The Murder City Devils are an excellent band. I swear no one quite does songs about rock n' roll, drinking and heartbreak as well and as genuinely as these guys do. Something about Spencer Moody's incredible vocals make you believe that they must live the lives that they sing about; he sounds like a trucker with an alcohol problem. And that fits the music perfectly too.
I first time I heard The Murder City Devils was nearly 12 years ago (it doesn't feel anywhere near as long) on a bargain £2.50, 17-track Sub Pop Records sampler. There were only a few tracks that really appealed to me at the time (New Slang by The Shins, Out of the Races and Onto the Tracks by The Rapture, although I wonder if there's anything I'd enjoy more now) but the highlight by far was the opening track from The Murder City Devils' last EP, That's What You Get. It was, and still is, an absolutely incredible song. A shockingly-long three years later I finally bought the Thelema EP, which more than lived up to my expectations.
A few months later I found a copy of Empty Bottles Broken Hearts on eBay (on cd) for £4.50 and couldn't get enough. I remember playing it in my university house and some friends thinking it was terrible, which is basically a sign of how excellent the band are - regular people just don't get it. It was an instant classic.
For fear of waffling too much (although I do that a lot and already have for three paragraphs here), I'll summarise: everything this band has done is brilliant. Their debut album is 20 minutes of punk-rock n' roll excellence, all their songs make me want to drink and their thanks list here reads "The Murder City Devils would like to thank rock n' roll". Pure genius. Thankfully, they've now reformed and I even pre-ordered their new album, which is something I pretty much never do - that's how much I love this band.
I sincerely hope they tour the UK sometime soon. I can't begin to imagine how excellent it will be.
Format: 12", picture sleeve
Tracks: 12
Cost: £9.80 new
Bought: Hear Again Music, Gainesville
When: 04/11/13
Colour: Black
Etching: Side A: "The Murder City Devils are dead" Side B: "Long live the devils!"
mp3s: Download code
