I found W.O.M.B.A.T through the always on point What A Great Punk podcast and met their guitarist Lachlan a few weeks afterwards at The Tote. It was there that I applied some snake oil salesman charm in bid to woo W.O.M.B.A.T up to QLD.
W.O.M.B.A.T have gained big fat green ticks in the box from everyone on the scene in Melbourne, largely on the back of their industrial style work ethic of playing eight hundred shows in twelve months (slight exaggeration there), recruiting a loyal legion of supporters, and thriving on the new wave of Aussie pub rock.
With their first show in QLD up for grabs, I bolted down to Mo’s Desert Clubhouse to enjoy a ridiculously tasty Pub Feed lineup featuring Gold Coast residents Zenith and The Sex Guys along with W.O.M.B.A.T supporting their fellow Naarm rockers Arrabella and The Heist. I caught up with them and managed to ask them Five Quickfire Questions in possibly the most interview-friendly green room of comfort and soundproofing I’ve ever been in, thank you Christian!
W.O.M.B.A.T are:
- Harrison McGregor-Porcaro: Bass and vocals
- Zoe Hammond: Lead guitar
- Lachlan McGregor-Porcaro: Rhythm guitar
- Leion Katebian: Drums
1. LOOK OUT! It’s W.O.M.B.A.T. What’s the best way for someone to describe you? Think of an old school movie trailer intro…
Harry: Ow! I don’t watch movies or rather I’ve never watched movies much in my life, not going to lie.
OB: Ok, that’s fine, other areas to use your time with more purpose I guess, but think of like an intro to W.O.M.B.A.T perhaps.
Lachy: I’ve got one. So, a movie trailer and movie as well, sometimes we are as chaotic as the movie Mandy with Nick Cage in it.
Zoe: I don’t watch movies much either to be honest…
Harry: I fucking hate movies!
OB: How would you describe W.O.M.B.A.T?
Zoe: Absolute chaos as well. Mostly from Harry, definitely. But it’s got some nice little melody to it… It’s just like…
Leion: (whispers) Gen Z Twang
Harry: (shouting) GEN Z TWANG!
Zoe: That’s good!
OB: Oh, I like that, Gen Z Twang. Lock that in.
Lachy: We should coin that.
OB: Leatherman has the term “Guitarmonies”, so you could own Gen Z Twang.
Leion: Leatherman, they are cool. Yeah, that’s the phrase for us, Gen Z Twang.
2. Thanks for coming to QLD. I mean the Sunshine State is more than willing to give you a North Career (nice word play with that song title too) but can you come a little further North next gig and keep heading North too? Keep heading up the M1 to Brisbane, where else would you like to play in QLD?
Harry: I think we want to take a trip to Vinnies, (Vinnies Dive Bar) that would be a deal of fun.
Lachlan: Shame The Bearded Lady has gone.
Harry: Yeah, yeah. But I think we’ll go up to Brisbane, although we want to do the record, and then do it.
OB: Ahhh yeah! You should do a Sonic Sherpa record store show album launch there… best record store in Brissie.
Lachy: Oh yeah? What’s it near?
OB: Near the Gabba, everyone does launches there, it’s such a great vibe.
Harry: Well, we want to do an album launch tour, we think it’s time for us to get around Australia and do that. Yeah, we are so sick- oh no I don’t mean sick at all but we’ve kind of done everywhere in Melbourne and did Sydney for a weekend, now here for a weekend. But we want to organise a headline show that we can plan properly.
OB: Please keep OB in touch so we can spread the word, and help out.
Harry: Done! Done, Done!
3. What goes into a W.O.M.B.A.T Sweet Tea Cocktail?
Zoe: (Shouting) HONEY!
Harry: Honey, well not enough honey, that’s for sure…. There always needs to be a bit more honey you know? You like Sweet Tea, but you still need a bit more honey. Always a bit more. Let’s go around the band and say what should go into it. And add a bit more honey.
OB: To put it into context Mannequin Death Squad made a cocktail recipe during their interview, so we hope to publish them as a little cocktail book of bands at some stage.
Lachy: Ok, alright I like this idea!
Leion: I mean I’m not much of a cocktail drinker…
Lachy: That’s the point
Leion: But I am always drinking Scotch and coke.
Harry: What would you add to make it better though?
Leion: Honey!
Harry: So, it’s going to be honey, honey and more honey!
OB: That’s good for the vocalist then.
