Bats To The Bone

By Joe Kavanagh

There is an old expression that says that if you are not in a band in Liverpool then you either manage one or you used to be in one and you now drive a taxicab. While this was certainly accurate during the halcyon days of the 60s and early 70s, the northern city has had a somewhat mixed fortune in the music world over the past decade or so.

Aside from a few notable exceptions such as The La's, the city once known as 'the capital of Ireland' has struggled to recapture the form that made it the UK's capital of music, conceding the title to Manchester in recent years.

The past few years, however, have seen a resurgence of the city's music scene with acts like The Zutons and The Coral once again making the city a relevant musical force.

Like many of the bands that came before them, these acts are typified by catchy pop hooks and a certain eccentricity steeped in the DNA of local bands.

Now another name can be added to the list, with the meteoric rise of local heroes, The Wombats, who have come out of nowhere to become one of the most toasted bands of 2007; an act whose album is expected to launch them to international stardom upon its release later this summer.

The Wombats are a 'typical' Liverpool act. You want eccentricity? The only reason the band actually began playing live was to secure the £370 required to buy a painting of a goat called Charles, who they claim was the inspiration for their first tune, An Ode To Charles The Goat, which recounted the tale of a goat who suffered from a drug problem.

You want quirky? Most of the bands lyrics are strictly tongue-in-cheek stories dealing with subject matter about marsupials, embarrassing dance moves and how much the band hates romantic-comedy movies.

Even their road to the top has been strange, with the band forgoing the typical method of gigging throughout the UK until securing their break and instead leaving for places as far away as China and Japan in order to make their own luck.

Now, finally, people in Europe are beginning to realize what those in the Orient have known for at least a year: The Wombats are one of the hottest bands in music. The trio formed in 2004, when native Scousers, Mathew 'The Dog' Murphy (vocals/keys/guitar) and Dan 'The Pig' Haggis (drums/vocals), met Norwegian, Tord 'The Fox' Overland-Knudsen, while they were studying at Paul McCartney's Liverpool Institute for the Performing Arts.

Jamming together intermittently for 12 months, they made their live debut for the aforementioned reasons, but such was the enthusiasm with which they were received that they realized instantly that they had created something special that might even offer them a career.

Working tirelessly on their songwriting skills, the band soon began to put out demos at a prolific rate, becoming somewhat of a local legend as each release showed remarkable improvement over its predecessor. Aside from their quirky lyrics, the songs almost all contained huge choruses that made each one a potential anthem and they soon gained a huge following in Liverpool.

Reinforcing the notion that they were something special was the band's live show, which is nothing short of explosive, positively charged with energy as the trio jump around stage, in the company of their stuffed toy wombat, which serves as their official mascot. In fact, they proved such a local phenomenon that they became the first unsigned band in the storied history of city to sell out the Liverpool Academy early last year.

Instead of becoming crestfallen by such an industry response, the band signed a deal with the tiny Japanese label. Vinyl Junkie, and began releasing their records in the Land of the Rising Sun.

By the early summer of 2006 they had achieved a significant enough following in Japan to warrant a tour there but even this was not enough as their manager pulled off somewhat of a coup when he managed to talk to organizers of China's Midi Music Festival into including the band on their bill, despite the fact that they remained essentially unsigned.

From playing to a maximum of 500 people in the UK, the band found themselves playing to a crowd of 15,000 in Beijing in May of last year and not only did they succeed in winning over the crowd, they were the sole act called out for an encore by the baying crowd.

Returning to the UK, the band retained their prolific nature, releasing several more singles and even an amusing Christmas song in the form of Is This Christmas? By now UK labels had finally taken note and as the offers poured in, the band took their time upon deciding which label would fit best with their DIY approach.

In the end they settled upon Warner offshoot, 14th Floor Records, and were sent out to perform at the renowned SXSW Music Festival in Austin, Texas, where bands from all over the globe put their wares on display in front of music lovers and record executives alike.

Despite fears that their inherently British lyrics would fail to translate for an American audience, The Wombats infectious hooks and instantly catchy choruses saw them hailed by many of those on hand as the strongest UK entrant in the showcase, with a sound that can loosely be described as Weezer meets the Arctic Monkeys.

Now the momentum has begun to gain traction in Europe with their last single, Kill The Director, debuting at #35 in the UK music chart and a recent tour with fellow up-and-comers, The Holloways, receiving overwhelmingly positive reviews in the music press.

A US-only EP will receive a limited release this summer in order to introduce the band to residents on the left side of the Atlantic but after a few false starts; it appears that nothing can stop the onward march of The Wombats.