Lost Lockdown Interview Hello My Name is Murph
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ELLE KING here are two distinct ways of looking at our current coronavirus crisis reckons the usually rollicking R & B-rocker Elle King , who reframed and restrained herself in a hushed acoustic setting on her new In Isolation EP . And they both are perfectly exemplified in the timeless film fable Groundhog Day . Are you a glass-is-half-empty person , like Bill Murray is initially as he grudgingly finds himself reliving the same day , over and over again ? Or are you the glassis-half-full optimist that he eventually becomes , seeing every 24 hours as a chance to learn more about yourself , your capabilities , and the world around you , in general ? The first option ? Been there , done that , sighs the former hard-partying scion of comic Rob Schneider and model London King . “ I ’ ve spent most of my life as an asshole , and I was just repeating bad behaviors and wasn ’ t learning my lesson ,” she says . “ So you have to be active in change , and you have to be ready . A million people can tell you to quit smoking , for instance , but you ’ re never going to quit until you say , ‘ You know what ? I don ’ t want to do this anymore .’ And when you start trying something new and embracing change , a beautiful world unfolds for you .” Having just turned 31 , she was happy to run down a checklist of all the latest wisdom she ’ s acquired over the past four , claustrophobic months .
IE : Where are you now ? ELLE KING : I am sheltering in place with my sister and her three children , and I live at the bottom of the Hollywood Hills . So I am a true Hollywood hillbilly — I have an inflatable hot tub , I have an above-ground pool , and we ’ re just motoring through . And in a weird way , I ’ ve been counting my blessings this whole time . I don ’ t think I ’ ve ever spent this much consecutive time in my home , so the amount of downtime that I ’ ve been able to have in this consistent manner has been incredible , and I really feel like I ’ ve grown a lot . And as crazy as this situation is — and with everything else that ’ s going on in the world — I just have to maintain the beauty that can come from this and push away all my fear of change , and embrace it and just buckle up for the ride , you know ?
IE : Your EP ’ s single “ The Let Go ” sounds like a brutally frank breakup song . I ’ m sure the pressure of Covid-19 has shattered quite a few relationships , and only strengthened others . EK : Yeah . Whatever relationship I ’ ve ever been in — whether it was my marriage , my engagement , or just having boyfriends — because of my job , I ’ m always in a long-distance relationship . But this was a true test , and I am still in a relationship and still happy . And we ’ ve done a lot of work on ourselves . He ’ s on the other side of the country , and distance definitely makes the heart grow fonder . So separation can be a beautiful demonstration of love if you will . But I feel very grounded and happy . And obviously , I want to go on tour and play shows — I ’ m definitely feeling that hunger pang for live performance . But I think we ’ ve been given a test , and I tell the kids , “ This is the summer where we push ourselves , and we come out of it — out of everything that ’ s happening right now — as the best versions of ourselves that we can be .” So I think the constant theme throughout this is , “ Stay healthy , and how can we better ourselves ? How can we better the government ? How can we be the best America that we can be ?”
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6 illinoisentertainer . com march 2022
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he overnight popularity of Liverpool power trio The Wombats back in 2007 , via its postironic breakthrough hit “ Let ’ s Dance to Joy Division ,” was a welcome post-Britpop surprise . Bandleader Matthew ‘ Murph ’ Murphy and crew proved to be clever , shrewdhooked songwriters who pinballed through multiple music genres , from pop to punk , folk , R & B , even vintage disco , while emphasizing brainy but witty wordplay that became their unique calling card , one that they ’ re still playing successfully , to this day . The Wombats ’ latest full-length foray , Fix Yourself , Not the World , just hit # 1 on the UK charts , with old-school physical copies actually accounting for 86 % of weekly sales totals — a rarity in this Spotify-streaming era . But the group is also acclimating itself to our Brave New World . Soon , it will issue 3,000 unique , carbon-negative NFT ’ s that feature a Rubik ’ s Cube blockchain game which will enable players to unlock hidden content , like bonus cuts and an entire metaverse Wombats concert . An EP of outtakes and new songs will soon follow , striking while the iron of familiarity is red-hot . Everyone , it seems , continues to adore the outfit , with many new fans jumping on board . Through Tik Tok over the past coronavirus years , when locked-down music fans fell in love with an Oliver Nelson remix of a 2015 track called “ Greek Tragedy ” and Murphy ’ s esoteric lyrics “ We ’ re smashing mics in karaoke bars / You ’ re running late with half your makeup on .” So much so that viewers wound up posting over 600,000 homemade video versions of said simple addictive hook . With great new numbers like “ Flip Me Upside Down ,” “ Don ’ t Poke the Bear ,” and the trademark droll-humored “ Everything I Love is Going to Die ,” will The Wombats ’ winning streak keep on going ? Knock wood , yes , sighs an older , wiser Murphy , who admits to being a tad superstitious . He tries to keep it in check ; he says , “ But sometimes I notice myself doing things like kicking sticks over , so they ’ re not sitting on lines in the road , which I still do .” And since he does front a trio , “ One thing I always do is in multiples of three on the television — everything is always at 15 or 18 , or 12 or 9 , for the volume of whatever I ’ m watching . That ’ s the one thing I do ALL the time .” The charm appears to be working , as he explains herein .
IE : So you live in L . A . now . And you ’ re married ? Matthew ‘ Murph ’ Murphy : Yes . I ’ ve been there for nearly five years , almost . And yeah — in August of 2018 , we got married in the South of Spain , and then went to Barcelona for a few days and then Italy on our honeymoon .
IE : But now , at 37 , you ’ re dispensing lyrical wisdom morsels like some seasoned sage . Do you have a whole personal philosophy at this point ? MM : Ha ! Thank you . Since the advent of marriage and kids and moving to Los Angeles , and being there and really experiencing it , I feel like the underlying theme with whatever is guiding me is a common theme on this album . And it ’ s like there ’ s no utility in negativity anymore for me , or cynicism , for that matter , because all the good things that have ever happened to me have come from trying to have a positive mindset and see it through for as long as I possibly can . So I guess that ’ s probably what ’ s been guiding all my lyrics and things like that , especially on the last couple of albums .
IE : Did you always feel like an old soul ? Wiser than other classmates ? MM : Uhhh … no . I was pretty average when it came to grades . And maybe I thought slightly dif-
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