Zoe: Gargling some honey and water, and honey.
Harry: Might start doing that.
Lachy: Some salami and honey?
Harry: Ugh, a deathly combo.
Zoe: That sounds gross Lachy! I like Scotch and coke, or Jameson more.
OB: Well, Jameson seems to be supporting the live music scene, so maybe swap the Scotch for Jamo.
Lachy: Yes, they can sponsor us!
Lachy: Sweet tea with honey, Jamo.
Zoe: A dash of VB! Just a little.
Harry: You also need some Gatorade powder in there, for the electrolytes to help counter a hangover.
Lachy: I reckon this shit will taste fucking legendary!
OB: Ok to rehash this we’ve got: tea, honey, a dash of VB, Jameson, Coke, and Gatorade powder. We will make this up.
Harry: This is literally the W.O.M.B.A.T dream drink, we need to make this, it has to be done!
(All laughing)
4. Who are you going to share the cocktails with? If you could have a Sweet Tea Party at The Tote, who are you inviting?
Lachy: I reckon Paul Westerberg and Tommy Stinson (both from The Replacements) and maybe Spencer Trapani as well (fellow band mates from The Subordinates).
Harry: I like that ha-ha-ha! They all deserve to be there and Spencer is a friend from back home… I’ve got one, my Mum. I reckon having Mum around, she doesn’t drink though.
Zoe: She’ll have one glass of wine though. Fuck!
Harry: She’ll have a glass of the W.O.M.B.A.T Sweet Tea though, anything for W.O.M.B.A.T.
OB: A Virgin W.O.M.B.A.T sweet tea?
Harry: Exactly! Who would you invite Leion?
Leion: Ahhh, I feel like Optimus Prime! I feel like he is the coolest motherfucker I’ve ever seen. And he is a freedom fighter you know.
Harry: Should we add a dash of grease to the tea for Optimus Prime to drink to stay lubricated?
OB: Like some WD40?
Harry: Yeah grease, not like the country ha-ha!
Lachy: But, if we can bring back anyone, talking about Grease, what about Olivia Newton-John? She is a legend and along the lines of Grease.
Zoe: Oh yeah that would be nice. I’d bring my Dad as well. Because he is such a legend, he goes to all of our shows and drives me around for them.
OB: Oh, really! A big shout out to your dad Zoe, and Lachy and Harry’s Mum.
Zoe: Yeah, big ups to them, and this is making us look really good ha!
5. According to you W.O.M.B.A.T is Just a Waste Of Money, Brains, and Time. I Don’t Know about that. I’m not convinced, maybe I’m just having another Identity Crisis? Or should people make that decision up after a live show?
Zoe: We are a fun Waste Of Money, Brains, and Time, so that’s ok. It’s not a waste of joy, that’s for sure. I don’t know, what do you guys think?
OB: That’s a good quote.
(all laughing)
Lachy: No well put, well put!
Harry: We need more than that though we are… Hmm, it’s a tricky one because we call ourselves a Waste of Money, Brains, and Time but we’re really not, are we?
Lachy: No, we are the biggest capitalists…
Harry: It’s like a capitalist way of just roping people in so we can just make more money at the end of the day.
OB: To spend on honey, right?
Harry: Yeah, to buy more honey, maybe a few more drugs too, I’d like that.
Leion: We like to exploit and leverage the Melbourne fan base to our advantage, a hundred percent.
OB: Oh right, so that’s why you are doing shows up here now. You’ve wrung everyone dry in Melbourne ha-ha?
Lachy: Ha-ha yeah, we feel like we’ve ripped Melbourne off too much, so we are ripping off everyone else now!
(Everyone laughs)
I can’t really say that they ripped me or anyone in the crowd off, W.OM.B.A.T killed it! This is the product of eight hundred shows a year in our country’s cultural heartland. It was tight, full, and fast. I could visualise the influence from every Melbourne based rock and punk band from the last decade in one form or another in this Sweet Tea blend.
Don’t be deceived by their youthful claim of “Gen Z twang”, this is a time traveling muscle car of a band. With a V8 wall of guitar powering along like a HQ Monaro, revving itself stupid at every set of lights to make an EV shudder itself out of its path. Please come back to QLD you bunch of feverish hoons!
Thank you to Raani Jade (@raani.jade) for all the amazing shots in this article! Make sure to check out more of her work and hit her up for all your event and music photography needs.
