LONDON - Rock band Wolf Alice won Britain’s Mercury Prize on Thursday for album Visions of a Life, beating off competition from the likes of Noel Gallagher’s High Flying Birds and the Arctic Monkeys. On receiving the award, frontperson Ellie Rowsell said: “This means so much to pick this up with my three best friends”, while bassist Theo Ellis recalled how the band were knocked back by a record label head for their image, for Rowsell wearing makeup, and for their genre-resistant take on indie rock and post-punk, adding: “But here we are, so fuck you!”

Prior to the ceremony, Rowsell struggled to express how appreciative they were for the nomination: “We were so happy we got nominated. More: Wolf Alice will “say goodbye for a while” before their third album

“You get given almost 300 albums - so I know the intensity and the frustration of making that decision,” she said, reflecting on her time in 2016 as one of the Mercury Prize judging panel, adding: “Now I know what overwhelmed feels like.”

Wolf Alice had been nominated for their debut album My Love Is Cool back in 2015, but on that occasion lost out to Benjamin Clementine. Visions of a Life bested 11 other albums for the 2018 Mercury Prize honor, including Lily Allen’s No Shame, Arctic Monkeys’ Tranquility Base Hotel & Casino, Everything Everything’s A Fever Dream, Everything is Recorded’s self-titled album, Florence + the Machine’s High as Hope, King Krule’s The Ooz, Noel Gallagher’s High Flying Birds’ Who Built the Moon?, Novelist’s Novelist Guy, Nadine Shah’s Holiday Destination, Jorja Smith’s Lost & Found and Sons of Kemet’s Your Queen is a Reptile.
The band Wolf Alice wins the 2018 Hyundai Mercury Prize for its album Visions of a Life.