The Murder Capital: In-store and Signing review.

By Darren Keogh

The mood was set, the timing was right, and yes The Murder Capital were back in the ‘REAL Capital’ (AKA Cork) as we all gathered outside the Music Zone shop in Deabrock Business Park Togher,  waiting for the doors to open at 6pm. Most of us had purchased our vinyl or CD online, others would purchase one once they heard the new tunes for the album launch at this special in-store gig. The band had just completed a small tour of in-store gigs in record shops over in the UK, to promote the release of Blindness. Starting on February 20th these gigs included: Kingston, Brighton, Nottingham (Rough Trade), London (Rough Trade), Manchester, Liverpool, Glasgow (Assai Records, a personal favourite of mine) and Edinburgh. Then back to Ireland on the 26th for an in-store and signing event at Spindizzy Records. The 27th was a chance for the Cork fans to hear some songs off their third album Blindness for the first time, live and acoustic at Music Zone. This was all done in a week, so not much room for much else and a nice tight schedule for the boys to pack in some on-the-road practice while also showcasing their new material. 

“Can't Pretend to Know” was the first song of the evening. The bass was strong on this and Gabriel Paschal Blake deserves a mention. This being the third track of the new album with a heavy intro, the lads did well to open with this song in an acoustic setting as Diarmuid Brennan played a soft percussion on his cajon. The second song they played was “Swallow” and this has a nice acoustic feel to it too, with anxious lyrics like: “I need you to go / So you don't swallow me whole.” Here, James McGovern on vocals is letting it be known that something or someone is either very overbearing or very goddamn beautiful. The third song of the evening opened with the intense riff of “Death of a Giant,” with poetic lyrics from McGovern: “Black horse in the centre of the street / Marching solemnly in grief / while the Liffey leaves its sleep.” Now we are really getting into it as fans on either side of the shop realise what a treat we are in for hearing these new tunes live for the very first time. 

Then, before the next song was played it was revealed to me that James McGovern was indeed a Cork man. How did I not know this already? Where had I been all this time? What in God’s name was I thinking? Anyway….

After this news and much cheering from the crowd, McGovern jokes lightly about dropping out from all the local schools in Cork before meeting the guys in the band, much to our amusement.  After all this was his calling. The next tune was “Words Lost Meaning.” Now, I have to say I was listening to the album that week since its release on the 21st and this tune really stood out to me. The opening guitar riff from Damien Tuit reminds me of something Cobain would have written, but hey who am I to call out the big guns? But this does have a good grunge element to it which is a step away from the post-punk label The Murder Capital are heralded for. With lyrics such as: “Over-sensitive and under-reaching,” and “Oh I never need you to say, / I love you / The words lost meaning,” I am sure there would definitely be someone in the twenty-seven club that wishes they wrote those lyrics. 

The second last song came with a little story added beforehand. I love these little stories, they always make an impression on the song right before you have even heard it. This is always good for the listener and of course gives the singer another chance to bring you closer to his meaning. McGovern explained he was at a restaurant with some family a while back when someone at his table recognized a guy that walked in and said: “Oh that guy is trailing a wing.” Now, as McGovern admitted himself, I myself did not know what “trailing a wing” meant and even when McGovern asked the crowd, no one was really sure what it meant either. And so he explained; it means that this guy was cheating on his wife. McGovern condemned cheating immediately but just as he said this, I think it hits us all that this was a good title for a song and not one that he could let slip by him. The lyrics of the song are perfect for the title and I think McGovern nailed it on the head when he matched those lyrics to a passing comment and that became a song on their new album. 

The final song of the evening was a special one, “Love of Country.” McGovern mentioned that this will be their next release on the 7” single (keep your eyes peeled for this as I have no release date so far). This has a raw distorted sound that is kind of addictive. I kept listening to it off the album to make sure I was hearing it right and just as I thought it does sound almost like a live demo which is the way their producer for this album John Congleton wanted it to be. This song has a homegrown element to it, just as McGovern sang it back in his hometown of Cork with lyrics including: “Don't you love your country? Don't you love your fellow men?” Fantastic patriotic elements here. 

When it comes to it, one must remember: in-store gigs and signings are very intimate settings. It could be said many bands lose their edge after much touring and even hanging out with big ego’s like Nick Cave or recording their album in LA as The Murder Capital did.  Not these guys, they signed all our records and even personally thanked me for buying the earlier albums. They were very humble and even after a long week of driving around the UK and then back to Ireland for two more gigs in seven days, they really were up for the fans and ready for the world to hear Blindness. 

The Murder Capital play The Iveagh Gardens, Dublin, Saturday 19th July 2025.

Thanks to Ray, Shane and Young Adam at Music Zone for this intimate gig and their help and support with the setlist.