It’s been talked about before, but in recent years, there have been a lot of really great ska albums released by new US bands. There’s also been quite a few great albums released by UK ska bands recently. We talk to one of those groups today: Call Me Malcolm. They just released their 4th record, Echoes and Ghosts, on March 1 on Bad Time Records. It’s awesome! To discuss the record, we talk with singer/guitarist Lucias Malcolm and saxophonist/vocalist Mark Farthing. It’s a heavy record. Musically, fun and uplifting, but lyrically dark and personal. Lucias tells us about his mental health journey that inspired much of the lyrics on the album. As a person struggling with depression, anxiety and OCD his entire adult life, he decided to try medication for the first time. He has a lot of complex thoughts on the topic. We also dig into the band’s history, including why they wrote a song called “John Feldmann’s Going To Kill Me” and if they play licks from Goldfinger’s “Superman” in the song. We also talk about their classic closer, “All My Nameless Friends” and the Iron Cross scene that inspired it. In the song they name-check the Popes of Chillitown, Be Sharp Promotions, Bar Stool Preachers and more. We get into much more about the group, including which song was inspired by Chris Gethard. But the most important question is finally asked: Are Call Me Malcolm a post-ska-core band? You need to listen to learn the answer. If you’d like to support us and listen to early access, ad-free episodes with bonus content, check out our Patreon! If you like our theme song, go download the EP Lives by Slow Gherkin. They wrote the opening and closing songs for our podcast. You can get both tunes from their Lives EP. Also, check out Dan P and the Bricks two LPs. They provided the mid-roll ad transition music. Support the In Defense host Aaron Carnes by purchasing a copy of his book, In Defense of Ska. The 2nd, expanded edition of In Defense of Ska will release in Oct 2024. Co-host Adam Davis has a band called Omnigone. Their latest record, Against The Rest released on March 31, 2023. The In Defense of Ska editor Chris Reeves runs a record label called Ska Punk International. They have new releases coming out all the time.Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy