Back in early 2020, I was saddened to hear the news that Dutch pop punk band, Call It Off, would be breaking up after one final show. And as you can probably guess, COVID pushed that show out quite a bit. I found out that the final show happened earlier this month. And just like that, one of the most important bands in my life was now gone. To my knowledge, the band's following was on the smaller side, but those that were there got served up some of the best and diverse pop punk songs you'll ever find. With that in mind, I thought I'd take a look back at my history with them, and give others a look at what I consider one of the best punk acts of the 2010s.
Where It All Began
The year was 2013; I had just started my junior year of high school, and the number of bands I was listening to consistently was still really small. I get up one morning before school and decide to check my email, which greets me with a YouTube recommendation that says "We saw you like Blink-182, so why not check out this video." That wound up being the music video for a song called "Do It All Again" by you guess it, Call It Off. It really was the start of something amazing; back in the day, it took a lot for me to really get into a band, and there were a lot of times where I would start listening to a band, but only like one or two songs. Thankfully, this wasn't the same case.
I took a whim on the video and almost instantly fell in love with the song. It was catchy, Maurice Bolier's voice sounded so unique, and the guitars hit notes in an arrangement that sounded so different for pop punk. After this, I was dying to hear more, so I looked them up on iTunes and bought the Lovers EP that "Do It All Again" was on. In terms of music, it was one of the best decisions I've ever made. Every song on the EP was absolutely amazing; from calling out the realities of western 9-5 in "The American Lie", to the escape from reality in "What She Said". It was an EP full of meaningful lyrics, catchy guitar riffs, and melodies that took so much inspiration from bands like Green Day, the previously mentioned Blink-182, and Alkaline Trio, but also stood on their own to make an instantly recognizable sound. And keep in mind that this was their first release. Little did I know what was coming in the following years.
The True Epiphany
So about half a year goes by without hearing anything new from Call It Off. In that time, I had listened to Lovers more times than I could count, and was still searching for anything else that they might've put out. I even found another pop punk band using the same name, but eventually realized that it wasn't them (their EP was still pretty good though). And then, my persistence was rewarded; the morning of Easter 2014, I go to their iTunes page, and they have a new EP. This time around, I bought the EP without previewing any of the songs ahead of purchasing, and words can't even describe how blown away I was.
Don't get me wrong; Lovers was amazing, but Liars (this EP right here) completely blew my mind! To this day, I have never heard an EP that was this fucking good. It opens with my personal favorite song by the band, "Famous Last Words". Every time I hear this song, I get chills. The guitars are blaring and memorable, and the vocal melodies are absolute magic. I honestly think I could listen to this song on repeat forever just to hear "final words before I leave this town" close it out. But if I did that, I wouldn't be able to hear the rest of the EP. Lyrically, Liars addresses a lot of broken and conflicted relationships, and uses the perfect melodies in each song to deliver their messages. From longing for the end in "I Don't Wanna", to the heartbreak of "Call Me", it really showed both sides of the coin when a couple breaks up.
Moving On To Albums
With two insanely awesome EPs under their belts, it was time for Call It Off to go bigger. One year after Liars, they combined the EPs together for their first full-length album; Lovers & Liars. Now I know what you're thinking; "They just put together their EPs. That's not any new music." Well, something tells me that they might've thought the same, so they decided to sweeten the deal. So not only were we getting the EPs together, but we also got not one, but two brand new songs!
"Forget You" gave us a narrative of just wanting to erase all the arguments of an ended relationship combined with a killer opening guitar riff. And then you have "Forward or Crazy", which was a wake up call to getting over being sad. Writing this blog now, I'm starting to realize how well this song combines elements of pop punk and post hardcore, a lot like how Box Car Racer did in the early 2000s. Utilizing fast and slow tempos, loud and soft melodies, and some absolutely killer drumming from Sergei, it makes for such a great closer. With all the pieces put together, I had what I now consider my 3rd favorite album of all time (just behind Green Day's American Idiot and Alkaline Trio's Good Mourning). But with that said, I want the next section to be the one that people remember.
The Big One
It wasn't until the breakup that I realized how important this next album would be. I was in college by the time Call It Off put out their next release; a little song by the name of "Anesthesia". The guitar riffs in this song felt so magical, and the lyrics told a touching love story of someone that is always by your side when you need them the most. One big reason this song stands out to me is because I actually wound up using it in a presentation I did for my public speaking class. The presentation was about convincing people to check out lesser-known music, and while some of the other bands I showed were of more interest to people, I was so happy to squeeze this song in.
So by now, it's 2016, and we start to get social media teasers of something new being released in April. And then all of a sudden, more posts come in that say "we actually need to delay our announcement because of another announcement," which wound up being that they signed to Sony Music. Ultimately, this pushed back the announcement until August, but OH MY GOD were we rewarded for waiting. Everyone, I give you "Abandoned":
This song was on a whole 'nother level than anything they had put out before. "Abandoned" was the first song they wrote for their next album, and Maurice and Adrian apparently wrote it while they were drunk. But hey, some bands write their best stuff when they're under the influence (like how Mike Dirnt from Green Day wrote the bass line for "Longview" while he was on acid), and boy, did they write a winner. Each of the band members bring their A-game, from the roaring guitar riffs, to the thumping of the drums, and killer bass line. The lyrics are so on point as well, telling the story of moving on from a partner that only tells lies.
