It's official – 2019 is the year we all finally embrace the bubbling Irish music scene, and judging by the first couple of bands to turn heads, a lot of that music sounds a bit like getting your head kicked in.
Enter The Murder Capital, although you could be forgiven for not knowing what they sound like at all as they sold out their first run of shows without having any songs officially released, Now they're back in the UK for round two, this time with a solitary track on Spotify to whet your appetite.
"It wasn't really intentional for it to happen this way," explains frontman James McGovern, his voice crackling over the phone thanks to rural Ireland's spotty phone signal. "I guess that was just the way the path led us, but it's freeing for us to finally get something out there. The reception has been pretty humbling too, so we're just trying to keep going and get back to writing rather than letting it overwhelm us. The accidental ‘more is less' approach seems to have done us wonders anyway, maybe that air of mystery helped it all spread… or maybe it was just pure luck?"
There's a real note of confusion in James' voice when he talks about the incredible hype that's built up around the band. His solution? Just keep pushing forward. "We just try not to think about it too much, to be honest, just take it as it comes and laugh at those mad moments. We do feel comfortable in where we are though because we've worked really hard to get here. Obviously, we haven't been slogging it out for eight years, so we can't come from that corner, but we take what we do seriously, and we work really fucking hard at it."
He pauses, before adding: "That makes it sound really extraneous, which it isn't at all. We're all really enjoying touring and playing; I think we're all kind of made for it. We've all travelled all over Ireland all our lives, I've spent my life on trains and buses and all of that shit, so to do that and then get to play a show at the end of every day? It's a pure pleasure.
