The return of The Wombats is rapidly building momentum ahead of the April 6th release of their third album ‘Glitterbug’.
Their new single ‘Greek Tragedy’ has already been named as a Radio 1 Track of the Day as well as XFM’s Record of the Week, while several dates of their recently confirmed UK tour are now sold-out.
The latest big development from the trio comes with the announcement that they’ll play a huge homecoming show at Liverpool’s 11,000 capacity Echo Arena on September 26th. Tickets for the show go on sale from 9am on Friday, January 30th.
Produced by Mark Crew (Bastille) and The Wombats – frontman Matthew ‘Murph’ Murphy, bassist Tord Øverland Knudsen and drummer Dan Haggis – the album’s themes were inspired by core songwriter Murph’s experiences in Los Angeles. Drawn to the city’s mix of “opulence and anxiety”, his songwriting for the album focused upon the idea of writing about a tumultuous relationship with a fictional woman from Los Angeles.
“That became the main inspiration for most of the songs, this false world that I’d created for myself,” he explains. “As time progressed, I’d go to L.A. more and more, and the idea kept on building. The album’s about the envy and the struggle and the pretence and the worry and the fear that L.A. – and every major city in the world – encompasses.”
Approximately halfway through the writing process, events conspired to curve full-circle from fiction into fact when Murph started dating a seemingly unattainable woman from the city. And so imaginary stories evolved into real life concerns: the fading embers of his relationship back in London and the challenges of maintaining a long distance relationship. Pre-orders for the album are now live at www.thewombats.co.uk.
The single ‘Greek Tragedy’ – which is available now and impacts on February 23rd - floats an East Asian-infused synth riff over booming, distorted drum beats. It’s accompanied by a darkly compelling video in which one young fan takes her obsession with the band to disturbing extremes.
In addition to their UK dates listed below, The Wombats’ will play shows in a further ten countries across Europe before they head to the States for a month-long headline tour:
APRIL
8th – Bristol, O2 Academy (SOLD OUT)
9th – Manchester, Academy (SOLD OUT)
10th – Birmingham, O2 Academy
11th – Sheffield, Leadmill (SOLD OUT)
13th – London, O2 Academy Brixton
15th – Oxford, O2 Academy (SOLD OUT)
17th – Glasgow, Barrowlands (SOLD OUT)
18th – Liverpool, O2 Academy (SOLD OUT)
19th – Newcastle, O2 Academy
SEPTEMBER
26th – Liverpool, Echo Arena (NEW DATE)
