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Contrary to their name, The Wombats are actually a three-piece band from Liverpool, England. Not Liverpool, Australia. First conceived as a joke, they wore outrageous outfits (think jester hats with sunglasses) and screamed randomly during their first few performances, usually to an audience stunned into silence. But it wasn’t too long before, Paul McCartney’s Liverpool Institute Of Performing Arts alumni had Liverpool talking.
Ditching the gimmicks to work their infectious punk pop deviance around Liverpool and beyond, they became the first unsigned band to sell out the Carling Academy Liverpool and with three records on KIDS records in the bag including ‘Backfire At The Disco’, they signed to 14th Floor Records (Warner) and released ‘Kill The Director’.
Lead single ‘Let’s Dance To Joy Division’ off their debut A Guide to Love, Loss and Desperation which topped the NME singles charts has since catapulted them to fame and critical acclaim. The debut album is crammed to the rafters with the same sort of fast-paced, catchy rock songs that offer wry lyrics and memorable sing-a-long choruses. Think of Franz Ferdinand and the Kaiser Chiefs jamming with The Monkees and you won’t be far wrong.
Having played NME’s Rock and Roll Riot Tour and opened for the likes of The Holloways and Babyshambles, the marsupial jesters are indubitably serious business now – as serious as a band that describes themselves as “Joebone, fiace-smoking da webosses and manhandling a few near-extinct Venezuelan toddle otters.”
A Guide to Love, Loss and Desperation was released under 14th Floor Records on 5 November. For more on The Wombats, log onto www.thewombats.co.uk.
Text Alif Omar Mahfix