The Wombats have revealed the secret to maintaining their popularity over 10 years since releasing their debut album – and why the death of guitar music has been greatly exaggerated.

Speaking to NME ahead of releasing fifth album ‘Beautiful People Will Ruin Your Life’, singer Matthew Murphy explained how the band place constant focus on developing their live reputation – with their next UK tour taking in huge UK venues including Alexandra Palace.

“I guess it’s always been our priority as a group”, Murph told NME.

“I think we are good live and we kind of pride ourselves on being a great live band. The lyrics we write obviously help that and it almost rejuvenates it.”

And despite talk of guitar music facing its demise, Murph insists that it’s instead experiencing a “storm”.

“I don’t believe that it’s dead at all, it feels like a really exciting time to be in a guitar band”, he candidly revealed. 

“I mean, obviously it’s not dominating the scene or charts or whatever but yeah I wouldn’t say it’s dead or dying.  I feel like we’re in the middle of some weird storm at the moment.”

And with the release of their fifth album today, Murph admits that they went back to their very record in order to distill the essential sound of a Wombats record.

“I think there was kind of an element of taking things back to the first album, although the first album kind of sounds like a million miles from now”, he admitted.

“I mean, we were screaming in your face like some sort of yapping Yorkshire terrier back then so I think we’ve gone back into a more laid-back approach for the recording.

“The way it is sonically is what we were aiming for here”. 

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