Music > Interviews

The Wombats

21/08/15

You know The Wombats, right? Let’s Dance To Joy Division? Moving To New York? Great big indie anthems that we’ve all cut the rug to. Well they’ve just gone and released their third album, and it’s a belter. And plus, they’re playing this month at UEA. I spoke to the fantastic Dan (drums, percussion, keyboard) about their inflatable wombat and the 80’s influences at work on their new release Glitterbug.

You guys met at music college in Liverpool. In retrospect, did anything you learn there help in your career thus far?

Everything you learn along the way helps in some way and LIPA was a great place for us to practice and record demos. We had lessons in production too which have definitely helped us shape our sound over the years.

To what extent has Liverpool as a city influenced you? There’s a lot of musical history associated with that place which I guess you can choose to reference or not. 

Well, myself and Murph grew up in Liverpool so you can't help but be influenced by a city when you spend your whole life there. The Beatles' influence has obviously spread far and wide regardless of what city you come from but they certainly helped us Scousers feel like there's no harm in trying to be in a band. It's a great city to make music in. 

The Wombats are responsible for the bangers that are Let’s Dance To Joy Division and Moving To New York. Did you know when you created these songs that they would be massive? 

I remember hearing Murph play Moving To New York on a piano and liking it, and when we started arranging it as a band it took on a different, more energetic feel that we got quite excited about and couldn't wait to play. We were playing that song for at least a year though before it started getting radio plays! People always seemed to love it at the small shows we played. I don't think any of us knew that Let's Dance..would still be the last song of our set seven years on!

Your third album, Glitterbug, has just come out. It seems to be about a romantic relationship..is that right? 

It's a mix of a dying romance, a new relationship, jealousy, long distance love and the pull of big cities with all their weirdness.

There seems to be a bit of an 80’s influence at work on Glitterbug, for example on Headspace; what are your favourite 80’s tracks?  

There certainly is! We had a Juno 60 synth in our studio the whole time we were making and recording the songs, which gives a bit of an 80's feel from time to time. Roxette’s It Must Have Been Love is one that just came into my head for some reason...there are too many to mention! Some of the production and sounds they found in the 80's can be inspiring and we tried to add some of that feel with a three piece band with a grunge-punk heart.

You just played at Lollapalooza – how was that? Did you have a good response? 

Yeah it was our first time there and we played at midday on the Sunday so we were a bit worried the festival goers would be tired but we had an amazing crowd who danced and sang along as though it was 9pm on a Saturday night!

Your first album A Guide To Love, Loss & Desperation came out in 2007. How does that album sound to you now a few years have passed?

We still play lots of the songs live and still enjoy walking down memory lane and seeing how different crowds react to the old songs. We listen to the songs so much (probably hundreds of times) during the writing and recording process that we don't often listen to the albums much after finishing them! I did listen to the first album during the recording of This Modern Glitch in a car park in LA to remind myself what we sounded like before; I remember thinking how much energy we had, the album sounded like a hyperactive dog growling in your face!

You’ve played Norwich a few times before…I believe it was the first date at UEA when you tried out your inflatable wombat. Is he/she still part of your touring crew?

Ha ha, we still have him but he's been having some well deserved rest in our lock up in Liverpool. That Norwich show was the 1st time we had him and the crowd pulled him off the air pump. Very Spinal Tap. Fond memories though; we laughed so hard we could barely play the encore.

Your last album came out in 2011. Have you been enjoying some down time?

Not really; we toured a lot then wrote and recorded about 25 songs then tried a producer in LA that didn't work out then eventually found Mark Crew (who produced our album). It takes a while to get an album right, mixed and mastered properly and we'd rather take our time than rush something we're not happy with out!

Have any of you been involved in any side projects?

Yeah, I released a solo album called Dan The Man in 2012 which is kind of cinematic folk music I self produced. I'm nearly finished with my second album too; I do a day or two each time I have a few days off in between shows! It's my calming therapy and a way to improve as a songwriter/producer/musician! Myself and Tord also released an EP called Black Hawks & Little Birds under the name Captain & The Princess. We often have left over musical ideas that were never finished with The Wombats that we finish and record. We will release some more hopefully next year sometime...

Which bands or albums do you guys like to have on in the tour bus?

We all have our favourite albums; recently I've been listening to Tame Impala's new album which is awesome! My pre-show song at the moment is Gypsy by Fleetwood Mac, I defy anyone to not feel happy and energised after listening to that dancing around a room!

Your music is the perfect balance between indie and pop. What’s your songwriting process? 

It varies from song to song, whether it's a song Murph comes in with nearly finished on acoustic guitar, or a jam we have that gets turned into a song, or a musical idea myself and Tord make then send to Murph for him to write lyrics over, the most important thing for us is to end up with something that makes us feel something and a song and arrangement that none of us get bored with. If we ever start something that isn't getting us excited, we don't usually finish it!

If you weren’t making music, what would you be up to?

Playing croquet on the moon.

The Wombats play UEA LCR on 27th September. Tickets available from ueaticketbookings.co.uk.

Lizz Page