Kendal Calling 2025: Interview With The Wombats' Matthew Murphy

If The Wombats’ debut album, ‘A Guide to Love, Loss and Desperation’ was their baby, then that baby would now be old enough to buy a drink, request a song at the DJ booth, and spend the night dancing to Joy Division. A tenuous metaphor maybe (definitely) but one which highlights just how long the three-piece have been in our lives, since the heady indie sleaze days of the late Noughties.

I’m keen to understand how this passage of time has impacted on Matthew Murphy’s song writing, he’s not longed turned 41 when we sit down to chat on a summer’s afternoon in the glorious Cumbrian sunshine, and much water has passed under the bridge since the band first began to make waves.

“I’m constantly trying to find new ways to say the same thing”

he observes

“obviously there’s different themes that you grow into and grow out of [but] it’s all cut from the same loaf of bread and I’m just trying to make sure that the bread tastes different each time.”

It’s quite the metaphor, and uttering it raises a smile from the front man who’s known for his lyrics describing situations that are instantly relatable, but which reflect his idiosyncratic world view. Murphy’s talent in this regard is unique, he’s a prism refracting the mundane into something quite different, and it’s this that has ensured the band continues to entertain fans, old and new. He says as much, as he reflects

“I’m lucky in the fact that I gravitate towards odder metaphors and I think that puts us in good stead and kind of stands us out from the pack a little bit”.

Success comes at a cost and, for many bands, this comes in the form of a punishing tour schedule; The Wombats are no exception- with a summer full of festivals across Europe and a world tour coming up in the Autumn.

“It’s been ridiculous”

Murphy muses

“all compounded by the fact that I’m living in the US and I’m just back and forwards”.

Murphy lives with his wife, Akemi and their two young daughters in Los Angeles,

“I come over for two weeks, go back for a week, come over for two weeks, go back for a week”.

It’s clear this nomadic existence takes its toll on the songwriter;

“it’s pretty mental”

he says

“but my wife and kids are over here [for the summer] they’re in Devon at the moment, so that’s nice.”

Later that afternoon, Murphy and his bandmates will take to the mainstage at Kendal Calling- the singer has his hands full, standing at the keyboard, with his Fender Telecaster Blue Paisley, but bassist, Tord Øverland Knudsen has enough energy for the whole band, leaping around nearly every inch of the massive space they inhabit for a glorious hour. The band play a crowd friendly greatest hits set, and it’s well received by the audience, but there aren’t many deeper cuts from albums, or obscure B-sides on show.

“I think with gigs, I feel like we should- as well as everyone going nuts- give everyone some kind of tour through the back catalogue; play some slower songs and try some different things out, and have some moodier moments, whereas festivals are just like wham bam thank you ma’am- there’s something very cathartic about that”.

The Wombats have matured over the past two decades, but it’s not to the detriment of their craft- their audience has grown up with them and even amongst the new wave of young indie guitar bands, they still stand out from the crowd. Murphy’s lyrics are clearly a huge part of that appeal, and he confirms he has

“no intention of changing or dumming down”

his style of writing- as long as that’s the case, and as long as the band are happy with what they’re doing, then the future’s still bright for our marsupial friends.

Interview - Jm Stokes