The Wombats

Not to be mistaken for the marsupials of Australian descent, these Wombats originated in 2003 when they were enrolled at Sir Paul McCartney's Liverpool Institute for Performing Arts. The trio chose to follow a familiar lineage of U.K. bands who prefer to pass the dreary England days playing snarky, spiky, dancy pop-punk. Like the Arctic Monkeys, Kaiser Chiefs, Franz Ferdinand and Art Brut, the Wombats use rebellious humor to coincide with their woozy, high-energy riffs. Their first single, "Lost in the Post," was released in 2006 and helped garner them a sizable following that was good enough to earn them the honor of being the first unsigned act to sell out Liverpool's Carling Academy. They subsequently were signed to 14th Floor Records and released their debut album, A Guide To Love, Loss & Desperation, soon after.