I’m a recovering Anglophile. In my younger and more vulnerable days, the majority of my playlists were dominated by the English accented sounds from across the pond.
Not surprisingly The Wombats, the trio of Liverpudlians rockers, found a way into my ears one high school semester. Their garage mod pop tunes of their first album A Guide to Love, Lost, and Desperation captured some sort of English romanticism and youthful escapism in my imagination. For no fault of their own I moved on to other music and lost track of their progression until recently, yet their catchy hit “Moving to New York” always found a way to loop in my head on more than one occasion.
I learned on Tuesday at the Paradise Rock Cloud the song still has a powerfully raw charm. The Wombats came to town to support their newest album Glitterbug. They played to a herd of true blue Wombat fans. Fairly youthful for the most part. In fact, the dozen or so +30 and +40 something year olds I found in the balcony probably could be equated for the high school looking fans in the front rows. Pure speculation on my part, but all I’m saying there were plenty of hands with X’s in the air.
Cheerleader, from Philadelphia, opened the night and as the latecomers, such as myself, arrived we were treated to 5 piece band interspersing the sounds Green Day vocals and Cold Play ballads that engulfed the club. The crowd joyfully cheered them on for their upcoming debut album’s namesake “Sunshine of Your Youth” and gave them a hearty applause when they exited.
Life in Film appeared next. The 4 piece that hail from London were high energy and friendly with the crowd.
“We heard Boston was the most English city,” they called after one of their songs. Hmmmm… maybe? I’ve been to England and our cold Atlantic wind driven weather and our spastic shaped roads bear a similar semblance. “We also heard you’re the most friendly”, Life in Film continued. Ahh… what? I dunno, I guess, if you think being friendly entails sarcasm, dry humor, and unwavering boldness in conversations. Wait… yep that’s English culture for you. Welcome brothers!
Their set was fairly similar sounding throughout each song. I wish they played more songs similar to “Anna, Please Don’t Go”. Its folksy inspired finger picking on the electric guitar with sparsely placed drum and bass fills combined with the yearning lyrics of love to build an enjoyable break from the more conventional rock songs they had been playing. They have an untitled album coming out later this year that is definitely worth the investigation.
After their performance, the stage crew sound-checked various instruments and broke out two sets of synth keyboards. While the audience waited, the chatter buzzed with excitement. It was clear with no surprise, people were anxious for what they came here to see.
Enter the Wombats. BAM! Off they went, opening with “Your Body is a Weapon”; a single of their latest album. The crowd sang and danced excitedly as the song alternated between light verses and heavy choruses with cheerful vocal melodies. This was a high energy intro, which was surprising giving what lead singer and guitarist Mathew Murphy said following the song:
“Hello Boston. I just want you all to know…today is a very special day… yes, today I managed to throw up in my own face. Unfortunately we’re all feeling a bit knackered and tired today. We will try to give it our best, but we’re gonna need you to sing real loud at the choruses. My voice is going to crack at some point, when it does, you all have to cheer.”
Murphy did look ill. There were slight bags under his eyes, his skin had a pasty pale hue, and his curly hair was disheveled. I originally thought he just looked like any English rock star. For the first few songs he could have fooled me. The Wombats setlist began with the octane rockers, after the second song, they began instrumental storm of noise. The drums thundered, the bass rumbled, and the guitar squeal of distortion. It lasted for a minute and broke into “Moving to New York” and then seamlessly into another new single “Greek Tragedy” to the excitement of the crowd.
I was thrilled too, my inner high school self let loose, but… unfortunately towards the middle of the show the crowd and I seem to disagree on how good the next few songs were. I’m my opinion The Wombats started losing steam, as the set became slower and heavy with electronic and dance elements. The synths melodies became carnival carousel rides with muddy power chords and disco drum beats. Songs like “Be Your Shadow” with the lyrics “Just one more uptempo tune /The suits don’t care if their feet aren’t blue /Are you aware of whats going on /In my heart, my heart, my heart” caught me as uninspired and cliché. I felt we went from high energy rock to mid tempo shallow dance pop.
Yet, the crowd was amped the entire time. A girl in front of me looked like she was alternating between different seizures of the limbs on each song. This lead me to believe that my judgment was based on my expectations and personal tastes more than the Wombats’ performance, which was admirably tight and professional. The bass player was running around the stage like he was being chased by an invisible demon. Maybe he was. The dance tunes were bringing down the house. I wanted the garage, mod rock sound of early Wombats and instead discovered their new style is quite well received. As “Techo Fan” began I reached my lowest point of enthusiasm but after observing the crowd and the energy of the band, relative to their ill health, I let go of my preconceived notions and enjoyed myself. I also have to admit, though I do not care much for this radio friendly electronic inspired Wombats, props to them for changing their sound and for trying something new.
As the night wrapped, the country inspired “Little Miss Pipedream”, the raw “Kill the Director” and the playful encores of “Emoticon” (dedicated to Gandalf) and “Lets Dance to the Joy Division” brought my interest back into the game. Like the stage lighting, my mood shifted, but by the end I saw and felt high powered reds, to pretty greens, to somber blues, to seducing pinks, to flashing oranges and back to the fast changing reds and my experience became a full circle. The Wombats said that the last time they were in Boston they played to a crowd of 17 people (they counted) at the Great Scott, and here they were now, selling out the Paradise and bringing joyful and danceable music to the excited fans. I may not agree with everything I heard, but for sure it was clear, the Wombats put on a hell of a show.