The Wombats: Los Angeles, CA

This post is dedicated to Dori who is quite possibly the hippest girl I know (though Am. Dave would say “hep”) and who insisted I give her a full report on the show.

MOE: (Addressing a large room of people) Hello everyone.

PEOPLE IN ROOM: Hi there.

MOE: (shifting uncomfortably) My name is Moe, and I’m…I’m a music whore.
PEOPLE IN ROOM: (Nodding knowingly)

MOE: I’m not sure how I got to where I am now. Pimping myself for music. I never used to be this bad.

LARGE WOMAN IN ROOM: Amen sister.

MOE: It started about 6 months ago. I was innocently browsing through my iTunes when I realized there wasn’t anything there I wanted to listen to. I went to the iTunes Store but I drew a blank on what to get. Their ‘Top Songs’ and popular downloads were awful. What people listen to in this country is appalling at times…

LARGE WOMAN IN ROOM: HALLELUIAH!

MOE: …I had already infiltrated Kevin’s CD collection years ago…

MULTIPLE PEOPLE IN ROOM: (whisper) I’ve done that. Have you done that? It’s so sad…

MOE: …the radio stations in LA weren’t helping. I used to be so with it -I mean music wise. My mother and step dad were DJs when I was growing up. I had access to so much music. Well into my twenties there wasn’t a festival where I didn’t know all the bands playing. I was even sometimes friends with some of the local bands playing there! I don’t know what happened…

MAN IN ROOM: (mumbling) You got old.

MOE: I heard that! And I didn’t get old! Not that old. Just old-ish-er.

MAN IN ROOM: That’s not a word.

MOE: Shut it! I’m telling a story here through narrative!

MAN IN ROOM: Are you going to get to your point soon?

MOE: Maybe.

MAN IN ROOM: You know you lost half the people who were trying to read this. They’ve already moved on to the Wombat story. You know, the point to this entry.

MOE: I know, I know…I tend to be wordy.

MAN IN ROOM: No kidding.

MOE: SO AS I WAS SAYING, with no access to new good music of late, I went to desperate measures. I started to steal.

PEOPLE IN ROOM: Gasp!

MOE: No, it’s true. I’m not proud. Half the delight in finding new good music is finding it all on your own. There’s a bit of smugness being in a conversation and saying, “Have you heard of So-n-So band? You haven’t? Well, you should, they’re awesome.” But I can’t do that. I’ve been stealing other people’s discoveries. And in the worst ways! If I read an interview that so and so actor likes so and so band, you know what I do? I buy it! If I watch a movie and the closing credits have a good song, you know what I do? I buy it! I’ve read music reviews in magazines and then went out and bought some of their suggestions! I’ve gone into other people’s iTunes and forced them to burn me music! I’ve gone into other countries iTunes stores and browsed their popular downloads! The Germans are really weird by the way. Oh, and if you want a good laugh, check out the Qatar store. I don’t think there is any actual music available.

MAN IN ROOM: *a-hem*

MOE: Right. So I guess what I’m saying is that if it wasn’t for my recent music whoring, I wouldn’t have ended up in LA on a school night watching the Wombats. And I wouldn’t have had a fantastic time and want to change my career from technical support to professional go-and-see-live-bands-and-write-about-them-on-a silly-blog Person. Oh, and I’d probably have a lot more money as buying loads of music is, as you may have guessed, expensive.

MAN IN ROOM: Are you done with this stupid narrative?

MOE: Um, yeah, I guess I am. Thanks for the support buddy.

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WOMBAT (marsupial): Australian. They are short-legged, muscular quadrupeds, approximately 39 inches in length with a very short tail.



THE WOMBATS (band): English. They are regular-legged male homosapiens, approximately 68-72 inches in height with such short tails you don’t even see them.



(So there Mr. and Mrs. Willoughby-Jones who insisted otherwise!)
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When I found out that the Wombats were playing in Los Angeles, it took me about 15 minutes to purchase the tickets to the show. Most of that time was used digging through my purse to find my credit card. I had asked Kevin if he had wanted to go but unbeknownst to him, I actually asked after the tickets were sitting in my hand. I really like the Wombats. And if you must pry and embarrass me, I found them on the iTunes Discovery Download of the Week a few months back. They must have a good PR rep; after downloading the free song it was less than a half hour later that I bought the whole album.



While I wiggled in my office chair the entire day of the show too giddy to do any real work, Kevin was going about as normal with general appeasing comments as I bugged him with my excitement via IM every 15 minutes. Kevin had only heard two of the Wombats songs and really couldn’t care less about seeing them. Thankfully he got more into it when we finally got there…

…to the Echoplex in Echo Park. If you Google Maps (with Street View!) the address for the Echoplex you will assume that it’s the big white building on the corner. Nope. In true ‘Swingers’ LA fashion, the entrance to the Echoplex was a side door with no signage what so ever. I never would have found it if it weren’t for the line of people waiting to get in.

Speaking of the people waiting to get in, are skinny jeans still that popular? I totally get the big floppy hair and the low top Converse, but skinny jeans? Really? OK, cool, whatever. I guess looking back I really have no right for judgment (so you can just put away that yearbook Beth).

So anyhow, on the ticket it said that the doors opened at 7 PM. The way we figured it, even though there were two opening bands, it was a small all ages show at a small venue on a school night…with the doors opening at 7, the Wombats would be playing by 9 at least. Right?

So it might have been awhile since I’ve seen a live show.

Not the Wombats, but it is the Echoplex stage.

The first band was called Pop Noir. They’re from Costa Mesa and play at La Cave on a fairly regular basis. They were…alright. Kevin and I both agreed that they were *ahem* interesting dancers. The second band was called the Afternoons. Their first couple of songs were actually really good but then...oi. They were a 7-piece band and some good songs but one of the members, the tambourine player no less, insisted of “wooooooo”-ing her way through every single number ruining them. I mean, I don’t mind an occasional “woop woop” or a “wooooo” at the beginning of a tune, but the entire song? And it was that sort of sad arctic seal on the beach about to get clubbed sort of woooooo-ing. “Look at me, feel sad for me, I’m so deeply interesting, wooooooooooo”. OK, to be fair, I just looked on iTunes in hopes to give you a sample of the woooooo-ing and it was refreshingly non-present from their album. I will just say that the audio guy at the Echoplex must have had the day off instead….

…which would make sense! When the Wombats finally took the stage at 10:30, one of their amps was piping in a local Spanish station. They took it with stride and make a joke out of it but it was so obvious that it was annoying trying to play over. But they did great. Not having a huge catalog at this point, the Wombats played all the songs from the EP and about 5 from their album. And it was fantastic. Kevin even danced! He never dances! And I bounced around like I used to at shows, except I’m older and out of shape so instead of a continual bounce, it’s more like bouncing for 30 seconds, resting for 30 seconds (maintaining a head bob), then continuing the bounce.


By the time we left at midnight, our feet hurt, our backs hurt, we were covered in sweat, our voices were going and we could hardly hear. As I said to Kevin with his grinning agreement, “I haven’t felt this good in years!”

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**Pictures from this post have been *borrowed* from the World Wide Web. Kevin has been working on a device that will permanently attach my camera to me. Either that or a big wooden hand that will slap me if I leave the house without it.