Latest news with #Oh!TheOcean
Yahoo
23-03-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
The Wombats AO Arena review: Enduring band prove the spirit of the indie disco is alive and well
The spirit of indie pop is still very much alive and during The Wombats' AO Arena gig it had an added bit of bounce. The Liverpool three-piece, formed in 2003, stopped in Manchester on Saturday night as part of their arena tour supporting the band's sixth album Oh! The Ocean. The thousands packed into the venue undoubtedly enjoyed value for money with support coming from Red Rum Club and Everything Everything. The latter, a Manchester favourite, produced a 10-song stint which featured Kemosabe, Spring/Sun/Winter/Dread, Cough Cough and Distant Past in one of the best 'warm-ups' you are likely to see. Frontman Jonathan Higgs' unique vocals were as flawless as ever with him putting them to full use on Everything Everything's closer No Reptites. READ MORE: Late-night rave to take place in closed superstore in Greater Manchester shopping centre READ MORE: Generous numbers of Coldplay 2025 UK tour tickets still available for these locations Arguably Everything Everything's booking felt a little 'grown up' for the festivities but given how many people arrived early, to see them, that clearly didn't materialise into an issue. Rightfully so, as the band are arena headliner quality on their own. Soon after, The Wombats took to the stage, arriving to The Power of Love, by Huey Lewis and The News, invoking inevitable thoughts of classic 1980s film franchise Back to The Future. What followed was a demonstration of longevity which has set The Wombats apart from some of their peers who now, rather sadly, reside in indie landfill. Not afraid to go big early, with renditions of Moving to New York and Techno Fan, the 10,000 plus people in Manchester's AO Arena were assuredly in for a good time. This was confirmed when lead Matthew Murphy asked 'How the f**k are we doing tonight?' with enthusiastic loud cheers and whoops coming back at him. The group's indie pop calling cards have ensured such affection remains for The Wombats, aided by their sense of fun, and in more recent times their latest releases have helped them capture a new generation of fans - always evident by the fresh from exams crowds at the band's Leeds Festival sets. On Saturday, Murphy engaged fans with a song about a gender he'll never understand through Kill The Director and talk of Japan with an airing of Tokyo before a wisdom of wombats (a quick Google was needed to discover the collective term for the animal) joined Murphy and bandmates Tord Øverland Knudsen and Dan Haggis for main set closer Let's Dance to Joy Division. The resourceful wisdom firing confetti from cannons into the audience. Just for the avoidance of confusion, it was people in wombat suits... Returning for a three-song encore, Murphy declared Manchester to be 'one of the greatest cities on planet earth'. The very enjoyable evening of frolics was brought to a close with Greek Tragedy as huge inflatable colourful balls descended from above. Lots of fans took the mammoth items of memorabilia out of the venue as they headed onto Manchester's city centre streets. Sorry I'm Late, I Didn't Want to Come Moving to New York Cheetah Tongue Techno Fan Kate Moss Ready for the High 1996 Pink Lemonade I Love America and She Hates Me Kill the Director My Head Is Not My Friend Lethal Combination Blood On the Hospital Floor Tokyo (Vampires & Wolves) Patricia the Stripper The World's Not Out to Get Me, I Am Method to the Madness Lemon to a Knife Fight If You Ever Leave, I'm Coming With You Let's Dance to Joy Division Encore Can't Say No Turn Greek Tragedy
BBC News
13-02-2025
- Sport
- BBC News
Sutton's predictions v The Wombats drummer & Everton fan Dan Haggis
Newcastle have never won a Premier League game at Etihad Stadium, with their best results being two draws from 20 visits, but will they finally get the better of Manchester City there on Saturday?"I usually use science to help me make my predictions, but this time I have to think about history too," said BBC Sport football expert Chris Sutton."There are always certain grounds where, for whatever reason, some clubs cannot get over the line - but you also have to consider that these long runs without a win have to end some time."Sutton is making predictions for all 380 Premier League games this season, against a variety of week 25, he takes on The Wombats drummer Dan Haggis, who is an Everton Wombats' new album, Oh! The