The Wombats star Matthew Murphy wanted to 'document' his journey to sobriety on new album: 'It was a pretty kind of funky two years'

Matthew 'Murph' Murphy wanted to "document" his sobriety journey with his new album.

The 39-year-old singer - who is best known as part of the rock band The Wombats alongside Tord Øverland Knudsen, and Dan Haggis but in recent years has embarked on a solo career under the name of Love Fame and Tragedy - decided to give up alcohol for good and explained that he wrote his latest record 'Life Is a Killer' during that "catastrophic" time.

He exclusively told BANG Showbiz: "I wasn't sober when I was writing it but I was definitely writing from the aspect of a person who isn't sober and I… it was a pretty kind of funky two years I'd say and I'm glad that I kind of had it documented that I'm glad that it's been documented by this album. The album was written during just not a catastrophic time but I had extreme highs and extreme lows and dealing with family life and trying to balance that with work.

"I was also flying a lot for The Wombats festivals. There was one flew I did like 22 transatlantic return flights in in like 60 days or something. And then the album was kind of written, I didn't so much decide 'I'm gonna write an album' rather than I was on this mad journey and chose to document it along the way."

The 'Don't You Want to Sleep With Someone Normal?' hitmaker - who was born in Liverpool but now lives in LA with his wife Akemi Topel and their two daughters - explained that he is feeling "way happier" since giving up the booze and described going sober as the "best gift" he could have ever given himself.

He said: "I'm way happier and my home life is way better. I'm just less...I have kind of returned to sanity a little bit and I'm kind of by myself more excitable about stuff and it's a lot of hard work but I'm getting to this stage now where I'm really starting to think that this could have been the best the best gift I could have ever given myself.

Love Fame Tragedy's new album 'Life Is A Killer' is out now via Bright Antenna Records.