Beware of Wombats

The Annex is an establishment that’s name is directly comparable to its layout. When you walk in the door, it’s a sharp, semi-dark hallway that leads you to a second door, which upon opening it you see (when it’s crowded, and probably also when it’s not) a huddled mass of people more or less staring in your direction. There’s a bar and a balcony type thing—but no stage. Until you turn around and see, in what could be the kitchen of a restaurant with the walls knocked out, a performance area with a band, and lights, etc.

It caught me off guard and I immediately decided that I would limit my visits here.

Going to this show was a whimsical decision—having been invited a day earlier to “Come check out” this band. (An offer I could never turn down) So, I downloaded the few songs I could find because The Wombats have never actually released an album yet, and this was their first gig in the United States. It’s always interesting to attend those types of shows because you can just imagine what a big deal it is for the band and you know that they are going to attempt to play the best set of their lives.

I really enjoyed listening to their songs and it made me that much more excited to see them live. Since I don’t really buy CDs that much anymore, I make a honest commitment to seeing the bands I listen to live in concert, 1) because I love live music and can really see what the band is like 2) to compensate for me not actually buying the album 3) because some bands are horrible live and therefore I probably won’t spend much more time listening to their album.

The Wombats are really fun live and I anticipate their first release and potential to be a popular band in that British indie rock genre, like The Cribs or on a larger scale, Arctic Monkeys.

As for the set, it was short and to the point, and you could tell that the crowd was filled with the usual LES wanderers just looking for a good show and people that the promotional firm got to come out. For a Wednesday night, I thought it was a pretty good turnout for a band without a true album playing their first New York show.

They played some songs that I suppose you could classify as hits, mainly because I was able to find them on the internet, so someone out there thinks they’re catchy enough, and Wikipedia puts them on the tracklist to a mysterious LP released in Japan.

“Moving to New York” is definitely worth listening to, and “Let’s Dance to Joy Division” is definitely going to be on my rotating playlist this fall, but right now I have to settle for listening to it on their Myspace page, www.myspace.com/thewombatsuk, which really looks like The Wombats suck. (They don’t.)

All in all, an enjoyable midweek treat and a suitable prelude to another albumless unknown that I will seeing this weekend. Fun times. Can’t wait.