Ocean, is out on Friday and the band start a six-date UK arena tour in March. They also headline the opening night of the On The Waterfront festival in their home city of Liverpool in you agree with their scores? You can make your own most popular scoreline selected for each game is used in the scoreboards and tables at the bottom of this page.A correct result (picking a win, draw or defeat) is worth 10 points. The exact score earns 40 points. Haggis has already made one prediction this week - he thought Everton would beat Liverpool in Wednesday's dramatic Merseyside derby - and feels there are lots of reasons for Toffees fans to be cheerful at the moment."You've got to be optimistic as an Everton fan, really," he told BBC Sport. "Otherwise you can just get too anxious and drown in the worry of relegation battles - well, in the past few years anyway."To be fair, I did like Sean Dyche, and thought that, with what he had, he built a pretty solid unit where everyone knew their job."But obviously we couldn't really score goals, which was frustrating and boring to watch in a way - all fans want to see goals, because they are the moments of elation we all look forward to."It's very rare you are pumping the air after a 0-0 draw unless it's a hard-fought battle against Manchester City, or someone like that. To do it in those games is fine, but not every week."David Moyes has come in and has obviously been left a good foundation by Dyche. It's like he has thought he has inherited a team who are very well organised, but we can build on it."Things have definitely picked up in the past few weeks, and we have started scoring goals too, so I feel really positive." This is Everton's final season at Goodison Park before they move to their new stadium, something Haggis has mixed feelings about."I was a season ticket holder for a few years until I was 18, from about 1992 to 1998," he explained."Then Saturdays kind of got taken over by music, but I grew up going to Goodison so of course I will miss it."It is bitter-sweet, really, because the atmosphere in there when it is good is just unbelievable - I have never experienced anything like it anywhere else."Plus I have so many memories attached to the place, from going with my dad and brother, and my friends, and all the rest of it."But the new stadium looks amazing and as well as being brilliant for the club, it is going to be great for the city too, especially that part of it."Suddenly we are going to have a world-class stadium right on the riverfront, which will be amazing for lots of events, including music - hopefully The Wombats will get to support Paul McCartney there one day soon!"Chris Sutton and Dan Haggis were speaking to BBC Sport's Chris Bevan. Friday, 14 February Amex Stadium, 20:00 GMTBrighton came out on top when these two sides met in the FA Cup last weekend, and Chelsea did not offer much in attack after taking an early Maresca's side just seem to be going through a flat period at the moment. They are still fourth in the table, but their performances have definitely dipped. The Seagulls' results have been very up and down too, and it's hard to pick a winner - so I am going to go with a prediction: 1-1Dan's prediction: Chelsea are going to have something to prove after losing in the FA Cup and I actually think they are going to dominate this. 1-3 Saturday, 15 February King Power Stadium, 12:30 GMTIt seems Kai Havertz has turned into Pele in the eyes of Arsenal fans since he has been sidelined by a hamstring of a sudden Havertz is a world-beater, that they cannot cope without, when in reality he has been panned by them for his inconsistent finishing since he with Gabriel Jesus already out injured for the season, Havertz's absence will give Arsenal fans an excuse if they end up not winning anything this campaign, and there will be a pile-on to ask why they did not sign another fact Gunners boss Mikel Arteta tried to get Ollie Watkins from Aston Villa in January tells you that he wanted someone if they don't win the league, there will be this blame game. Is it Arteta's fault, or is it on the board for not backing him? Still, even with Havertz out, and Bukayo Saka and Gabriel Martinelli both injured too, I think Arsenal will have enough to beat Leicester. Leandro Trossard will probably lead their attack, although Raheem Sterling can also play up are out of the FA Cup and were walloped by Everton in their last Premier League game. This is not going to be anything like as close as their last meeting, in prediction: 0-2Dan's prediction: I have a soft spot for Arsenal because my uncle supported them and he passed away. When I see them play I think of him and hope they win, unless they are playing Everton of course. 