Groove Tube with Cian O’Connell

Brought together in Dublin in 2018, the Murder Capital have been a vanguard for the Irish post-punk scene since the release of their debut album When I Have Fears. A disarming record that dealt with themes of anxiety and grief, it drew early comparisons with the likes of Joy Division, Pixies and Gilla Band.

Alongside blistering live performances and an unnerving conviction in their message, they were catapulted to international tours and critical acclaim.

It took almost four years to provide a sequel, but the band’s sophomore LP arrived earlier this year.

Gigi’s Recovery, by contrast, is a celebration of life and love that broadens the Murder Capital’s brand of post-punk without betraying their sensibilities. It reached number 1 in the Irish album charts and was awarded five stars by the Guardian.

On September 17, The Murder Capital headline the Sunday night of Strange Brew’s Fall Right into Place at Claregalway Castle.

The third edition of the festival, this year’s programme also includes Pillow Queens, Junior Brother, Thumper, Daithí and the Love Buzz. Their live set is renowned for its intensity and bass player Gabriel Paschal Blake goes some way to explaining the thought that goes into those performances.

“The campaign for the first record got cut short because of covid,” he recalls.

“We had quite a busy summer planned for 2020. When we came back out of lockdown and started performing shows again, we had spent so much time becoming a new band and really investing ourselves in new music. It felt strange – behind the scenes we were writing and performing very different music.

“I definitely remember performing the [old] songs the way I had been before lockdown, and it almost felt like I was being someone else. It took a while to learn how to play the songs in a new body. I was lucky enough, when we moved to London to finish writing the new record, to do some movement practices with a fella called Theo TJ Lowe.

Pictured: The Murder Capital… headliners at Strange Brew’s Fall Right into Place at Claregalway Castle.