“Oh… that is a f*cking interesting question… where to begin”, The Murder Capital’s frontman James McGovern is deep in thought after asking him what he would think of his band if he wasn’t a member. “Probably a bunch of guys who take themselves too seriously…”
That was after he shared that The Murder Capital are already working on album number four, even before album number three – Blindness –is released into the world. But let’s not get ahead of ourselves; there was also a lot of debating whether post-punk is still alive as a genre or not.
Between the old-school ‘Can’t Pretend to Know’ and the melancholic ‘Words Lost Meaning’, the Irish group has clearly been busy juggling being on the road and working on new music. It is a gloomy Tuesday afternoon and the phone screen flashes with a WhatsApp call: “Hello? Can you hear me?” a thick Dublin accent is on the other line. He’s alone, as he explains that the other band members – Damien Tuit, Cathal Roper, Gabriel Paschal Blake and Diarmuid Brennan – are living all around the world now.
One of the first points the singer makes is that there is clearly a big difference between the new sounds of The Murder Capital and the old sounds, found in albums like the debut When I Have Fears and the gorgeous second offering Gigi’s Recovery, but not any less emotion.
“During Gigi’s we lived in a house in the countryside in Ireland during the pandemic all together for like nine months, then we wrote for another three months in London again,” McGovern explains, “So it was a very long period of writing until we stared at the music and it all turned into bananas.” After a brief chuckle, he continues: “This time everyone’s living across the world, in different countries, we met up on the road for two weeks at a time in different cities, and that changed everything. We also didn’t demo anything this time, whereas for Gigi’s (Recovery) everything was heavily demoed. This new one was more of a hippie album.”
Evolution and change are good, and they certainly solidify The Murder Capital’s career and credibility as artists. When speaking of their path so far, McGovern opens up on what’s really “inside of us”, as he put it: “There’s an equal balance of intensity and emotion [in the new singles] that we are interested in striking. So it does feel more of an arrival of sorts.”
There is a lot of weight put on roots, origins, and generally, personal history, which is palpable in both McGovern’s voice and answers and The Murder Capital’s discography. When asked what the driving force behind the inspiration and the sounds is, McGovern said that growing up in Dublin and the Irish heritage, in general, has definitely shaped who they are musically. “Whether it was listening to the Cranberries as a kid, or whether it was listening to The Pogues, the literature as well – Joyce for instance – there are countless figures in art, music, films, that are all wrapped up into the fabric of being Irish,” he says. Art has also always been in McGovern’s life, in his DNA one could say: “I played the cello as a kid, I come from a very musical family as well […], music was kinda everything for me.”
Who knew that starting out by playing the cello would lead James McGovern to start a post-punk band? “Although both classical music and post-punk music are probably dying right now,” the singer quips. He also clarified that “I don’t think we’ve made a post-punk record this time, it’s more of a rock record. […] We just wanted to make a record that was injected with as much energy as possible.”
The five-piece band has just gotten back to the motherland after weeks of touring as a support act with Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds, all while releasing the first couple of singles from their brand new record coming out on 21 February 2025. Almost with the giddiness of a teenage fan, McGovern laughs while saying that touring with such a legend has been “amazing”. “It was truly an honour to share the stage with them and to see the craft in motion night after night and to see someone up there at 67 years old, still as vital as ever,” he says.
The Murder Capital has also just announced a headline tour in UK and Europe starting in April 2025 and, even though there is definitely “a lot less pressure” while performing as a support act, the enthusiasm about being back on the road was very evident in McGovern’s voice. But reaching this point has not come without challenges.
When asked whether there was any music they regretted putting out and, even if he doesn’t really disclose which tracks he means, McGovern says, “There are a couple of songs that we kinda felt boxed-in to write externally. Although I don’t think we knew that at the time, we were just reacting and trying to work, I think now there’s some regrets.” On a more positive note, though: “I am kinda glad it happened.”
On the other hand, when it comes to pride in the music, Blindness is apparently set to be The Murder Capitals’ magnus opus. McGovern, after thinking about the piece of music he’s the most ecstatic about, shares that ‘Love of Country’, sixth in the new album’s tracklist, “is probably the proudest musical moment I feel like I’ve had in the band”.
Next year will be a year of novelty for The Murder Capital: from releasing their new record Blindness to embarking on a tour, the Irish outfit is booked and busy. One thing is certain, while the band has gone through an impressive evolution and growth from their debut to now, they are still the same five boys from Dublin who just want to make music and share it with the world. As McGovern put it, with a last-minute change to my last question, “If I wasn’t in the Murder Capital, I would think we are just a bunch of lovely Irish lads.”
Words by Silvia Pellegrino
Support The Indiependent
We’re trying to raise £200 a month to help cover our operational costs. This includes our ‘Writer of the Month’ awards, where we recognise the amazing work produced by our contributor team. If you’ve enjoyed reading our site, we’d really appreciate it if you could donate to The Indiependent. Whether you can give £1 or £10, you’d be making a huge difference to our small team.