Review & Interview: The Wombats @ Stoke Underground


Hibernation is not something wombats are known for, yet until last night it seemed the world’s bounciest Liver-wegian trio had been off the radar for an age. You might go as far to say things like Inbetweeners reruns have preserved The Wombats in the mainstream awareness during their time away, at least at a subconscious level.

But anyone suggesting that the Scousers had been consigned to the one-album-wonder oblivion narrowly eschewed by Klaxons would’ve been proved absolutely wrong at the Stoke Underground last night – judging by a curtain raising gig for their still unnamed second record.

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Making a splash on stage first though was the surf-pop of Herefordshire’s Apples. Though at first their honey-sweet melodies pleased, a handful of songs came and went without leaving behind any lasting effect. However, it was an inspired acapella revamp of The Coral’s “Dreaming of You”, a nod to another Liverpudlian gem, which perked up the heads of every student in the building.

It had taken all five members’ deadly executed vocal timing, britpop harmonies and the shortest ever saxophone solo from a bassist in history to win everyone over, but Apples couldn’t have been disappointed with the final round of rowdy cheers.

The biggest problem with a good support band is always the changeover time before the headliner. The story was no different in Stoke. Where Apples had fought for a momentous end to their set, the momentum was slowly murdered afterwards by what must have been forty-five minutes of sound-checking, instrument-testing, teasingly dimming the lights and roadies standing there wondering what they’re paid for.

But if Matt “Murph” Murphy, Tord and Dan’s eventual entrance was an anti-climax, not one person cared by the first strums of the hopelessly charming “Kill the Director”. Everybody falls in love with the Mersey threesome all over again and like a can of coke after a typhoon, the place exploded.

Both the energy of the crowd and The Wombats did the entire gig a service, rarely was the madness restrained. Lead single of the new album “Tokyo (Vampires & Wolves)” acquaints us with Murph’s newest love interest, the synthesiser. If The Wombats were indie-disco before this keys-stomper was added to their arsenal then I’d like to imagine what they’ll be tagged with after the album drops. It follows a succession of other mid-2000s NME darlings like Bloc Party and We Are Scientists moving onto 80s new wave-sounding experiments but speaking after the gig Murph insisted “We toured so much that looking down at a D chord wasn’t very inspiring so we had to do anything to get new songs out there.”

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Regardless of their shift towards moodier arcade game-synths, the crowd continued to eat up the unfamiliar tracks, they just had to sing less and dance more. Most interesting of the new songs on the block though was what they previewed as thus far their only foray into balladry with “anti-depressant” being the buzz-phrase of the tune. Different, haunting and an indication of what the band have been through and where they’re at after the world tours and global success.



Heckles of homo-erotic fandom certainly got everyone back the spirit though as we were treated to the story of a crowd member “dry-raping” Murph against a hairdressers earlier in the day before “Moving to New York” gave everyone the last chance to go nuts before the encore.

“We’re not very good at encores” says Dan, “so we’re just going to fuck off and come back on in about five minutes”. Sounded alright to everyone in the building, because they knew which song had yet to be played. What else but the signature happy-go-lucky anthem? The failsafe guitar-pop classic that every indie DJ packs like a musical first-aid kit when the party is in danger of dying out? Give me “Let’s Dance To Joy Division”! Stat!

The insanity following the opening riff was worthy of Murph’s hairdo. The word sweaty doesn’t really do it justice. Tord battered the basslines out whilst leaning into the crowd – balanced by the hand of a sturdy fan as Murph looked like he was doing a spinaroonie on the floor when the final crescendo of chords piled in.

What an ending, and whilst The Wombats may find it tough for even the new album’s best offering to top the reaction of their household hits, tonight’s preview gives us an interesting couple of months to speculate on how they went about bettering them.

I also had a quick interview with Murph after the gig about the new album and being back on the road – have a listen below.

Daniel Robinson

Wombats by drobinson


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