Wolf Alice

Members

Former members:

History

Wolf Alice were formed in 2010, and began as an acoustic act between Ellie Rowsell and Joff Oddie. Their name came from a short story by Angela Carter. Eventually deciding to add electric elements to their sound, they recruited Rowsell's childhood friend, Sadie Cleary, to play the bass, and George Barlett, a friend of Oddie to be their drummer. They self-released an EP called Wolf Alice that year, with three songs - "Every Cloud", "Wednesday", and "Destroy Me" - as well as a video for "Wednesday".

When their drummer broke his wrist in 2012, Joel Amey joined the band as a temporary replacement, but later became a permanent member. In that same year, Cleary left to focus on her studies. Theo Ellis was then recruited as their bassist in late 2012. They released the song "Leaving You" online on Soundcloud as a free download which gained airplay from BBC Radio 1 and featured in NME's 'Radar' section. After the song was released, they toured with Peace, and recorded a session for Huw Stephens' Radio 1 show in January. They released their first physical single "Fluffy" in February 2013 on the Chess Club label.

The band released their second single "Bros" in May on Chess Club. "Bros" is one of the first songs that Rowsell wrote, which the band played in their early stages, leading to a tour where the band were supported by bands such as Dressed Like Wolves and Dead New Blood. In October 2013, Wolf Alice released their first official EP called Blush, and official video of the single "She".

In December 2013, they were chosen as the single most blogged about artist in the UK in that year by BBC Radio 6 Music. In 2014 they signed to Dirty Hit Records, and released their second EP Creature Songs in May. In December 2014 the band were named "Best Breakthrough Artist" at the UK Festival Awards.

In late February 2015, Wolf Alice announced their debut album My Love Is Cool, and released the first single from the album, "Giant Peach". In April 2015 Wolf Alice released a reworked version of fan favourite "Bros" as the second single from their debut album. On 10 June 2015 Wolf Alice shared album track "You're a Germ" via Soundcloud. Wolf Alice released "Freazy" as a single in late 2015.

They have toured extensively as a support act for The 1975 and cite them as their peers.

In June 2016, Wolf Alice announced that they have started working on song writing for their second album, due sometime in 2017.

Musical style

While the group's early material was folk-tinged pop, they became more rock-oriented after the rhythm section joined. Clash described the band as "the lovechild of folk and grunge". The "Fluffy" single saw the band compared to Elastica and Hole, while the single's B-side, "White Leather", saw comparisons to The xx. Kitty Empire, writing in The Observer, described their sound as "an engaging strain of off-kilter indie rock". The band describe their music as "rocky pop". The Daily Telegraph declare Wolf Alice's debut album as 'feral and sophisticated' in review.

Filmography

Wolf Alice was followed around 16 different gigs for the 2016 documentary "On the Road", directed by Michael Winterbottom.

Awards and nominations

Song usage in media