Indie rock icons The Wombats have had some huge tracks but there’s one that takes ‘hit song’ to a new level as it’s inspired fans to lob lemons at them.
‘I get a lot of lemons to the solar plexus during festival season,’ lead singer Matthew Murphy, better known as Murph, confirmed to Metro.
Released in 2018, the single Lemon to a Knife Fight quickly became a fan favourite, inspiring this bizarre tradition of hurling fruit at the band.
After six years, dodging lemons is just part of the show for Murph and his bandmates Tord Øverland Knudsen and Dan Haggis.
‘I feel like I probably saw it coming, well, figuratively and literally,’ he joked when asked if The Wombats had anticipated the response.
However, the Greek Tragedy hitmaker isn’t asking fans to stop despite the obvious risk of bruising, instead he ‘wants more of them’.
‘Lemons with messages on would be cool,’ he laughed. ‘I don’t know, you could write anything on them.’
Murph suggested a nice haiku or even Einstein’s most famous equation, anything that might entertain the band during their sets.
He continued: ‘I loved it. I’m all for it. Any fruits, any primary colours. You know, it’s a big thumbs up from me.’
This isn’t the only lemon-based song Murph has written, there is also the hugely popular Pink Lemonade from 2015, for which pink flowers are often thrown.
Fair warning for attending a Wombats gig on their upcoming UK tour — expect plenty of fruit-related tracks and watch out for flying lemons.
And then there’s a possible appearance from their trademark brass instrument playing wombats.
‘I’m starting to fear that we’ve tired that one out,’ he says of the people dressed in wombat costumes who have been known to invade the stage.
‘Well, that’s what my wife keeps saying, “Oh God, the f**king wombats again”. I’m like, “No, everyone kind of likes them”.
‘I think for at least one song they’ve got to come out. Whether it’s more than that…’
The costumed wombats usually pretend to play trumpets so Metro suggested that they should have a whole marsupial band at the ready.
Murph laughed and mused: ‘That would be cool. Yeah, like an orchestra pit of a bunch of people in wombat costumes, miming instruments. That would be pretty genius.’
The Wombats 2025 tour kicks off in March — with tickets on sale now — but first, they’re heading on a brief record store tour to celebrate the release of new album Oh! The Ocean.
This new record is intentionally not as ‘tight’ as previous Wombats albums have sounded, leaning into the ‘f**k ups’ that only a human can make.
‘It’s not perfect and it contains mistakes and human elements,’ he shared, explaining the band ‘tried to do something different’ in response to the wave of AI and perfection.
Murph said: ‘For this one, with AI, the way that music was going, and how my fear was projecting the way that music was going. I was like, “This is weird, what can’t AI do?”
‘I thought, well, they’re not going to teach AI how to f**k up very well. They aren’t going to teach it how to f**k up as well as we can. So let’s make an album of f**k ups.’
The Wombats 2025 UK Tour dates
On February 14, The Wombats will release their newest album Oh! The Ocean.
They will embark on a record store tour throughout February, visiting the likes of London, Brighton, Liverpool, and Manchester.
As well as their UK dates, the band is heading around Europe throughout March and April.
Tickets are already on sale for their follow-up UK arena tour via Gigs and Tours as well as Ticketmaster.
The Wombats UK tour dates
- Tuesday, March 18 – Motorpoint Arena, Nottingham
- Wednesday, March 19 – The O2, London
- Friday, March 21 – Utilita Arena, Cardiff
- Saturday, March 22 – AO Arena, Manchester
- Sunday, March 23 – Connexin Live, Hull
- Tuesday, March 25 – OVO Hydro, Glasgow
- Wednesday, March 26 – First Direct Arena, Leeds
- Saturday, May 24 – Neighbourhood Weekender Festival, Warrington
- Thursday, May 29 – Trentham Estate, Staffordshire
- Thursday, June 19 – Pier Head, Liverpool
- Thursday, July 31 – Y Not Festival, Pikehall
- Friday, August 1 – Kendall Calling, Penrith
For the record, Murph does ‘not hate AI’ but wanted to create an album that felt much more raw and is filled with ‘happy accidents’.
He’s hoping Oh! The Ocean has the longevity of some of their other records admitting he doesn’t love everything he’s written, be that solo or Wombats projects.
‘I feel like it’s part of the job,’ the Techno Fan singer shared. ‘You can’t be obsessed with everything that you’ve ever done.
‘I care about them deeply but I’m quite good at detaching from it. I just want to move forward and not look back with too much of a meritocratic hat on.’
As the main songwriter for The Wombats, Murph has shared a lot of his past through the music from anxiety spirals to issues with alcohol.
Once the songs are out there, he no longer feels deeply connected to the emotion of the lyrics as ‘every word was maybe drawn from [him] in the creative process.’
Singing those tracks on tour now is ‘closure’ for Murph who would be ‘getting hammered all the time’ before heading out on tour and doing it all again.
Murph is now sober and lives in Los Angeles with his wife Akemi Topel, who he married in 2017 and the pair have two children.
He continued: ‘I didn’t really have anyone or anything to answer to, and no reason to stop doing it. Now, everything’s much different but better, healthier and more exciting.’
After over 20 years in the business, the Turn singer is ‘secure’ in the music The Wombats are creating and is ‘really excited’ for fans to hear their new stuff.
‘This UK tour, I think it’s going to be bananas,’ Murph said before adding: ‘So maybe it should be banana-themed.’
Move over lemons, there’s a fresh yellow fruit on this Wombat’s mind.
The Wombats’ new album Oh! The Ocean is out on February 14 and tickets for their tour are available now.
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