Call It Off have just released their new EP Liars. We caught up with singer/guitarist Maurice to find out a bit more about the band.
Who are you and what do you do?
My name is Maurice and I sing and play guitar in Call It Off.
Where did the band’s name come from?
We nicked it from a song by a band called Broadway Calls.
How did you get started?
To make a long story short, I went on tour as a replacement guitarist in Adrian’s former band. While we were on that tour Adrian, me and Lesley (who was tour manager during that tour) found out that we have a similar love for pop punk music so the idea to start a new band came around quickly. When we got back from that tour, Adrian and I started throwing around ideas for songs. We recorded some demos and booked a couple of shows and things quickly started to unfold. We then found a drummer in Sergei, which I knew from my school and that marked the birth of Call It Off.
What have you got going on at the moment?
We’ve just released our new EP called Liars and along with that a video for the song Stuck With You. Along with that we’ve got a handful of shows confirmed and a lot more to be announced including shows with: The Wonder Years, Real Friends and Iron Chic. Festivals such as: Jera On Air (alongside bands such as Dropkick Murphys, Against Me!, Gnarwolves), Madnes Festival and more. And on top of all of that we are going to do a China tour.
Best experience in the business?
Diffucult, for me personally our EP release show for Liars is definatly a highlight, sold out show and it was just great. But that’s not really a business experience though. Business-wise I think maybe when we started working with our manager Jef van Doninck. He’s a great guy and it feels like he’s our fifth member right now.
Why should Soundscape readers care?
If you like pop punk music by the likes of Green Day, Alkaline Trio and Blink-182 then you might like us, if so go check us out.
Tell our readers an interesting fact about yourself?
Sergei is madly in love with Taylor Swift, no joke.
What’s your writing and recording process?
Me and Adrian write the songs, then we start jamming them around in our practice space. Most of the time this works perfectly for us. Recording wise we recorded both EPs in our practice space and Sergei’s appartment with our good friend Jasper van den Broek. He also mixed and mastered both EPs.
What inspires you?
Everything I guess, the day-to-day stuff. Both EPs are relationship inspired but we try to write our lyrics in such a way that you can interpret them in many different ways. Whatever suits the listeners situation.
Who are your role models/idols?
I don’t think we neccesarily have role models but we do have our inspirations and it’s different for everyone. A couple of inspirations we have in common are bands like; Green Day, Alkaline Trio, The Story So Far and many many more.
Hardest thing about the current business?
Everything is difficult, especially for a band from The Netherlands. Its both easy and hard to reach many people, I mean the internet gives you alot of options to reach out to people you usually couldn’t reach but then again, there are so many bands out there trying to do the same thing. It takes time and alot of effort to get somewhere.
What are your future plans?
Work harder, tour more and write new alot of new songs. Just keep the train rolling.
