?
Adam Plost: The band was formed by Justin Malik and Chris Patti. Neal and I joined shortly after.
Neal Malik: My brother, Justin, and his best friend from elementary school, Chris, were in a ska band together in high school. After they graduated, half the band left for college. Around the same time, my best friend and I wanted to start a punk band. I had started taking guitar lessons, and my friend was teaching himself to play bass. I asked Justin and Chris if they wanted to form a band with us. We started by playing covers in my parents’ garage.
Chris sang vocals and played bass. My friend just learned to play the bass guitar. Justin played guitar, so we had two bassists and two guitar players. The drummer from Chris and Justin’s band rounded us out. We started writing our own songs and played a couple of parties, but I wanted to play real clubs. We had a falling out with our drummer. We sent out a print advertisement and hung flyers around town looking for a drummer. That’s when we got the call from Adam.
He played guitar and drums and lived in the next town over. We had him come over and we played some of our original songs. He’ll be the first to admit this, so this isn’t a slight against Adam, but he’s a much more talented guitar player. When he tried out to be our new drummer, it didn’t click. When he played our songs on guitar, Adam started improvising and riffing and adding these crazy melodic lead lines. We all looked at each other and went, “OK, he has to be in our band.” Justin had actually started taking drum lessons recently and said that he’d fill in on the drums.
Who came up with the name?
Neal Malik: Our second bassist (not Chris) came up with the name. We were driving around, excited about our new band and trying to come up with names. We bounced ideas back and forth: The Undesirables, Not Wanted—you know, self-deprecating, kinda punk-sounding—how we felt most girls our age saw us. At one point, he said, “I got it! My Favorite Band!” I thought it was genius; I could see the branding opportunities right away. I think Chris hated it from the beginning, though. He always wanted to change our name, but it stuck.
What bands were you listening to when you wrote the Monkey Business?
Adam Plost: I personally was listening to a lot of Fat and Epitaph bands. No Use For A Name, NOFX, Lagwagon, Millencolin, but a lot of Monkey Business was heavily influenced with more of a pop-punk sound like Blink-182, Less Than Jake, and Green Day.
Justin Malik: I was mostly listening to Less Than Jake, No Use For a Name, Bigwig, and Home Grown
Neal Malik: For me, I was really into punk bands that sounded tight and technical: Slick Shoes, Rufio, and Strung Out. Nu metal started to become a thing, so I dabbled in Slipknot. New Found Glory’s self-titled album had just come out, and I remember being blown away by its sound; it was like I could feel the band’s live energy through the speakers. The mix sounded perfect: the guitar and bass tones, the vocals, the drums—everything sounded huge. I wanted our album to sound like that.
Where did you get the title Monkey Business?
Adam Plost: It was our first time recording in a professional studio. Our engineer impressed us during the editing process with all sorts of effects, crossfades, punch-ins, and auto-tune adjustments. We referred to all the studio magic as “The Monkey Business,” and it continued as an ongoing joke.
Tell me about the first single, Questions.
Adam Plost: That was a song written by Chris, it was definitely about a girl for sure.
Where did you guys play in Orange County?
Adam Plost: We played Chain Reaction a lot at Koos Cafe, the Doll Hut, and the Galaxy Theater..
Justin Malik: Chain Reaction was always the best time.
Neal Malik: I don’t know if it’s still there, but our first couple of shows were at a bar called “The Shack”.
What about outside Orange County?
Adam Plost: We played in San Diego often, as well as The Roxy, The Whiskey, and other small L.A. venues.
Neal Malik: We played The Roxy once, which felt amazing—even though it was on a weeknight.
What would you consider the biggest show you played?
Adam Plost: We played with Yellowcard a couple of times just before Ocean Avenue was released, as well as with the bands Link 80, Longfellow, and Dashboard Confessional.
Whose idea was it to remaster the album?
Adam Plost: It was my idea to remix the album, but Neal has also been a big part of it.
Who is working on the remaster?
Adam Plost: Rory Carruthers is working on the remaster. He was the engineer on my Christmas album as well and the ex-owner of Gaia Project Records which no longer exists.
Are there any shows planned or anything planned beyond the release of the album?
Neal Malik: We’ve casually talked about having a reunion at some point. I think Adam has a story about someone recognizing him from his days in My Favorite Band and asking about a reunion show. I would love to play a reunion show.
Adam Plost: We would love to get together and play sometime, but we live in three separate states, and it’s highly unlikely.