0-2 Villa Park, 15:00 GMTIpswich boss Kieran McKenna made 11 changes for their FA Cup tie against Coventry, so what does he do here to try to stop his side's four-game losing run in the league?Last time the Tractor Boys were in the Midlands, they demolished the Sky Blues, but this is obviously a much tougher Villa also got through in the FA Cup, beating Tottenham, but they have gone three games without a win in the league - drawing with Arsenal and West Ham, and losing to three of those results came after midweek matches, however, and not being in the Champions League play-off round this week is a big boost for Emery's side are short of centre-backs, with Ezri Konsa the latest to be injured when he was forced off against Spurs, but they do have new loan signing Axel Disasi to come into their defence.I think Ipswich will score, but Villa are going to score prediction: 2-1Dan's prediction: With any luck going to Villa will give Marcus Rashford a new lease of life. I see them winning this comfortably. 3-1 Craven Cottage, 15:00 GMTFor the first couple of months of the season I was talking about how good Fulham are at home - I obviously put the mockers on them because they have not won any of their past five league matches at Craven Forest, who needed penalties to get past Exeter in the FA Cup on Tuesday, have got an excellent away record and Liverpool are the only top-flight team to have picked up more points than them on the road this is hard to call, though, because we know Fulham can turn it on, and they are a hard team to predict. They won at the City Ground earlier in the season but this time I am going with my club, Forest, to get a point and continue their push for the top prediction: 1-1Dan's prediction: I am amazed by how well Forest are doing, and they are good to watch too. They used to be one of those teams I used to skip on Match of the Day because they were boring, but not anymore! 1-2 Etihad Stadium, 15:00 GMTI am at this game for BBC Radio 5 live and there is no way City are keeping a clean fact, until I realised just how bad Newcastle's record is at the Etihad, I was thinking of backing Eddie Howe's side to have won the past 10 league games between the two sides here, and my old Blackburn strike partner Alan Shearer got the winner the last time Newcastle took the points at City - in September 2000 at their old Maine Road all points to a City win for me, far more than their current form does face it, form does not really help me much anyway at the moment. Who could have seen Newcastle losing at home to Fulham in their last league game?So I may as well say a hoodoo like this one will continue and City will get over the line, even if Newcastle do definitely have a goal or two in them.I don't think it will make much difference who City start in goal, because Ederson and Stefan Ortega have both made mistakes this season, but it is going to be interesting to see who Pep Guardiola picks with the second leg of their Champions League tie with Real Madrid coming up next week. Sutton's prediction: 2-1Dan's prediction: This is a tough one to call but City are at home so I am going with them to win. I feel like there will be a few goals because I reckon both teams will just go for it but the chances are it won't be as exciting as I think. 4-2 St Mary's Stadium, 15:00 GMTI'd be shocked if Bournemouth don't win in the FA Cup against Burnley, Southampton could not give their home fans anything to cheer about. Dear me, what a depressing season this has been for them. Saints would be better off finishing the campaign now - just packing up, shutting the ground down and looking forward to next season, or looking ahead to it, anyway - why would you be looking forward to it after such a dismal few months?Bournemouth are well organised, have a good balance to their team and Justin Kluivert is on fire. They have quite a few injuries but you don't hear them complain do you? They just get on with prediction: 1-3Dan's prediction: Bournemouth looked really good against us. 1-2 London Stadium, 15:00 GMTBrentford are not great away from home, while West Ham need to get something after taking only one point from their past three has got a draw written all over it, really, but I am not going to take the easy option and go for 1-1 here like my guest has done. That would be boring!Although Bryan Mbeumo and