Fascinated by the unique name and online presence, I asked Jane Crow from The Murder of Jane Crow band for more details.
Daily Dragon (DD): Please describe your musical style. Do any genre labels fit?
The Murder of Jane Crow (MJC): Classical Cabaret Gypsy Goth! The feedback we get at literally every show we play is that we don’t sound like anything anyone has ever heard before, so that’s the closest description we can come up with. We are currently performing as a duo—myself on vocals and piano, and Jimmy Branham, a metalhead gone classical, on acoustic guitar.
DD: What is your music about? Does it relate to your unique band name?
MJC: Well, a group of crows is called a murder, and this is my group of musical crows, hence the band name! Crows have been known to symbolize bad luck and death, but also magic and mystery, and our music encapsulates those themes, from misfortune and grief to true love and happiness, all with an undercurrent of existential angst and the universal struggle of trying to find of our place in a bizarre and beautiful universe that we’ll never quite wrap our minds around. The band name is also reminiscent of an Edgar Allan Poe story title, which is fitting considering our oftentimes morbid and macabre sound and lyrical content.
DD: What or who are your biggest influences or inspirations in performing? In songwriting?
MJC: My first musical love was Patsy Cline—her deep, soulful voice transformed my little world and made me feel in ways I never knew before. But Tori Amos was pretty much my ultimate inspiration; her songwriting style was not only innovative but powerful and supercharged with emotion, and when I heard her music, I knew what I wanted to do with my life. I actually taught myself to play piano from her songbooks when I was a teenager. I was also a huge Nine Inch Nails fan at that time and loved the way they embraced darker and more taboo themes and imagery within their music. They were my very first concert, front row when I was 14, and I learned a whole lot about showmanship that day. Kate Bush was another big influence over my sound and songwriting style. Outside of the pop realm, I’ve always been a big admirer of German lieder—art songs for piano and voice—particularly as composed by Schubert and Brahms, and I’ve been known to rip off Beethoven from time to time for my own selfish purposes!
DD: What’s it like to perform at Dragon Con?
MJC: Insane. Intense. And so much fun! From busking at our merch table to hauling our gear through thousands of beautiful people from one hotel to another and fulfilling our lively performance schedule, it is work work work from sun-up to sun-down—a hustle we look forward to each year! This is The Murder’s third trip to Dragon Con as performers, for which we are deeply grateful.
DD: What is your role on the Skeptrack, band or panelist? Please describe what you will discuss.
MJC: I [Jane Crow] am a panelist on the “Creativity in Skepticism” panel, which Skeptrack describes thusly: Several Skeptical-minded artists, authors, and others who make a living creating for the masses talk about how they approach their respective crafts. The Murder also tries to fit in a short performance between Skeptrack panels sometime during the weekend, but that is still TBD.
DD: How do fans meet the band?
MJC: We gladly meet our fans after each of our performances, and we are also at our merch table in the bottom level of the Marriott from around 9:00 AM to 8:00 PM Friday through Sunday (excepting our show times, of course)!
You can see The Murder of Jane Crow at these official times as well:
- Thursday 8/29, 6PM, Marriott Imperial Ballroom, Opening Ceremonies
- Friday 8/30, 8:30PM, Hyatt Concourse Stage I
- Sunday 9/1, 11:30AM, Hilton 204-207, Creativity In Skepticism Panel
- Sunday 9/1, 2:30PM, Westin Concourse Stage II
Visit The Murder of Jane Crow on their website at or on Facebook.
