Album Review: Me, Myself And Something Else by Call Me Malcolm

When Call Me Malcolm released the incredible I Was Broken When You Got Here in 2018 it really put them on the UK DIY punk rock map. During the next year and a half they would play Manchester Punk Festival, Rebellion Festival, Boomtown Festival, Level Up Festival and Punk Rock Holiday in Slovenia, as well as countless gigs at DIY venues across the country including a big tour with The Slackers. During that eighteen months they somehow also found time to write and record their third album, Me, Myself And Something Else.

I Was Broken When You Got Here focussed heavily on the band’s internal mental health problems. Me, Myself And Something Else, which is set for release on the 15th of May, continues with this theme but expands it by talking about what it's like to go through day to day life with your mental health. Never a band to shy away from speaking out about some heavy topics, the album immediately felt darker than their previous efforts but the high energy ska punk and incredible vocal displays from Lucias, Mark and Lewis remain and are sounding better than ever.

The album begins with a news bulletin parody intro. This is a theme throughout the album and ties in with one of the tracks that we will speak about later. The first song on the album was also the first single released from the album. Titled Wake Up, The Monster Said, the track is everything you would expect from Malcolm if you're a long time fan or, if you're new to the band, it's the perfect introduction. It starts out with a guitar riff that almost sounds like a warning siren before those brilliant horns come in and the album really gets going. It's a fast paced track that really explodes during the chorus. The band have always had a great knack for writing a big chorus and it's clear that's going to continue on Me, Myself And Something Else. What You Burn is about 24 hour news channels and how bad they can be for your mental health because of all of the fear and anger that it showcases. Given that I'm writing this review during the second week of the government enforced lockdown in the UK due to COVID-19, I expect there will be a lot of people who will relate to this song right now. Hour after hour of bad news and despair is not good for your head. The band brilliantly jump between melody and tempo throughout the track. Fast paced upstrokes for the verse, a slower and emotional pre-chorus and a sing-along moment for the chorus. It's well structured and takes you on a wonderful ride. One of Malcolm's big strengths has always been that they basically have three lead vocalists in their band, this works wonderfully during this track as Mark takes over from Lucias to sing the bridge. It's a little thing but really adds something to the track.

The fourth track is titled I Bet They're Asleep In New York. My first thoughts on hearing the song was that they've been listening to a lot of Random Hand before the writing the song. There's a heaver skacore tone to the track and I love it. The intro is bound to incite some pretty wild skanking that I can't way to see. Brilliantly utilising the vocalists again, Lucias again takes us through the verse before Mark delivers an absolute masterclass on the chorus. This is one of my highlights on the entire album. During the second half of the song, things are slowed right down and Malcolm step into the reggae/dub world to deliver a breakdown that fans of the RX Bandits will adore before finishing off with a bang. This is a ska punk banger of the highest order. Track five, Last One Standing Loses, sees Lewis make his first appearance in the vocal booth. This is classic Call Me Malcolm, channelling the third wave sound we all grew up on. It's a poppier number that will get a crowd bouncing around the venue. The song is about trying to find a way to survive in spite of the of the helplessness feelings of the people around you as well as yourself. The line "I'm tired of saying goodbye to best friends that I just met." This seems like a throwback to All My Nameless Friends and how you lose the high from that night out with all your "nameless friends."

Also, Spiders kicks off the second part of Me, Myself and Something Else. This section of the album takes more of an active approach to dealing with mental health, jumping between hope and hopelessness as the band look for the answers to their questions. Also, Spiders is about the natural urge to stay silent when you know you're struggling and battling against that. This is a hugely relatable song for anyone who has dealt with any form of mental health issue and will hopefully encourage more people to tell others what they're going through. This is one of the more urgent feeling songs on the album and it gives the opening of this second act a energetic start. A Beginner's Guide To Fighting Back is a song that stands against institutions that are supposed to help people but ultimately fail and make you feel worse. This is one of those songs that really make you feel something and really care about the message of the song. The track is packed with wonderfully moving and inspiring lyrics, I could list them all but that would make this review longer than it's already going to be so I'll just pick this one – "the most beautiful people are beautifully broken." That's a doozy of a line.

The eighth track is a breaking news interlude before ninth song NowsirawariswoN (hardest title to write ever) begins. It's about how being diagnosed for an illness isn't a cure. I really enjoyed the way in which Lucias delivers the vocals on the track. It's a short and stabby approach that does a fine job of keeping up with the quick upstrokes. Another brilliantly skankable tune that will also have you shouting the chorus back at the stage with all the passion and might that you have. -24 Months Only- also takes aim at the institutions that are supposed to help us. Starting out with some huge horns, really giving the song a feeling of pomp that makes you pay all of the attention. I loved how big this entire song sounds, producer Oz Craggs of Hidden Track Studios has done a cracking job on the entire album. There's an anger in the song that I've never heard from the band in the past and it's fantastic. I Met All The Beasts In Your Thoughts is about how the people closest to you can be suffering and keeping it a secret. This is a track that seems to build and build, threatening to explode a couple of times before really doing so with Lucias showing just what a great singer he is. The second part of the album is completed with sunshine-inducing reggae/ska track Please Still Try. Despite being such a sunny sounding track, the band say that this is actually the darkest song on Me, Myself And Something Else. It's about the hidden darkness of suicide with the upbeat tone of the track representing the forced smile mental health sufferers put on for the world.

The third and final part of the album is about finding hope. I Am A Disaster Movie, which is also the penultimate song of the album, is next. During the opening lyrics Lucias sings "so we're trapped, in our third act, this turning point is where I fight", this is a sign of self discovery and revelation and what to expect from the final two songs. The song starts as a ska punk track but gradually grows into more of a full on punk rock track with added horns. This adds all sorts of energy and urgency as the track progresses. It's an impressive feat of songwriting that, this deep into the album, I still find myself wanting to lose my mind to every track on it. Lucias, along with bassist Trevor and drummer Baxter really shred on this song. It's a delight. The final proper track on Me, Myself And Something Else is titled Sleepwalk With Me. Given Call Me Malcolm's history of epic final tracks, I was expecting big things. They obviously didn't disappoint. The song is about people close to us giving us hope to keep on going and how, even when things are at their worst, there are still people who will know what you're going through. The track is completed with some "whoa-oh" backing vocals that perfectly bookend the album as they also appear Wake Up, The Monster Said. I love things like this. There's such a feel of hope and optimism on the song, it leaves you feeling like things might be okay or at the very least start to feel better – that's so important. The album is concluded with one last news bulletin with another tongue-in-cheek skit showing the fear that the media install upon us with the most mundane stories.

I have to admit that the first time I listened to Me, Myself And Something Else I had felt a little underwhelmed. It wasn't that I disliked it, it just wasn't I Was Broken When You Got Here. Then I listened again and I had a realisation. This isn't Broken, this is Something Else. I think it's important to separate the two as much as possible on your first listen of the album. Broken is a masterpiece but so is Something Else in its own unique way. It's a darker and heavier album by a band who, despite releasing the best ska punk album of the past decade, continue to push themselves and develop as songwriters. I must have listened to the album about ten times before they announced what song would be the single and I genuinely couldn't have guessed which song would be picked, they're all so strong and a great advert for what to expect from the album. I enjoyed the journey we were taken on during the album, it's clear that a lot of thought and attention to detail has gone into the album. No band has had two album of the year "awards" from me since CPRW's inception. There's an extremely good chance that it might happen this year.

Pre-order Me, Myself And Something Else from the band here and listen to Wake Up, The Monster Said on Bandcamp here.

Like Call Me Malcolm on Facebook here.

This review was written by Colin Clark.