Yoane Wissa are always so dangerous for the Bees, I am going to go with West Ham to win Hammers boss Graham Potter has taken over a difficult situation and he is finding it hard to get results - he has only won one of his five games in charge so struggles are not on him though, and it would definitely boost their chances if he has Jarrod Bowen back from injury soon - he has been training this scored a hat-trick when West Ham beat Brentford 4-2 in February last year. There won't be as many goals this time, but I am going for the same prediction: 2-1Dan's prediction: I really like Brentford as a club. There is just something about them that is very likable, and they have been great since they came up to the Premier League. As a team they never lie down and, the way their fans are, they don't seen to get down on the players if they lose, they just support them through and through. West Ham have not had much of a new manager bounce under Potter but I have not gone for a draw yet so let's go for one here. 1-1 Selhurst Park, 17:30 GMTWhat a job David Moyes has done since returning to Everton last side gave us such great drama at the end of the Merseyside derby, although I must admit I was not watching it properly because I was covering Celtic in the Champions League for Match of the has really got Everton going again but I think he is in for a tough evening have to wonder how much Wednesday night will have taken out of the Toffees, and I suspect it was quite a Palace are going well at the moment, and Jean-Philippe Mateta will be hard to stop. The Eagles been steadily climbing the table for a few weeks now and I am expecting that to continue, although it will be prediction: 1-0Dan's prediction: I am just glad this is a mid-table match, rather than the relegation six-pointer it might have been a couple of months ago. I have got to go for an Everton win obviously, but given the defensive mistakes we made against Bournemouth I don't think we will keep a clean sheet. 1-2 Sunday, 16 February Anfield, 14:00 GMTWolves got a big win over Villa in their last league match and I watched them beat Blackburn in the FA Cup too.I cannot see Vitor Pereira's side getting anything at Anfield, have to bounce back after conceding an equaliser so late on against Everton but I do expect them to react positively might not have manager Arne Slot or his assistant Sipke Hulshoff on the bench after their red cards on Wednesday, and this is a tricky spell for them with away games against Aston Villa and Manchester City coming up next week.A lot of people might be thinking this might be their blip, but I don't think what happened in the derby is going to faze are 14 games left so they are not in the home straight yet, and they still have a seven-point cushion at the many ways, their players might use the dropped points at Goodison Park as a motivation to see off Wolves, and I am pretty confident they will get back on track straight away.I am going for Mohammed Salah to score and Liverpool to win prediction: 3-0Dan's prediction: Liverpool are going to batter Wolves - they will be seething after what happened against us on Wednesday. 3-0 Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, 16:30 GMTTrying to call this is a bit like a game I used to play with my kids, poker dice, where you roll five dice and it is completely random what you end up is the first time I have so little idea of what to expect from both sides that I actually think I need to make two predictions, rather than one.I can guarantee you this, though. Whatever result I go for, it will end up being the opposite of what actually demolished Manchester United 3-0 at Old Trafford in September but that does not really have any bearing are getting players back from injury and Timo Werner, James Maddison and Guglielmo Vicario are among those training again, but how fit are they going to be for this game?Ange Postecoglou says his players are out on their feet and we could see that in their FA Cup defeat at Aston Villa, so a lot depends on how much they have left in the for Manchester United, well I've been reading reports this week that some of their players are unhappy with Ruben Amorim's style of is lots going on off the pitch too, with stories that more redundancies are planned at the club, following controversy over a rise in ticket prices., externalWho would have thought when Ineos completed their deal to take a stake in United 12 months ago that, within a year, they could possibly be as unpopular with fans as co-owners the Glazers regards