2010–2016: Formation, EPs and My Love Is Cool Wolf Alice were formed in 2010 and began as an acoustic duo 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 bass and Oddie's friend James DC to be their drummer. They self-released an EP called
Wolf Alice that year, featuring three songs: "Every Cloud", "Wednesday", and "Destroy Me". When James DC broke his wrist in 2012, Joel Amey joined the band as a temporary replacement drummer, 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
NMEs '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. Wolf Alice released their second single "
Bros" in May on Chess Club Records. "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, which was preceded by the release of "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 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, they released a reworked version of the fan favourite "Bros" as the second single from their debut album. On 10 June, the band shared a new track, "
You're a Germ".
My Love Is Cool was released on 22 June, debuting at No. 2 on the
UK Albums Chart and receiving highly positive reviews. Later that year, they released "You're a Germ" and "Freazy" as singles, as well as "Lisbon" in 2016. Later in 2016, they toured as a support act for
the 1975's tour in the US. Filmmaker
Michael Winterbottom followed Wolf Alice as they toured for
My Love Is Cool, with support from
Swim Deep and
Bloody Knees. He filmed the band and also inserted two actors among them, playing members of the road crew, with a fictional love story developing as they moved from gig to gig. The resulting docudrama film,
On the Road, was released in October 2016. According to
Deadspin, "In the documentary, Winterbottom captures 16 different gigs and daily life backstage from the point of view of a new member of their crew."
2017–2020: Visions of a Life, Mercury Prize win In June 2017, Wolf Alice released the lead single "
Yuk Foo" off their second studio album,
Visions of a Life. They released three more singles, "
Don't Delete the Kisses", "
Beautifully Unconventional", and "
Heavenward", before the release of their album on 28 September. In 2018, they also released "
Formidable Cool", "
Sadboy" and "
Space & Time" as singles from the album. The band toured throughout 2018, including dates supporting
Foo Fighters during their
Concrete and Gold Tour and
Queens of the Stone Age as part of their
Villains World Tour. They also supported
Liam Gallagher at his concert at
Finsbury Park on 29 June 2018. In September 2018,
Visions of a Life won the 2018
Mercury Prize.
2021–2023: Blue Weekend in 2022 On 15 February 2021, the band's website was updated to show a looping video of an eye, with the heading "
The Last Man on Earth". On 22 February 2021, the band announced that their single "The Last Man on Earth" would be released on 24 February 2021, and would debut on Annie Mac's show on BBC Radio 1. The release of the single was backed by the announcement of their third studio album,
Blue Weekend, which was released on 4 June 2021. The second single from the album, "Smile", was released on 20 April 2021.
Blue Weekend received widespread critical acclaim, and was nominated for the
2021 Mercury Prize. On 29 October 2021, the band released
Blue Weekend: Tour Deluxe which includes four live versions of tracks from the album ("Smile", "How Can I Make it OK", "Safe From Heartbreak", and "The Last Man on Earth") as well as a live cover of "Bobby" by
Alex G. Wolf Alice won the
2022 Brit Award for
Group of the Year. On 5 May 2022, the band released a lullaby version of "
The Last Man on Earth" as a single and announced
Blue Lullaby, an EP featuring reworked lullaby versions of five tracks from
Blue Weekend, which was subsequently released on 24 June 2022. During the summer of 2022, the band played 17 shows supporting
Harry Styles'
Love On Tour, the first date in Hamburg on 26 June and the last show in Lisbon on 31 July.
2024–present: The Clearing In February 2024, it was announced that Wolf Alice had left Dirty Hit to sign with
Columbia Records. In April 2025, Wolf Alice began to tease the release of new material on their social media accounts. On 15 May, the band released the single "Bloom Baby Bloom" and subsequently announced their fourth studio album
The Clearing, originally to be released on 29 August 2025, but later moved to 22 August 2025. In March 2026, Wolf Alice were in the lineup for a one-off concert,
Trans Mission, in aid of trans-solidarity charities
Good Law Project and
Not a Phase, alongside
Sugababes,
Beth Ditto and
Sophie Ellis-Bextor. On 28 March 2026, Wolf Alice performed "White Horses" and "Leaning Against The Wall" on
Saturday Night Live UK as the musical guest.
Jamie Dornan hosted. ==Musical style and influences==