Artist description The Urban Wombats are a folk-based acoustic trio who performboth original songs and covers. Musically they consistt of two guitars and three vocals. Some covers include The Beatles, The Steve Miller Band,James Taylor, and Dave Matthews. They have been gigging for over a year now and have released one CD entitled "Intimate with Urban."It is available through private sales.

Music Style Acousic folk music with three-part vocal harmonies

Musical Influences Bob Dylan, The Beatles, Dave Matthews, Ani DiFranco, Moxy Fruvous, Peter Paul and Mary

Similar Artists Peter Paul and Mary, Phish, Moxy Fruvous, James Taylor

Artist History James Smith and James Cleare have been friends for many years, and explained that musically, they "excelled at the same pace." They played their music together enough to start writing and performing original songs. When they both heard Heather sing in a local musical, they asked Heather to join the band. Later she accepted, and as James Smith put it, "we realized we weren't anything without her." The band now practices at least once a week and tries to write and rehearse a new song every week.

Group Members James CleareJames SmithHeather Robb

Instruments 6 and 12 string acoustic guitars, electric guitar, piano, percussion, cello, vocals

Albums "Intimate with Urban"

Press Reviews By SHARON R. COLENEWARK POST CONTRIBUTING WRITERI f any of the Urban Wornbats' youthful trio were nervouslast Saturday, it didn't show as they took command of alocal stage performing both original and cover musicwith cool confidence and composed humor.Lounging on bean bag chairs that lay in front of a ground-level stage, a group of teens soaked in the melodies of songsperformed by the band with the unusual name at the UnitarianUniversalist Church on Willa Road in Newark."We want to make this informal," announced vocalist andguitar and piano player James Cleare as the concert began."We want to interact with the audience and keep it sentimen-tal."In storytelling fashion, the three members of the band,Cleare, 17, Heather Robb, 16, and James Smith, 16, per-formed, all the while keeping the mood light and relaxed,The band wasn't performing for just a few good friends.Behind the bean bag loungerswas a packed house of morethan 75 people.The concert,, which wassponsored by the church'syouth group, was put on to ben-efit an adopted family thatreceives support from Newark'sUnitarian Church. - Proceedsfrom the concert's ticket andi-efreshi-nent sales are to be usedto supply a family of six withnecessities.Harvey Manchester, directorof religious education at thechurch, described the concert asa way to bring people together."Part of the reason for thisconcert is to give people across generational lines the opportunity to be together," Manchester said.In the audience were people ranging in age from infant tobeyond 60; and the Urban Wombats found a way to cover thegamut.Their song,list included popular ballads of Sarahand Ben Fold's Five, in addition to the cool tunes of Dave Matthews and back to the 70's music like Space Cowboy by the Steve Miller Band.Considering their ages, the accomplishments of the group are impressive.Not only was the group able to memorize and rehearse many cover songs for their two-hour performance, but they ,also wrote, produced and performed their own music and lyrics for the show.Oh yes ... they also recorded a nine-track CD, featuring orig- inal music, at Target Studios in Elkton, Md."it was pretty cool wearing those headphones and recording the music," said Smith with his hands on his ears.Smith, who attends Kennett High School, plays the guitar, vocalizes and plays the cello.Originally, Cleare and Smith spent a lot of time developing their musical talent together, but after hearing Robb's voice in a performance at Tatnall School, where both Cleare and Robb attend, Cleare said he had to ask her if she would start singing with them.Since August the band has been rehearsing as often as they can at Cleare's house.According to Karen Barker, Robb's mother, the group would practice all the time if their par- ents let them."They get together once or twice a week and on vacations and holidays," she said."They would do it more often, but they've got homework to do."Putting aside being a proud parent, Barker admitted, "It's a lot of work doing all of this on this scale and the fact that they have the where-with-all to practice, write and get themselves out there is impressive."Showing off their diversity, Cleare and Smith also per- formed a jazz and an acoustic guitar duel. which led them tofiercely plucking their strings at high speed. As for the story behind the name Urban Wombats, none ofthe three were unwilling to divulge any information.

Additional Info Stay tuned for a live album comming soon

Location Kennett Square, PA - USA

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