The Wombats have announced eight new tour dates across the UK this August October with the final one seeing the band come to Manchester’s O2 Victoria Warehouse.
The new dates will see the three piece play headline shows in Edinburgh, Belfast, Dublin, Sheffield, Norwich, Nottingham, Birmingham before heading to Manchester, in addition to their previously announced arena tour this April, which includes a landmark show at London’s The O2 on 15th April. The news follows the release of their fifth studio album Fix Yourself, Not The World in January, which topped the UK albums chart, making it their debut number one album.
Recording remotely from their respective homes, the band worked hard to produce some of the most captivating, inventive and forward-thinking music of their career to date. With frontman Matthew “Murph” Murphy in Los Angeles, bassist Tord Øverland Knudsen in Oslo and drummer Dan Haggis in London, they discussed each day’s plan via Zoom, then recorded separately, sending individual files to producers Jacknife Lee (U2, The Killers), Gabe Simon (Dua Lipa, Lana Del Rey), Paul Meaney (Twenty One Pilots, Nothing But Thieves), Mark Crew (Bastille, Rag‘n’Bone Man) and Mike Crossey (The 1975, The War on Drugs, Yungblud) to mix into the finished tracks. “It was pure madness, to be honest,” explains Murph.
“We’re so excited for people to hear this new album! We’ve explored new genres and pushed ourselves further than ever musically. It will always stand out for us in our memories from our other albums as we recorded it across three cities during lockdown, and we weren’t all in the same room at the same time!” says Dan Haggis.
Over 15 years into their career, The Wombats are pulling in bigger audiences than ever before. The viral success of Oliver Nelson’s remix of their 2015 hit ‘Greek Tragedy’ on TikTok has enraptured a whole new generation of fans, a feat they’ve managed to continually repeat since their 2007 debut A Guide To Love, Loss & Desperation. Used in over 600,000 videos (some of which have over 100 million views), the remix has rocketed to over 50 million streams, propelling the original to 140 million streams and sending it Gold in the US.
It’s helped the band surpass 1.5 billion worldwide streams, also amassing an extra 2.5 million monthly listeners on Spotify in just 6 months; further illustration, if any were needed, of The Wombats’ ability to reach new generations of fans through the timeless power of their songwriting and lyrics alone.
Earlier this month the band dropped their first ever NFT experience, teaming up with leading Web3 Agency Kollectiff to release 3,000 unique carbon negative NFTs. Fans are able to purchase their own unique Metaverse-ready avatar that can be used in virtual gaming world The Sandbox, also gaining access to a Rubik’s Cube blockchain game that unlocks tons of exclusive utility including access to unheard B-sides, VIP tour tickets, super rare memorabilia, virtual meet & greets and tickets to a virtual concert in a purpose built stadium in the Metaverse. Fans are able to mint their NFT for £140 (0.07 eth) from The Wombats website.
With their biggest ever UK headline tour around the corner and Fix Yourself, Not The World being lauded by fans and critics alike, the most exciting chapter in the story of one of Britain’s most adored bands is well and truly underway.
