The Murder City Devils - In Name and Blood

It's 2019 and The Murder City Devils remain in the list of occasionally active bands I'd love to see but still haven't (along with Snapcase, Hum and The Blood Brothers - the list hasn't changed in years, despite all four playing shows in US in recent years. One day I'll see them and I'll hopefully have a great time).

In Name and Blood was the last of the original Murder City Devils albums I got (The White Ghost... hadn't been released and they were very much broken up when I was getting into them). I got Thelema, Empty Bottles and the live album, R.I.P., in 2005/2006 and loved them. A while later I found the self-titled album and it became a stable in the kitchen of our house in Cardiff - that album acted as a little revival of the band for me and I was very pleased to find this album in Spillers one day early in 2009. The albums had been reissued on coloured vinyl and I was very pleased to add it to my collection.

I knew a bunch of the songs from R.I.P., but there are some great songs that weren't played at that last show - Bunkhouse with it's excellent chorus ("If you don't think that cowboys cry / Then you ain't never heard a cowboy's song"), Someone Else's Baby and Fields of Fire. Of course, Press Gang, Idle Hands and Rum to Whiskey were all highlights from the live album, particularly the last one, so I knew them well. There's also a couple of covers thrown in - Neil Diamond's I'll Come Running (for some reason) and two much-more on-brand Misfits covers - Hybrid Moments and She, although the latter is not listed on the sleeve. Goes without saying that MCD's organ-heavy sound and The Misfits make quite a pairing.

The band had a slight stylistic shift over the years, so much so they considered the Thelema EP part of the reason they broke up, but it's a very gradual change - in my mind (and ears), the self-titled album and Thelema are the extreme ends, but Empty Bottles and In Name and Blood are quite similar and a very strong pair of albums. All that said, if you like any of their music, I can't see you not liking the rest.

Format: 12", gatefold sleeve
Tracks: 13
Cost: £11 new
Bought: Banquet Records
When: 18/03/09
Colour: White and red splatter
Etching: Side A: "Look upon your city, enjoy the sight..." Side B: "For it will soon be rubble and bleached bones"
mp3s: Download code

The Murder City Devils - R.I.P.

When I got this record I only had two Murder City Devils album - Empty Bottles, Broken Hearts and Thelma. I was just getting into the band so it felt a bit wrong to hear their last-ever show next, but I knew copies wouldn't be that easy to find at any later point. Plus, at £8 it was a steal. I bought it in Brighton just before returning to Australia for my second semester out there; I made time to record it onto cassette before going back but after getting there was disappointed to find that I'd managed to not hit record on the second record, so for the first six months of owning this album I could only listen to the first half.

I love The Murder City Devils. Not enough bands I listen to sound anything like them - there's such an energy and power and sense of a good time - they're the sort of band that make you want to get drunk and throw yourself around to punk-rock bands (although the band will almost certainly not be as good as The Murder City Devils). This album captures their live show in a raucous and fairly shambolic way - the notes in the sleeve concede to this point but also imply that it couldn't really be any other way for a band like this. I never saw them live (something I still long to correct now they're playing shows again) but I think I would have enjoyed it greatly. As a live album, this is fairly terrible and as a final show it's also a strange one, but all that adds to its charm.

A lot of the album sounds great - the band had such a good sound - but there are some weaker moments. One Vision of May and Midnight Service suffer from what sounds like a combination of exhaustion and bad timing, which is a shame because they're great songs; Spencer has some mic issues during That's What You Get and Idle Hands, although someone steps in for some very deep backing vocals, which works well . I Want a Lot Now, Dancing Shoes, Boom Swagger and Broken Glass all sound fantastic; 18 Wheels gets played with such incredible energy that I'm impressed every time I hear it. Strangely, (for a final show) they play two new songs, Waltz and Grace That Saves, the latter of which gets the prime place of being the last song they'd ever play (until they reformed). It's not only strange because you'd typically go out on a familiar high, but also because it's just not a very good song - it drones and feels half finished, which is a shame. Had they gone out on 18 Wheels it would have been perfect.

There are a few really touching moments of stage chat throughout - at the end of Bear Away one of the band announces that it's the last show they're ever going to play with a real tremble in his voice; "these boys love you more than you will ever imagine" at the end of Boom Swagger; and when Spencer announces the last song. Each makes you feel really sad that they're breaking up, but glad they existed in the first place.

Format: 12", gatefold sleeve

Tracks: 19

Cost: £8 new

Bought: Borderline, Brighton

When: 11/01/06

Colour: Black

Etching: none

mp3s: no

The Murder City Devils - Empty Bottles Broken Hearts

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

The Murder City Devils - The Murder City Devils

Another day, another American band I never got to see (although they've also reformed now), and another album I love. I had this on cd for a few years, and gradually bought on their albums on one format or another. When I was at the No Idea Yard sale at Fest, they had all their distro stuff and it was all mega cheap due to the exchange rate. Like I said before, I spent a lot of money there that morning. I picked this one up because its one of my favourite albums and I like to have those on vinyl (I suspect cds are dying a slow death, but somehow records will survive; my cd collection will become redundant and my records will stay awesome. Wishful thinking perhaps).

At 22 minutes long, you've barely even started listening before its over again. But at that length you can justify playing it again. From the first time I heard The Murder City Devils I thought they were great. A great punk-rock band in every sense. Get off the Floor might be my favourite, although Broken Glass and Boom Swagger Boom are up there. Tell You Brother is a sobering finisher. They reissued all the albums on red and white vinyl at one point, and I got a copy of In Name and Blood from that lot. I kinda hoped that this would be coloured vinyl too, but I'm not too upset that it isn't, it's just a great album.

Format: 12", insert
Tracks: 10
Cost: £6.20 new
Bought: No Idea yard sale
When: 30/10/11
Colour: Black
Etching: Side A: "Rise up you devils..." Side B: "Rise from your graves and avenge us!"
mp3s: download card