It is Sunday morning 9am, and I am sitting in a Wetherspoons having a far to large breakfast, while fighting with thoughts about what to do next! But first..

Hi I am Paul L guitarist and vocalist (well 1 of 2) and songwriter for Call in Sick and founder of the band! In this the first blog entry I thought I’d let you know a bit about our history and what the band is about.

It started back in 2020 with those ever so lovely lockdowns. I used to work in food retail and because of a myriad of medical conditions I had to self isolate and couldn’t work. This and a crippling fight with depression and anxiety (that could be masked by being at work) kinda made me loos what little I had of my mind at the time! I was going through a change in mental health medication at the time, but while I sat there I wanted to make loud shouty angry music!! 

For years before this I had been an acoustic guitarist singing in many a St Helier pub/event over in Jersey where I lived at the time. With the decline in mental health I wanted to have my own say, which singing covers was just not the outlet it once was. I have always enjoyed punk rock for many years really only looking skin deep and at the more expectable bands (pistols, Ramones etc). As I dug deeper and deeper in to the scene and uncovered the whole culture I grew further and further in love with it all!!

With all this excitement I looked at writing to find my own version of this new excitement inside of myself! This came out in the first EP “Call in Sick” which if you listen to you will find a few different sounds coming through the music (some of these songs still live on in the set). “Get my good side” was next which I feel I really started to find my writing style. Writing about more personal feelings pulled from my mental health (See “Fucked up mess”).

“Knees up as we’re all fucked” up next I found my sense of humour in my anger here. With songs about men sending Dick pics to random women and Wetherspoons always being sold out of black pudding for my breakfasts (a problem not had on this day). From there flew out “Dos Tequila” & “Jessica Rabbit” full of what I feel are fun songs to both listen to and play.

BUT THEN

Late 2023 came.

This is where in Dec 2023 I got diagnosed with Thyroid Cancer, and was told all my lymph nodes in my neck and my full thyroid had to come out in on foul swoop!! Well that was a fucking Cunt!! (Hey it took me that long before I said it :) ). Jan 3rd 2024 I went in for an 12 hour operation to have my neck slit and all that shit taken out!! Not gunna lie that fucks you up a little bit. I spent most for the first 4 months of 2024 thinking I could never sing again due to swelling and other shit going on in my poor healing throat!!

But by May I found I still had a little range in what was left at the time of my singing voice so forced myself no matter what if I could only do one more song thats what I would do (here comes “Round & Round”) I didn’t care if that ruined my voice for ever more fuck it!! (Not happy with that idea) but luckily that wasn’t it! As my voice got better and better by the month I wanted to give this music a real fucking try. Because fuck it my body has already tried to kill me, So if it ever wanted to do it again this time I wanted it to happen after I have shouted at a few of you from the front of the stage!

It is with this in mind I started to hunt down members to join my little band with a few EP’s behind it. Well in quite short search I found Dan, Jim and Paul to join me in this little endeavour. So it is this little line up that is ready to kick the shit out of any stage we get on in this our first year 2025!!

Mental health still not good (hence why I am sitting in a Wetherspoons at 9am on a Sunday having breakfast!) Writing this, blabbering out all this info to you!! Please to listen to the EP’s I have spoken about go to our Bandcamp page (look for callinsick85) and when we release our new EP later this year you will have full context on where this band and myself are coming from!!

I hope to meet alot of you out and about in the future, This little Pompey punk band aint just staying in the confides of Hampshire!! We will fucking see you out there!!


Much Love

-Paul L