There’s a frantic energy we’ve always had...
As The Wombats release their fifth album, they talk to ALEX GREEN about fame, fatherhood and finding their way in a post-indie world
THE Wombats have built their brand around spiky guitars, frantic live shows and frontman Matthew “Murph” Murphy’s angsty lyrics, but the Liverpool band’s new album, Fix Yourself, Not The World, is a burst of colour and full of polished pop songs.
Has becoming a father and moving to Los Angeles cheered up their singer and changed their sound? Not quite.
“It’s the same angst,” Murph deadpans. “I’m 37 years old but I have the soul of a 13-year-old.”
Murph and drummer Dan Haggis join our video call from London. Bassist Tord Overland Knudsen is absent. It’s been 10 days since they reunited in person for the first time in many months to film a music video for the new record.
Murph moved to LA with his wife Akemi in 2016 before welcoming daughters Dylan and Kai. He has two dogs – an American bulldog and a Rottweiler-Doberman cross. Domestic life may have eased his self-deprecating streak – but only slightly.
“My two children have thrown a huge spanner into the works – an amazing spanner,” he jokes. “I’m not sure it has changed the creative aspect of my life that much.
“I do find myself maybe trying to jam Baby Shark melodies into songs. Maybe I’m a bit more focused on ‘Is it fun?’ rather than overthinking it or trying to do something extremely moody now.
“Maybe I’m just a bit like, ‘Let’s have a laugh’. I don’t know.”
Murph may be reluctant to admit it, but The Wombats have shifted away from the knowing irony of songs such as Let’s Dance to Joy Division, towards something sunnier and more vulnerable. Just listen to the bright, albeit melancholic, melodies of recent single Method To The Madness.
“A better way of saying it is that a lot of pressure has been removed by the addition of the children,” he adds. “The Wombats is a very important thing in my life but not the most important thing in my life anymore. And I think that’s actually made it better.”
Having one-third of the band in America, with its tight Covid border controls, made recording the new album tricky. They worked remotely and in shifts. Murph would video-call his bandmates in the morning and they would hand over their day’s work – and the cycle would continue.
Dan enjoyed the process and plans to take some of the techniques forward. He explains: “Often you hear about the Beach Boys recording different sections of songs in different rooms and different studios.
“Just because we had to, it almost sounds like we are doing the same. So automatically I feel like the sonic separation, that’s quite an unusual thing to do. I feel like it has actually added to the experience of the album.”
The Wombats met in 2003 while studying at the Liverpool Institute for Performing Arts. Since then they have become a quiet phenomenon, attracting a new generation of fans largely unaware, or unbothered by, their origins in the now uncool indie scene.
While many of their contemporaries have fallen by the wayside, The Wombats have only grown in popularity and are now playing arenas and starting TikTok trends.
Asked how the band weathered the storm, Dan says: “It’s not an easy question. When you’re in a band I suppose one of the essentials is that all three of us have from the word go had this ‘on a mission’ attitude.
“A lot of bands that don’t end up carrying on, sometimes you’re not all in the same driven, motivated mindset of ‘We all want this to keep going and to be able to do this as long as we possibly can’.
“It helps obviously that we have played together for so long and musically I feel like we gelled really well from the beginning.
“Murph’s songwriting is obviously unique and all the rest of it.
“And the live – I think there’s a frantic energy that we’ve always had. We all take so much from performing music that I feel like people who come to shows feel that same thing as well.”
The Wombats will play at London’s O2 Arena in April which is a major milestone for the band. But in trademark style, Murph only recognises the achievement with a healthy dose of self-deprecation.
“There’s certainly a mild feeling of validation around it,” he admits. “We’re really excited to be playing
in such a cool venue.”