I still remember the first time I heard this song, which was a live-performance they did on a radio show almost a year before they released it (I'll throw that performance here). The second I heard the song, I was instantly hooked by the opening riff and background pianos, and was dying to get a studio version. It really was something magical, and I guess they felt the same since it wound up being the title track for their next album.
The album Abandoned was finally announced at the end of the year, along with another banger, "Death or Glory". We also got the beautiful "Scream Your Heart Out" before the whole album was put in our hands in January of 2017. I'll admit, some of the songs took a little longer to grow on, but doing this retrospective has really made me realize that this album is their crown jewel.
Much like Lovers & Liars, there is not a single bad note on this album, but the leg up that Abandoned has is that it was written with the intention of being an album. Primarily addressing lies in fractured and ending relationships, the way the songs are organized makes it feel like a really complete experience, and in some ways, it feels like a rock opera. From the "Emily" mentioned in the title track getting her own song, to the chorus of "Anesthesia" making a reprise in the bridge of "Over & Over," tons of callbacks make you feel like you're following a beautiful story.
The album ends with "We Will Be Better Tomorrow"; a song divided into various sections much like Queen's "Bohemian Rhapsody" as the radio host in this video says. At times, we get blaring guitars and epic drums, and at other times, we get slow and soft piano pieces, all while being serenaded by Maurice and Adrian singing about brighter horizons after going through all this breakup pain. It's such an epic finale to an absolutely epic album, and if there's anything you take away from this, I hope it's giving this album a spin. I could talk about Abandoned way more if I wanted, but I think I'll leave that to the band themselves with this playlist of track-by-track videos.
A Shift In Style
So this is where we get to a significant shift in Call It Off's sound. After Abandoned marked the band's first releases that were written and recorded while they were on Sony Music. I don't know if it was the new record company influencing their songwriting, but the three singles they put out after Abandoned began to lean much more on pop rock than pop punk. Synthesizers became much more present in their songs and the singing was much more in the spotlight, leaving less room for the instruments. I don't think this was necessarily bad, but for someone that prefers pop punk that leans more on the punk side, it wasn't always my style.
Of the three singles from this era, my favorite was definitely "Maybe I Don't Wanna Know." This song was still a bit more poppy, but compared to "Young" and "Every Little Thing," it had a bit more of an edge. It addresses staying in a relationship even when things aren't working as you'd like them to, and felt that it had a bit more emphasis on instrumental breaks. I also did like the melodies that were used with the synthesizers more than the other songs, and do find myself giving this one a spin on occasion. Again, these songs aren't bad, they're just more pop-centric.
Coming To An End
I was really sad when I heard the news that Call It Off would be breaking up. I had been following their Facebook for new since Liars had come out, and would occasionally comment when they put out music or made announcement. When they announced the final show, I offered my biggest thanks for their music and told them a bit about how it impacted my life. And I got really excited when they responded to my comments, and even suggested I try to attend the show... and then COVID happened. The show got pushed out to this year, and I just didn't feel comfortable getting on a plane again just yet. So ultimately I didn't get to go, which was sad, but on the bright side, we got one last surprise from the band.
In March of 2021, the amazing news broke that they would be putting out one final EP. I was ecstatic to hear this, and was counting down the minutes until it got here. Ultimately, it had been a little while since I checked Facebook for news, but last week, I decided to take a peek and found out that the EP was already out. I could not buy Fare Well fast enough when I found out, and have been listening to it constantly since. This EP really felt like a goodbye, exploring themes of wanting to call a quits and go out with a bang. The most noticeable thing though was the return to their pop punk sound. This was reflected in every song on the EP, with heavier instrumental breaks and some of their catchiest riffs and melodies to date.
I think "Go Home" is my current favorite, with a melody that could fit so well on either of their albums, and lyrics that scream "if we're ending things, let's do it right." It really felt like a song that encompassed the idea of the EP. "Till The End" was probably the most informative about why they chose to end the band. Now obviously, we don't know the exact meaning of these songs without the band telling us, but lyrics like "we were always gonna be a distant memory and now it's finally happening" combined with the context of the EP do speak a lot. But then there's also lyrics like "There's nothing that I wouldn't do again," which is so great to hear and know that they had a blast with all of us.
Looking Back On It All
Even with all the stuff I've talked about, I feel like I still can't describe how important of a band Call It Off has been for me. Just thinking that all of this started from a simple email from YouTube is crazy to me. If not for them I wouldn't go out of my way to find lesser known bands like Far As Hell, Masked Intruder, Left Alone, and so many others. Both Lovers & Liars and Abandoned are gonna go down as perfect albums that I can listen to front to back any day of the week. And on top of that, I also years ago went out of my way to create and add to a Wikipedia page for them.
The whole point of me writing this article was to show everyone this amazing band that I've come to love for their unique sound and catchy songs in their genre. I really hope I was able to do that, because I truly believe that this band was something special, and deserves to be recognized as one of the best in their genre. Beyond sad to see them go, but wishing them all the best in the future!