The Wombats' Matt Murphy is starting a brand new band

By the time you finish reading this article, there’s a good chance that The Wombats might have announced another round of Aussie tour dates. However there’s also a very good chance we might have heard some more news about the mysterious new project from the group’s frontman Matt Murphy.

The Wombats are currently in the country for their Splendour In The Grass appearance, including a couple of headline shows in Melbourne and Sydney, but it appears that the group are already looking ahead to their future plans.

Speaking to NME recently, frontman Matt Murphy discussed what the group are up to, noting that he’s “working on a new thing at the moment and then we’ll start work on album five early next year.”

When pushed for more info about his “new thing”, Murphy reluctantly shed some more light on the topic. “It would be nice to say it when it’s all finalised and ready, but I’ve got 20 songs and it’s gonna be a new band,” he explained.

“I’m just gonna see where it goes. There were some songs left over from this album that we didn’t use and I was like, ‘They’re really good, they should see the light of day somehow.’ But since then there’s been a load more and they’ve been parked, but we’ll see what happens.”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rlOVEMHLAMc

As for the new album Murphy revealed that the group haven’t got too many plans yet, but keen to continue with the approach they took on their last album, Beautiful People Will Ruin Your Life, which was released in February.

“There’s something about the way this new one sounds,” Murphy explained. “I enjoyed making an organic album that wasn’t at the whim of production wizardry or head-fucking yourself with synthesisers for weeks on end.”

“I just liked making great songs and doing them in this guitar-y world, and I feel like that’s the path we should be going down rather than anything else. But I don’t know, it could be a country album for all I know at this moment.”

The Wombats kick off their Aussie tour in Melbourne tonight, before hitting up Splendour In The Grass on the weekend, and Sydney and Wollongong next week. The group will also be back in November for an appearance as part of Canberra’s Spilt Milk festival. So make sure you don’t miss your chance to see these honorary Aussies on their adopted home soil.