to Amorim, I just think he needs time. He arrived in mid-season, he has his way of playing and United will have to give him the players who fit that system, so it might take a window or two before we see him with the team he needs to be patience there, but we also know football fans are impatient. They want to see some improvement in the short-term, and it is hard to argue they have made any progress since Amorim took charge.I still have a sneaky feeling they might edge this game but I cannot really tell you what I am basing that is a big game for Ange too, now his side are out of both domestic cups, but I am going with United, prediction: 1-2 or 4-0 [only 1-2 will count as Chris's score]Dan's prediction: These two are both having a shocker - it looks like the league table is upside down when you see them down in 13th and 14th, and hopefully we will be above both of them by the time this game is played. They both need a win pretty badly, so I can see this being a draw. 2-2 How did Sutton do in the FA Cup? Chris picked the winner in 11 of last week's 16 FA Cup fourth-round guests, indie-rock band Doves, were right about nine of the BBC readers also got 11 predictions correct, but again Plymouth caught pretty much everyone round three, out of more than 38,000 predictions, only 4% of you went with Argyle to beat time, from about 40,000 predictions for their tie against Liverpool, just 7% of you picked the Pilgrims to progress. Will more of you back Plymouth against Manchester City in round five? What about the midweek Merseyside derby? Wednesday's Premier League game between Everton and Liverpool was originally scheduled for week 15 but was postponed because of Storm BBC readers led that week with just that game to go, on 100 points ahead of Chris and his guest - Travis bassist Dougie Payne - who were both on 70 and the BBC readers both went for a 3-1 Liverpool victory, and were both went with 1-1, giving him 10 extra points, but he needed an exact score from the 2-2 draw to take the weekly win off the BBC readers.
The Independent
13-02-2025
- Entertainment
- The Independent
The Wombats's Matthew Murphy: ‘My wife hears that Kate Moss song, and is like, Can you please stop doing this?'
Here he comes now, dashing between the twinkling fairy lights, chic bars and Harry Potter stores of Liverpool's Albert Dock towards our coffee shop date, that forgotten ex who waltzed back onto our timelines looking more and more like The One that got away. Back then, almost 20 years ago now, Matthew 'Murph' Murphy was the anxiety-riddled frontman of cartoonish indie-pop trio The Wombats, bouncing around 2007 entreating us to dancefloor catharsis in 'Let's Dance to Joy Division' where 'everything is going wrong but we're so happy!' It might have felt like a delirious but brief fling for many, but in the intervening years, and over five hit albums, Murph's band have become TikTok sensations, Gen Z heroes, a streaming phenomenon, chart-topping arena stars. Why the hell not give him a second chance? As he bustles into the bar, impeccably turned out in boho overcoat and rockstar shirt, the green flags stack up. Though tousled and tired from a week of intense rehearsals with his bandmates Dan Haggis (drums) and Tord Øverland Knudsen (bass), Murphy's small talk is friendly and tea-ful. There's a dash of nostalgia at being back in his home city, where The Wombats have convened from homes in the US, Norway and Liverpool to perfect songs from their new sixth album Oh! The Ocean for a forthcoming arena tour. He reminisces about how one emotional Valentine's Day massacre in his youth inspired the band's debut single and first Top 20 hit 'Moving to New York'. His date declined further drinks in favour of an early night, only for Murph to later spot her in a Liverpool bar 'murdered off her face'. 'She was s***faced and making out with someone,' he says, baggage long since shed. 'I got really jealous and wrote that song.' His thoughts, though, are still on his adopted hometown of LA where, until recently, he lived just a mile-and-a-half east of the Palisades fire. 'There's, like, ready… set… go,' he explains. 'We were on 'set…', but we didn't wait for the evacuation order. We just left because the air quality was f***ed.' Murph was lucky, but he knows three people who lost their homes. What struck him most, though, was the fact that his local charity shops were so overwhelmed with donations that they had to start turning donors away. 