Murph’s life and soul are on show
DARK & CATCHY
THE Wombats singer nger Murph has opened up about out the dark times which have inspired his new solo album.
He revealed he was an alcoholic and that his marriage was in trouble.
Under the alias of Love Fame Tragedy, Murph’s new album Life Is A Killer describes the dark times before he went into rehab.
Now sober for a year, Murph told me: “This album is rawer and more personal than anything else I’ve done.
“I was living inside my head, with complete disregard for anyone else, apart from my kids.
“Whether it was drinking or anything else I loved, like golf, I became obsessive and I’d do them way too much.
“I went too far and had addictive, unhealthy behaviours.”
Living in LA with his wife Akemi and their two children, Murph dismissed the idea that writing the album helped with his demons.
Murph said: “I wouldn’t describe writing songs as very effective therapy. There is a relief and therapy from making music, but it’s a temporary plaster.
“If a song is amazing, you’ll feel relief for maybe four days – and if it’s an OK song, you’ll feel relief for half-a-day.”
Despite his troubled times, the album features Murph’s trademark wit and the songs remain irresistibly catchy.
Murph insisted: “The album isn’t a full-on breakdown. There’s levity in the songs and and, when I perform them live, I’ll lean on that levity so I don’t get into too weird a place mentally.
“If I didn’t have my self-deprecating side, it’d just be miserable for everyone involved.
“Not taking myself too seriously is a massively helpful attribute to have.
“I had a couple of serious lows, but I don’t think what I went through was crazy bad.”
Murph is already planning a new Wombats album, after their previous record Fix Yourself Not The World became the trio’s first No 1 in 2022.
He revealed: “I’m really excited with how the songs are going.
“Once we’ve chosen the best songs, we’ll think about how to either do something we haven’t done before, or make something that’s perfectly streamlined.”