Wombats @ Spaceland, 3/11/08

Three blokes from Liverpool walk onto a tiny stage in Silverlake. What ensued next was a combination of witty English banter – ranging from the discussion of refried beans, a mole on the ass of a teddy bear, and various species of marsupials – and poppy songs about moving, girls, movies…and girls. What more could you want really?

The Wombats consist of: Matthew Murphy on vocals, guitar and keys, Dan Haggis on drums and background vocals, and Tord Øverland-Knudsen on bass and vocals. With five singles out across the world (two of which cracked the UK’s top 20), the band has hit stateside to tour behind The Wombats Proudly Present: A Guide to Love, Loss & Desperation.

Playing for just over an hour, the boys tore through “Moving to New York”, “Let’s Dance to Joy Division”, “Backfire at the Disco” and “Kill the Director”, which, as they tell it, is written about their loathing of the film “The Holiday”.

The sounds throughout the evening came off very fresh, at times a bit too “Arctic Monkey-ish”, but still very enjoyable for a non-packed night at Spaceland. The crowd was quite enthusiastic, and it was nice to see a fair amount of people actually dancing.

Photos by James Huddleston.