“We got chased in Rio by a gang"— The Wombats frontman Matthew Murphy recalls "freaky" incident in Brazil

The Wombats Perform At Barrowlands Ballroom In Glasgow - Source: Getty

The Wombats frontman Matthew "Murph" Murphy has recently revealed an unexpected adventure that the members of the indie rock band experienced during a night out in Rio de Janeiro. The incident happened when The Wombats were on a tour in Brazil.

Speaking to The Daily Star's Wired column, Matthew Murphy explained that the drama unfolded when a band member got into a verbal altercation with a member of a local gang, which led to a high-stakes car chase back to their hotel at night.

“We got chased in Rio by a gang. We were out, someone said the wrong thing, we were doing the wrong thing. Somebody – I won’t say who got into an argument with this other guy, and didn’t realise who he was, or what he was in,” Murphy recalled (as per Music-News)

It didn't take long for the moment to become sinister. As the band members got into a cab, they quickly realized that two Land Rovers were following them back to the hotel.

Ultimately, their tour manager intervened to bring the situation under control.

“Apparently, it was pretty freaky," Murphy concluded.

Originally from Liverpool, the Wombats were formed in 2003 and consisted of Matthew Murphy lead vocals, guitar, keyboards), Tord Øverland Knudsen (bass, backing vocals, keyboards), and Dan Haggis (drums, backing vocals, keyboards).

They have released six studio albums so far and have sold over a million albums worldwide.

When a cyclone disrupted a concert by The Wombats in Brazil

The Wombats Perform in Milan - Source: Getty

The high-stakes Land Rover chase wasn't the only alarming encounter in The Wombats' tour of Brazil. Just days before the incident, the band had to cut their Sao Paulo show short because a cyclone was wreaking havoc mid-concert.

Speaking about the same in an October 2024 interview with NME, Murphy said:

“When we played in São Paulo, a freak cyclone hit the stage in the middle of our third track and completely soaked us. Wrote off all the gear. Some steel split, and the stage we were on had folded down.”

However, the festival continued in Sao Paulo after the weather conditions had bettered a little. The Strokes even headlined later that night under unpredictable weather conditions.

Recalling the headlining performance by The Strokes, Murphy said:

“We were on the other stage, but it was facing the main stage where The Strokes were headlining. They went on that night, but all the drapes had come off, there was no screen, they were just playing against scaffolding. It was pretty ridiculous.”

The Wombats released their sixth studio album called Oh! The Ocean this Valentine's Day and will soon kick off their arena run across the United Kingdom in March 2025. The concerts will be staged in cities like Nottingham, Cardiff, London, and Manchester.

The band will also headline Summersalt in Australia this September. The tour dates for Summersalt are: