By Skyla Thornton
AS they limbered up, straightened their iconic red beanies and tuned their instruments for their next performance, Die Matie spoke to Murray.’s lead singer and guitarist, Leonardo Angelucci about the Cape Town-based band.
With the inspiration behind their sound being the music that the band members listened to at different stages of their lives, Angelucci described their music as being like “if Red Hot Chili Peppers and Lenny Kravitz had a love child, and that love child grew up listening to Dave Matthews Band, The Beatles, The Killers and a little bit of Foo Fighters.”
The band are seemingly shrouded in mystery and have no story of how they got together—even when asked about the reason behind their iconic red beanies, Angelucci simply responded with “it was cold”. There is, however, some information regarding the members of Murray.. According to Angelucci, a self-proclaimed “rhythmic gymnast with a guitar and singer-ish skills”, the band comprises the “lead actor in a guitaring role”, Matteo Angelucci; the “BASSic B#*tch” bass player, CJ Duckitt; and Jeanré Leo, who “flies in from Bahrain when [Murray.] need a drummer”.
Murray. released their debut single, “Careless Me”, in 2019. When asked about the meaning behind their first song, Angelucci said it “means whatever you want it to mean” and talks about simpler days.
“Does it touch on the concept of mortality as an ever-growing monkey on the shoulder of humanity? Why not?” he mused.
Fans can expect to hear more of the band’s music in late June, when a new single is set to be released. The band is also set to release more music in the near future and will be collaborating with Jandre Spangenberg from Totius Hill Studios. Angelucci also said that the band is working on a project that “will take things to a new level, and will most likely leave [them] broken and destitute again”.
Whilst Murray. has mostly played in Cape Town, the band are really excited to make another appearance in Stellenbosch after having performed with Jackal & the Wind and Dope Folks at the Daisy Jones Bar in February. This show, which Angelucci described as “pure energy, times seven”, was a few months in the making after the bands saw each other perform last year at Misty Waters Music Festival and felt it was fate.
Angelucci concluded by saying, “We are kind of unhinged and kind of weird and kind of rejects, but not really . . . and we will play music. And there you have it.”
Murray.’s fans can catch them at Bohemia for their live performance tomorrow, Thursday 19 May at 20:00.
