He's the stuffed toy who appears on stage with Liverpool indie giants The Wombats. But his appearances don't stop there.

In the last year he's acquired such star status as to demand his own MySpace and Facebook pages.

"I tried to give him a voice but my ventriloquism wasn't up to it," admits Dan Haggis, the drummer, preparing to pack the cuddly toy for the band's furthest away gigs yet, in the land of real wombats.

"Cherub is coming with us. On the plane he makes a very good pillow. Who gets him depends on who has the worst hangover."

With Australians among numerous nationalities beyond the UK falling for the charms of the surprise success story of 2007, the band preceded the tour that takes them to a sold out Carling Academy on Thursday with one thing on their mind.

"We're on a mission to see and meet a wombat and get photos taken with one. Well, that's the only reason I'm going – I don't know about the others."

There are various theories as to the origins of Cherub. But Dan confirms it was down to his dad, after the toy arrived with an order of an Aussie shiraz called Wombat Hill.

"When we signed our publishing deal my dad found this wine in London and ordered several cases. He came free with that.

"It wasn't planned but when we were driving around to gigs we decided to bring him with us. Then we started to use him as a pillow and then he began to come on stage."

And courtesy of hit Moving To New York, recent charter Backfire At The Disco and their fairly essential album A Guide to Love, Loss & Desperation, those stages have grown dramatically.

The band, originally set to be called the Anal Otters, recently played to their biggest hometown audience as part of Liverpool's City Of Culture open air celebrations.

"The crowd was all around us, about 50,000. We did only one song but it was enough to need a nappy," says Dan, who also played the city's new 10,000-capacity arena.

"It was the opening night and told the story of Liverpool through music which was fitting because apparently the first American-made guitars arrived on ships at Liverpool as like a gateway to Europe."

The Wombats' mojo lies in an ability to cause a bounce while lacing their anthems with decent, knowing lyrics, courtesy of modern day poet Matt Murphy. And anything seems fair game.

"We'll go to a party and something will happen; Matt will listen to it and it'll end up in a lyric. It could be anywhere, biographical or the story of what's happened recently. Normally he writes about girls – so we are all right unless he goes through a homosexual phase.

"It is interesting abroad; if they don't get the story they can dance anyway. The lyrics are strong and people can get into them but the music is also happy and fun enough for anyone to get into it, even if they don't understand."

The band had just had a break when we caught up with them.

Bassist Tord Øverland-Knudsen went back to Norway to record with his side project. Dan hit the south of France to brush up on his French. "I dropped out of uni and I feel a bit guilty," he explains. "I was doing French and Spanish and supposed to go for a year out, but it would have been pretty hard to commute from Madrid or somewhere."

Not that it seems he needed a degree anyway. With their album shifting like half-price Big Macs, the next level of touring sold out and the festivals awaiting, the world is their, well, wombat.

"Things have gone manic. All three of us love playing live - it's always been the main thing even if it was in front of five people and a goat for £20 and we've had to drive for hours. We still love it and that rubs off – people can tell we are enjoying ourselves."

In the US they're playing smaller venues, but Dan relishes the prospect of making new friends. "It keeps it fresh, doing five or six gigs a week and to have to be playing smaller places where people don't know you; you have to win them over."

And as anyone who has caught the lads live will confirm, these can be pretty sweaty situations, which doesn't bode well for fluffy toys that cannot wash themselves.

"Now the venues are smoke free Cherub is fine," Dan reassures. "Anyway, he gets the occasional spray of aftershave."

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