Stage Stories; Introducing Malcom

Under the fairy lights of The Lions Den, in the heart of Manchester's music scene, the talented Malcom band graced the outdoor venue with an electrifying performance on a balmy Friday night. Following their remarkable performance that left the crowd buzzing with excitement, I had the opportunity to sit down with the lads themselves and delve into their inspirations, creative process, and the stories that shape their music. Get ready to discover the enchanting world of Malcom Band as we unveil the secrets behind their sound.

Can you start by introducing yourselves and how you became a band?

Caolan- Yeah, so my name is Caolan Donnaghy and I play bass and sing. This is Evan and Max Morgan who are brothers and they both play guitar and then there’s James Keith who plays drums. We became a band because we all go to BIMM Manchester, a university in Central Manchester and we all met there (with higher aspirations- Evan).

Evan- I suppose myself and Max have been in quite a lot of bands since we moved from Carlisle to Manchester, trying to sort of gain our own way outside of uni, and then we met Keith and then we needed a singer so we met Caz (Caolan). We were already friends so it worked out well really, similar interests as we went on in terms of what music we wanted to make…

*James Keith enters to chat…*

The name of your band, Malcom, is quite unique, can you talk about how you came up with the name?

James- Yeah so basically we were in discussion about it since we started really, we played for a few weeks and we were thinking of a name, thinking of a name, came up with a few ideas and Max, you were in a pub weren’t you?

Max- Yeah, night and day we sat reading over the dictionary looking for words hahaha and then there was this man behind us in the pub we were in and someone called him and his name was Malcolm and I just thought like that’s kind of like a striking thing, it’s not a name you really hear. So then I thought BOOM! And then when I said it to these and it just instantly clicked, we felt we stumbled upon something quite good and had not been taken. So then we decided to change the spelling and because none of us were named Malcolm it was easy

James- (I can tell you why its spelt without the second L if you want)- Well like obviously normal Malcolm is spelt M-a-l-c-o-l-m, but I’m dyslexic so I just put Malcom, it sort of reads how it sounds I guess

Evan- It literally turned out way cooler anyway because who needs the other L anyway hahaha

What genre would you as a band primarily associate with?

Evan- I suppose kind of like an old rock vibe, kind of like an early Killers, Stereophonics, like catchy rock vibes you know

Who are your musical influences?

Max- Mine would be The Killers, Stereophonics, bands with like big riffs and like big choruses

Evan- I like Miles Kane that’s why I jumped off the amp during the performance hahah, just bands that you know have catchy hooks and you just kind of things you'd want to listen to, bands with big energy

Caolan- I suppose whenever I first started writing songs I listened to a lot of Catfish and The Bottlemen and it struck me how, you know it’s indie-rock music, but I really liked how sort of genuine and nonchalant the lyrics sounded. So I suppose, if there’s anything that makes our music unique it’s definitely the riffty side of things with the very specific genuine lyrics I guess you could say

James- In terms of drum wise mine would be like John Bonham, Led Zeppelin, Keith Moon, Royal Blood, yeah just big… well I always get told at gigs to (Turn it down- Evan) well shut the f**k up on the symbols but (Max- he likes big drums, big sound haha) like I like big sound

Tell me about your song-writing process, is it collaborative or does one person normally take the lead?

Evan- It’ll either kind of be the guitar first or the song. So Caz either comes with full ideas or myself and Max will have guitar beats and Kaz sort of puts a melody on top and then sometimes I’ll go and change the lyrics so they are more specific

What Themes are normally associated with your music?

Caolan- Well it’s sort of all over, I mean it kind of stretches from your typical popular music topics which is about, you know, love and girls and heartbreak and you know the kind of usual themes and then recently I have been writing about more obscure topics like dissociation as a mental health issue for example. So I try to kind of write about as diverse a set of topics as I can

What do you hope people will take away from your music?

*Evan- Take away???*

Caolan- I just hope people have a good time listening to it’s pretty much as simple as that

Evan- Energy, passion, ENERGY is power

James- It’s like I drive, I like driving quite fast sometimes down like B roads, you know like driving music like a bit pulsey like, not that I speed, I don’t speed or do anything dangerous, I drive to the speed limit and straight to the left hand side of the road... I am not trying to incriminate myself hahaha... BUT basically just powerful music init you know, you’re jiggling a bit haha

Max- Just lots of energy

*James- Hit me with another one!!!*

Are there any exciting upcoming projects in the near future for Malcom?

James- Well we’re planning on doing an arena tour… hahahahah

Evan- The next gig we have is on the 16th of this month in The Eagle Inn in Manchester, and then we are going back to mine and Max’s hometown of Carlisle to support Toploader on the 30th of this month. And then we are going to be booking things like HMV in store signings for next month kind of things like that

Caolan- I suppose the main big thing is we are recording our first single and that’s a song called Subconscious and that’s obviously the main thing because then we’ll have something to put out there, but yeah I’d say recording our first single is the biggest project we have going on at the minute and then just gigs around Manchester and greater Manchester and that

How can people stay in touch with the band’s activities?

Caolan- So our Instagram is just @malcom_band

Evan- Malcombandofficial on Facebook, but its sort of the same on all socials

James- We’re actually on Facebook, we’re on the old world stuff here we’re on Facebook, I don’t mean to offend anyone saying old world stuff, its brilliant, I have my car forums on there hahaha… sorry erm yeah Malcom is our bands Instagram, we put our gigs on there and just updates and stuff

James- We smashed it hahah thank you!!!

As we wrap up our conversation with Malcom, it is clear that this band is destined for greatness. Be sure to follow their future projects as they are undoubtedly a rising star in the indie-rock scene. With their captivating music and inspiring stories, Malcom is a band to keep an eye on. Stay tuned for more enchanting tunes and stories that touch the soul. Malcom's story has only just begun