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we’d realise they weren’t When I Have Fears. They
didn’t match the vision of the album as a whole. That becomes the most important thing; making sure that the ten songs on the album were a coherent thing.That carries over to our performances; if the album can tell a story, then the live story can tell a story, I think it’s fair to say that our shows are quite theatrical as well as musical. It’s like how you can read a play but not get the same amount of enjoyment as if you’d gone to see it live, y’know?” Considering the lucidity of the group’s vision, it’s somewhat remarkable that the five young men that make up Murder Capital have only been playing together for about a year. The record cannot help but reflect the sensation of wrestling with what it means to be a twenty-something in 2019. Curiously, this coming of age narrative only came into focus for the band once they had effectively finished the task at hand. “George, who wrote the press release, came to the conclusion that it is a coming of age album and that wasn’t something we really noticed ourselves until the very end,” continues Blake. “Like I was saying, the main thing the album deals with is grief and understanding the human condition. As a band, we really try to work on how we communicate with one another, so the album kind of became a study on what it means to communicate with yourself. We’re all very aware of the insufficient facilities and support structures in place surrounding mental health in Ireland - especially in relation to young men. We’re all conscious of that and those themes come straight out through our music. I’m not sure if we have a definite message as a band but we’re very aware of those things as people. I think that’s how we can try and use the band to have a broader effect on culture; allowing people to see the vulnerability of five young fellas trying to understand themselves. Showing people how we’ve tried to understand ourselves and what’s going on all around us, in Ireland or whatever, that’s the main way that we’d see ourselves relating to culture. I suppose it’s the same as postmodern art; the art is finished by the people that are viewing it. We’ll only know once it comes out if it has any effect on anyone in Ireland or further afield.” Blake goes on, “The ages we’re all at is almost seen as a second puberty for a young fella, your body is growing up and maybe you’ve turned in to a man. That stage is when the separation between being and adolescent and an adult really happens. I think that’s one of the main things about coming of age; in many ways you still feel the same emotions that you did as a teenager. But, it’s your first time dealing with adult situations and the expectation that you’re supposed to act like an adult when you’re faced with them. Like, having to deal with loss or whatever else. Or even just drinking too much, you can’t just say you’re 16 and you don’t know what you’re at. Drinking cans in a forest with your mates quickly turns into maybe having a problem with alcohol.” The notion of taking great responsibility doesn’t appear to perturb The Murder Capital. Despite the advances of various major label suitors, the band elected to self-release their first record through their own imprint, Human Season. “We were lucky to be in that position,” explains Blake. “There had been offers, but getting a record deal these days is kind of atrocious. Unless you are getting it off a really cool indie, it doesn’t really make sense to do it. We just decided that we wanted to hold on to the reins of our art, that was the driving force behind Human Season. We set the label up just for us, but the hope is that someday we’ll be signing other acts. Like, we all plan to be in the music industry and making music or making art for the rest of our lives. So, it’s a bit like that analogy about giving a man a fish or teaching a man how to fish – we’re just trying to figure out how to fish.” When I Have Fears is released on August 16 on Human Season Records They play Tower Records on Friday August 16 at 1pm and The Button Factory that evening. Further tour dates and info themurdercapital.com 79