'That's a good metaphor for Angelenos in general. Everyone's a bit caught up in themselves and maybe not very grounded as a community of people, but hearts of gold.' As we relax into our mineral waters and chicken goujons, the guard begins to come down. Gradually, we unravel Murph's recent transformation from anxious, addiction-twisted hot mess baring his breakdowns, paranoias, romantic failures, narcotic habits and marital rows on albums such as 2022's No 1 Fix Yourself, Not the World to the more sober and philosophical Murph we find staring out to sea contemplating existence on Oh! The Ocean. Here, amid much rich and futuristic sonic evolution with new producer John Congleton (of Death Cab for Cutie and St Vincent fame), tracks such as 'The World's Not Out to Get Me, I Am', the happy/sad 'Gut Punch' and the fatalistic 'Grim Reaper' seem to look upon Murph's personal turmoils from a better place than before, one of acceptance of life's ups and downs. The title was inspired by an epiphany Murph experienced on a Californian beach holiday with his wife, Akemi, and their young family last year. 'I was very sleep deprived and I was looking out at the ocean, and the feeling was like, 'What is the nature of nature?',' he says. He realised right there that he'd been too wrapped up in himself for too long, numbed to reality by the 'false energy' of touring life and his own protective, enclosing mindset. 'I didn't want to deal with the sharp edges of life,' he says. 'I think of the bandwidth of life now – I'd just squashed it so that the highs weren't too high and the lows weren't too low… every day was pretty much the same day.' By then this one-time intoxicant obsessive was already solidly sober; now he feels rejuvenated too. 'I'm actually enjoying life again,' he says, smiling. 'I'm not clouded. I'm not trying to put something between me and life any more. I feel like I popped my head above the clouds.' And what dark clouds they were. The band's 2007 debut album A Guide to Love, Loss & Desperation made light indie-pop work of Murph's anxiety issues and relationship disasters; dumped on the dancefloor, lovesick at the forest rave, betrayed on Valentine's Day. 'Let's Dance to Joy Division', the album's biggest hit, celebrated how misery and ecstasy could coexist in the troubled young mind, a dichotomy that has come to define the band. As their sound gradually expanded in synth-rock and mainstream pop directions, laying the groundwork for modern alternative pop and becoming increasingly popular with each new generation of young pop fans (their 2015 album track 'Greek Tragedy', a viral TikTok smash several times over, has racked up around 300 million streams across its various versions alone), Murph's confessions grew ever more visceral and cathartic. The 2011 ballad 'Anti-D' explored his addiction to anti-depressant medication. Tracks like 'This Is Not a Party' ('It's a hurricane') and 'Out of My Head' found him indulging his hedonistic streak to self-destructive and brain-cracking degrees: by 2018's 'Turn' he was singing about 'seeing a message flash and then smashing up my phone' and 'screaming at the moon in black lipstick'. And the obsessions, letdowns and car arguments of 'Lemon to a Knife Fight' and 'If You Ever Leave, I'm Coming with You' were Kardashian-level insights into the rollercoaster of married life, episodes in a sonic Meet the Murphys that you were always amazed to find had made it to another season. Whether it was with alcohol, drugs or anything, I just like to do everything full bore, 150 per cent and with no balance Was Murph crying for help through the tongue in his cheek? It seems so. 'Whether it was with alcohol, drugs or anything, I just like to do everything full bore, 150 per cent and with no balance,' he confesses. His intake issues came to a head one summer when he was splitting new fatherhood in LA with rock'n'roll festival jaunts to Europe. 'I think I did 22 transatlantic flights in, like, 50 days. That was when it really got out of control.' He also admits to 'two or three' serious meltdowns, the worst after their major label (prematurely, in hindsight) dropped the band after 2015's third album Glitterbug. 'My ego took it really hard, and I just went into a tailspin over the course of a few weeks,' he says. A friend stepped in to get him the very best in psychiatric help. 'He spoke to The Rolling Stones's doctor, who fast-tracked me in to see the number two psychiatrist in the UK in Windsor. I went in there, I spoke to him for an hour or two. It was mad. There were lots of bankers in this place and they were still working.' Ultimately, though, it was driving to Manchester that night and playing a gig which fixed him up. 