By: Robert Cavuoto
The Wombats are gearing up for the release of their third CD, Glitterbug, on April 13th. Hailing from the UK the band have scored an unprecedented number of radio hits with their 2011 release, This Modern Glitch, which debuted at #3 in the UK. That CD was also the band’s biggest international album in its career!
Where This Modern Glitch left off, Glitterbug will surely elevate the band to international status, as this CD is certain to be their best to date.
Glitterbug expands on the band’s patented sound and takes it to another level with tighter playing and superb songwriting. With a standout first single, “Greek Tragedy”, the CD is sure to be an epic success.
The album’s themes were inspired by core songwriter Matthew ‘Murph’ Murphy’s experiences in Los Angeles, as he was drawn to the city’s mix of “opulence and anxiety.” His songwriting for Glitterbug focused on a tumultuous relationship with a fictional woman from Los Angeles.
I caught up with Murph who was at home in the U.K., to chat about the band’s success and how they plan to conquer the United States.
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Robert: What was the vision you had going into the making of Glitterbug?
Murph: To do something different than we haven’t done before in terms of song writing. I wanted the CD to have a pretty strong theme or concept running through it. Also we wanted the band to be as strong sounding as possible during the recording of it.
Robert: Do you think that you captured your signature sound after experimenting and perfecting it on your previous CDs or is it more a happy accident that that you grew into?
Murph: I feel like this CD is as close to what we sound like live and how I think we should be sounding. It has the right moments and the guitar sound is just perfect. I do think we have a bit more tweaking to go. It’s something we continue to strive for, but I think we are close.
Robert: You’ve always taken a personal and fun approach when writing lyrics, how important is having a sense of humor when making music?
Murph: For The Wombats, my lyric writing can be a little bit morose. That’s the element of fun in it. It’s really how the song comes across to the people.
Robert: You’ve had great success on the U.K. charts, is it more of a challenge to get radio play here in the U.S.?
Murph: I think people are talking more about this new CD. With our first CD and tour in the U.S., we realized how huge the country is and how people didn’t give a fuck about us.
We were like, “This is so daunting, how are we going to go about tackling this?”
Then slowly things have been moving up, like with the new single, “Greek Tragedy.” It’s doing well and people are getting excited about us. It feels like this CD is moving forward in the right trajectory and everything is building up nicely for us in the U.S..
I think we need to keep doing what are doing and be the best band live we can be, hoping that people like the songs and the radio plays them.
Robert: Do you see your fan base growing in the U.S.?
Murph: Definitely, the shows are getting bigger. We’re also playing bigger rooms. It’s a great thing.
Robert: Is popularity on social media a mark of success for bands now?
Murph: I guess there is a possibly correlation to how well you are doing as a band.
Robert: Tell me about the connection you feel to the crowd when playing live?
Murph: We’re predominately a live band. That connection with the audience is what gets us off when we are playing live. No matter what type of crappy day we are having out on tour when we come out to play for an audience, the people lift us up and make us laugh.
We’ve been really lucky so far to have fans like that and the connection is that we want to be as close as possible to them. We try to have very little barriers with the fans for that reason.
Robert: Do you consider yourself a rock star and did you always want to be one?
Murph: I don’t consider myself a rock star and never wanted to be one. I just wanted to just be heard. Maybe I don’t see too much of a difference between the two.
Robert: Three young guys out touring the world…Whose got the dirtiest habits on the road, backstage, or on the tour bus?
Murph: Were all nice gentile people [Laughing]. I guess if there is anyone with the wild streak it’s me. But sometimes we all have our moments, but mine come much more frequently.
So to answer your question, it’s probably me!
