“I’ve been listening to a lot of jazz lately. It’s really good to have it on in the background when I cook, or when I’m doing something at home; it doesn’t make me think about musical ideas. It’s like therapy, just putting it on in the background makes you really relaxed.”
That makes sense for someone whose entire life is immersed in music all the time.
Speaking sleepily on a chilly Liverpool morning, Wombats bassist Tord Øverland-Knudsen is already preparing to head into his studio to start creating and mixing some demos.
“It’s good fun; nice to have a studio with a nice little setup, we can just record all our demos there, locally.”
That little studio in Liverpool is exactly where The Wombats recorded the demo for the lead single from their upcoming, as yet untitled third record.
The final recording, however, was completed in LA with legendary producer Eric Valentine, who has produced records for Queens Of The Stone Age and Smashmouth to name a few.
The choice to release ‘Your Body Is A Weapon’ as the record’s debut single, says Øverland-Knudsen, came easily.
“It was one of the first songs that we were ever like ‘Yeah, we really like this one’ and the label really liked it. They actually asked if we wanted to just release the demo but we did want to change it first, so we went to LA and did it.
“We just really wanted to have something out before Christmas, let people know we’re still working on stuff and to tell them that we’ll still be coming back with new music over the new year.”
“We just really wanted to have something out before Christmas, let people know we’re still working on stuff…”The content of the Liverpool three-piece’s highly anticipated third album is somewhat of a mystery, however.
Their first album, A Guide To Love, Loss And Desperation was a guitar-heavy, almost post-punk offering, and the album that garnered the trio much of their fanbase.
2011’s This Modern Glitch took a completely different approach. Synths were featured heavily throughout, though the songs kept their descriptive anecdotal charm.
So what will record three look like? Not even the band knows, apparently.
“We’ve written quite a few tracks, we’re up to 17 or 18 songs, and about half of them are a bit more guitar-y, a bit more grunge rock-y, and the other half have synths. Maybe it’ll be a bit divided – the first part will be like the first album, the second half like the second album – I don’t know!” laughs the bassist.
“We haven’t fully decided on the tracks yet, when we go into the studio and do them properly we might add guitars, or we might lose guitars. I think it’ll be a good mixture! I do think the single’s a good example of what the album will sound like.”
Øverland-Knudsen himself is quite partial to the mix between traditional instruments and synthesiser sounds, it seems.
“I’ve been listening to the new MGMT album, which I like, I loved the production on that! There’s also a Liverpool band called Outfit, I listen to them quite a lot. That’s probably my favourite album of the year, look it up!”
As for bands from our part of the world…
“Hmmm … Australian bands – I love both Tame Impala records, are they from New Zealand? Also Lorde, she’s incredible, but she’s definitely from New Zealand, right?”
After a quick music geography lesson, Øverland-Knudsen concedes that Tame Impala are, indeed, his favourite Australian band.
“Back in the day, though, I was SO into Silverchair!”
Just like Silverchair in 2000, The Wombats are gracing the Australian festival scene this summer. They’re leaving the bitter cold of a UK winter to feature as a major act in the three-location Falls Festival lineup and Sydney’s Field Day.
“We’ve never been to Australia around Christmas or New Years! I’m usually at home in Norway where it’s super cold – and I’m actually going down early as well, I’m going to be in Sydney for Christmas Eve.
“It’ll be strange, having my family in Norway in -20° or -25°, and I’ll just be on the beach!”
Veterans of Glastonbury, Coachella, Splendour In The Grass and V Festival (but also having played venues like London’s Brixton Academy and Royal Albert Hall), The Wombats know the challenges and perks of a festival.
“When you play a festival, the crowds are a lot bigger, and you’re not playing to your own fans,” says Øverland-Knudsen. “You’re playing to people who have paid to see maybe 10 bands, you know? There’s an element of having to convince people who might not have heard you before…
“But then when you play your own shows you’ve got people who know all the songs, singing them back to you. Festivals are so hit and miss, they can be the best or they can be really tough.”
“Festivals are so hit and miss, they can be the best or they can be really tough.”However, they won’t be playing in totally unfamiliar territory at Falls as many of the other bands on the lineup have, at one point or another, toured with the trio.
When asked who on the lineup they’d most like to spend a day picnicking with, Øverland-Knudsen doesn’t hesitate.
“We’ve played a lot of shows with Vampire Weekend, around the time of our first album we toured with them and played festivals with them, so I’ll have a picnic with them – you can come!”
That’s possibly the nicest thing about the bassist (and occasional cellist) – his humility, something shared by the rest of the band.
Despite frequent trips to the USA, the band are careful not to have delusions of grandeur about the elusive American market.
“We’ve spent a LOT of time there and every time we go back it seems to be a little better, more people seem to be coming and we’re getting played a bit more on radio and stuff.
“It’s such a big place and so to crack, so we just have to keep coming back and keep working it, and hopefully it’ll one day come to the level that we are in the UK and even in Australia. That’s the dream!”
Falls Festival 2013 Lineup
Vampire Weekend
The Roots
Grizzly Bear
MGMT
Violent Femmes
Neil Finn
The Wombats
Pond
The Cat Empire
!!! (chk chk chk)
Crystal Fighters
White Denim
Chet Faker
London Grammar
Solange
Bonobo
Asta
Big Scary
Bombino
Crystal Fighters
Cyril Hahn
Flight Facilities
Gossling
Hanni El Khatib
Hermitude
James Vincent McMorrow
The Preatures
Rüfüs
Tom Odell
BOOGIE NIGHTS
The Correspondents
Hot 8 Brass Band
Hot Dub Time Machine
Late Nite Tuff Guy
Legs Akimbo
Mountain Mochakilimanjaro
Tom Thum
Falls Festival 2013 Dates
Marion Bay, TAS: December 29, 2013 – January 01, 2014 (All Ages)
Byron Bay, NSW: December 31, 2013 – January 03, 2014 (18+)
Lorne, VIC: December 28, 2013 – January 01, 2014 (18+)
Ticket ballot now open at http://fallsfestival.com.au/
Field Day 2014 Lineup
A$AP Rocky
Alison Wonderland
Chet Faker
Cosmo’s Midnight
Crystal Fighters
Dusky
Elizabeth Rose
Flight Facilities (Decade DJ set: decade to be chosen by public vote!)
Flume
Flux Pavilion
Hermitude
Jacques Greene
Julio Bashmore
Kill The Noise
London Grammar
Panama
Shadow Child
Solange
Ta-ku
Triple J Unearthed Winner
What So Not
Wiz Khalifa
The Wombats
Field Day 2014
1st January, 2014 – The Domain, Sydney NSW
Earlybird GA Tickets $118+bf
General Release GA Tickets $138+bf
VIP Tickets $185+bf
Also available – Ticket bundles for Field Day / Harbourlife / Shore Thing – Save up to $50*
Tickets: http://fielddaynyd.com.au/