'I remember saying to Dan and Tord, 'I don't think I'm gonna get through the show,'' he says, ruefully popping a halloumi bite. 'But the gig was what sorted me out… the feeling of just being with my friends on stage. I wasn't by myself in my own head any more. I was with them and with the crowd, and I kinda got out of myself, and that was what I needed.' For all its therapeutic intent and attempts at post-traumatic equilibrium, Oh! The Ocean is still wracked with some of the issues that Mick Jagger's shrink has yet to scalpel from his psyche, largely about being his own worst enemy. 'Can't Say No' addresses his irresistible urge to follow suggestions, no matter how wild and inadvisable: car theft, cemetery parties, far east voyages, summoning demons (of which he'll admit only to a drinking session at Jim Morrison's grave in Paris). 'I have fleeting moments of feeling content, which I never had before,' he says, 'but they're still interspersed with a lot of, 'Come on, let's f***ing go'… I still feel like I want to escape. I want to either switch my brain off or toss myself in the Albert Dock, or whatever.' 'My Head Is Not My Friend' throws back to regretful hangovers of old, with their black spots full of cancellation fears and shame. And first single 'Sorry I'm Late, I Didn't Want to Come' concerns his antisocial awkwardness on the LA party scene. 'I've never been a good socialite,' he grins, safe in the knowledge he won't be named in any P Diddy lawsuits. Having been prone to drowning his nerves to scene-causing degrees in his drinking days, he now steers clear of A-list shindigs. 'They are ridiculous – everyone is painfully good looking and it can be quite shocking at first. And then some people are just weird and cool and off the wall, and some people are really trying to climb the status hierarchy. It's hard to differentiate who is who.' Having dished some gossip about the real-life neighbours whose divorces, breakdowns and Lactating Mommy OnlyFans accounts are detailed in ' Kate Moss ' ('My wife is like, 'When our friends hear that, you've put yourself and me in a really weird position again. Can you please stop doing this?''), we set about putting the world to rights. When Murph first wrote a song called 'I Love America and She Hates Me', it was intended to both lampoon gun culture but also balance the pros and cons of LA's go-getter mindset. 'It's made me 10 per cent more productive, 10 per cent happier,' he claims. 'It's hyper-competitive but also very supportive.' As it approaches release, though, it's becoming ever more pertinent. As with all Valentine 2025 dates, talk turns to Trump. 'I'm a bit worried about these whopping great tariffs that I think he's just done so people come to the table and want to cut a deal with him,' Murph says, ducking around the topic with impeccable expat tact. 'If they don't then it could backfire. But I'm very much like, 'touch some grass, don't watch MSNBC, and don't get up in arms', because what he says and what he does are pretty different.' A viral success story on the site himself, Murph is well placed to dissect the impact of a looming TikTok ban. 'Some great stuff has come out of TikTok,' he considers, 'but it can promote artists that either don't have that much substance or don't know what they're doing yet, because things can happen so fast.' The result, he feels, is an increasingly brutal pump-and-dump culture; our timelines clogged with musical crypto scams. 'It just seems like another way to send someone up to the moon and then f***ing lob them back down, which is not good for the creative soul. I'm very lucky that it was always a slow gradient upwards [for us]. It was never an 'up to the moon' and then you've got to figure out how you can live on the moon for the rest of your life.' And The Wombats might as well have been living, growing and headlining arenas on the moon for the past 15 years or so, as far as their less clued-up critics are concerned. Does Murph often meet people completely unaware of how big they are now? 'Yeah, all the time,' he laughs. 'The amount of people I've met who remember a song that was on The Inbetweeners and then say, 'Well, what happened to you guys? Where did you go? Are you still making music?' And I'm just like, 'I'm on f***ing album six, and we've literally just done thousands of shows non-stop'.' Turns out, all along, The Wombats ticked all the boxes. Murph is a real keeper.
