Wolf Alice are an English rock band from London, England. Formed in 2010 as an acoustic duo comprising singer Ellie Rowsell and guitarist Joff Oddie, Wolf Alice have also featured bassist Theo Ellis and drummer Joel Amey since 2012.

Wolf Alice played their first gig at Highbury Garage in December 2010 supporting April in the Shade, after Rowsell and Oddie met the band at an open mic at the Hope and Anchor in Islington. They released their debut single "Fluffy" in February 2013 and followed it with "Bros" in May. They released their debut EP Blush in October, and its follow-up Creature Songs in May 2014. In February 2015, the band released the lead single "Giant Peach" from their debut album My Love Is Cool, which was released in June 2015. It includes their 2014 single "Moaning Lisa Smile", which peaked at No. 9 on US Billboards Alternative Songs chart in August 2015, and was nominated for the 2016 Grammy Award for Best Rock Performance.

The band released their second studio album Visions of a Life in September 2017. It debuted at No. 2 on the UK Albums Chart, and received universal acclaim from music critics. Ranked as one of the year's best albums by multiple publications, the album won the 2018 Mercury Prize. The band released their third studio album Blue Weekend in June 2021. Wolf Alice won the 2022 Brit Award for British Group.

History

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 in support of My Love Is Cool. 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–present: Blue Weekend
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.

Wolf Alice won the 2022 Brit Award for Group of the Year.

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.

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.

Musical style and influences
While the group's early material was folk-tinged pop, they became more rock-oriented after the rhythm section joined. Generally, the band's musical style has been described as alternative rock, indie rock, and shoegaze, with elements of dream pop, folk, grunge, pop, and electronic. 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 Telegraph declare Wolf Alice's debut album as 'feral and sophisticated' in review.

In interviews, the band has cited their liking for The Vines, the Beatles, Siouxsie and the Banshees, Blur, and Courtney Love.

Rowsell's voice type is classified as soprano.

Band members

Current members
 Ellie Rowsell – lead vocals, guitar, keyboards, synthesizers, piano (2010–present)
 Joff Oddie – guitar, violin, synthesizers, backing vocals (2010–present)
 Theo Ellis – bass guitar, synthesizers, backing vocals (2012–present)
 Joel Amey – drums, percussion, synthesizers, backing vocals (2012–present)

Current touring musicians
 Ryan Malcolm – keyboards, synthesizers, piano, percussion, backing vocals (2021–present)

Former members
 Sadie Cleary – bass (2010–2012)
 James DC – drums (2010–2012)

Discography

Studio albums

My Love Is Cool (2015)
Visions of a Life (2017)
Blue Weekend (2021)

Awards and nominations

References

External links

 

 

2010 establishments in England
English indie rock groups
Musical groups established in 2010
Musical groups from London
English musical quartets
Brit Award winners
NME Awards winners
RCA Records artists
Dirty Hit artists
British dream pop musical groups
Female-fronted musical groups
울프 앨리스()는 2010년 런던에서 결성한 영국의 얼터너티브 록 밴드이다. 가수 엘리 로셀과 기타리스트 조프 오디가 어쿠스틱 듀오로 결성한 것이 시작이었으며, 2012년부터 베이시스트인 테오 엘리스와 드러머 조엘 에이미가 포함된 4인 체제로 활동하였다.

밴드는 2017년 9월 두 번째 정규 음반 “Visions of a Life”를 발매하였다. 이 음반은 영국 음반 차트에서 2위로 데뷔하였으며, 음악 평단으로부터 찬사를 받았다. 여러 매체에서 선정한 연말 음반 순위에 선정되었으며, 2018년 머큐리상을 수상하였다.

역사

2010년~2016년: 결성, EP와 “My Love Is Cool” 
울프 앨리스는 2010년 엘리 로셀과 조프 오디가 결성한 어쿠스틱 듀오로부터 시작된다. 밴드의 이름은 잉글랜드의 소설가 앤절라 카터가 쓴 단편 소설의 제목에서 따왔다. 이후 밴드의 음악에 일렉트로닉적인 사운드를 넣기 위해 로셀이 어릴 때 친했던 새디 클리어리와 오디의 친구 제임스 DC를 각각 베이시스트와 드러머 역할로 영입한다. 그리고 같은 해 ‘Every Cloud’, ‘Wednesday’, ‘Destroy Me’까지 총 세 곡이 수록된 “Wolf Alice”라는 제목을 붙인 EP를 발매하였다.

2012년, 제임스 DC의 팔목이 부러지면서 조엘 아미가 제임스의 드러머 자리를 메꾸기 위해 임시적으로 들어왔으나, 후에 정식 구성원이 된다. 또 같은 해에 클리어리도 학업에 집중하고 싶다는 이유로 밴드를 떠났고, 테오 엘리스가 2012년 말 베이시스트로 영입된다. 밴드는 사운드클라우드에 ‘Leaving You’라는 노래를 무료 다운로드 할 수 있도록 하였다. 노래가 발매된 후에는 4인조 인디 록 밴드 피스와 함께 투어를 진행하였다. 2013년 2월 체스 클럽 레이블을 통하여 첫 피지컬 싱글 ‘Fluffy’를 발매하였다.

울프 앨리스는 두 번째 싱글 ‘Bros’를 5월에 체스 클럽 레코드를 통해 발매하였다. ‘Bros’는 로셀이 쓴 첫 노래들 중 하나이며, 이후 드레스드 라이크 울브스나 데드 뉴 블러드와 같은 밴드의 투어에 참여하였다. 2013년 10월, 울프 앨리스는 첫 정규 EP인 “Blush”를 발매하였다.

2015년 2월 말, 울프 앨리스는 첫 정규 음반 “My Love Is Cool”을 발매할 것이라고 발표하고, 리드 싱글 ‘Giant Peach’를 공개하였다. 4월에는 새로운 버전의 ‘Bros’를 두 번째 싱글로 발매하였다. 6월 10일에는 새 트랙 ‘You're a Germ’을 공개하였다. “My Love Is Cool”은 6월 22일 공개되어 영국 음반 차트에서 2위로 데뷔하였으며, 평단으로부터 좋은 평가를 받았다.

2017년~2020년: “Visions of a Life”와 머큐리상 
2017년 6월, 울프 앨리스는 정규 2집 “Vision of a Life”의 리드 싱글 ‘Yuk Foo’를 발매하였다. 이후 밴드는 ‘Don't Delete the Kisses’, ‘Beautifully Unconventional’과 ‘Heavenward’까지 세 곡의 싱글을 음반을 발매하기 전까지 공개하였다. 또한 2018년에는 ‘Formidable Cool’, ‘Sadboy’, ‘Space & Time’을 싱글로 발매하였다.

2018년에 걸쳐 밴드를 투어를 돌았으며, 푸 파이터스나 퀸스 오브 더 스톤 에이지의 투어에 참여하였다. 또한 2018년 6월 29일에 진행된 리암 갤러거의 콘서트에도 참여하였다.

2018년, “VIsions of a Life”가 2018년 머큐리상을 수상하였다.

2021년~현재: “Blue Weekend” 
2021년 2월 15일, 밴드의 웹사이트에서 ‘The Last Man on Earth’가 재생되었다. 2021년 2월 22일 밴드는 싱글 ‘THe Last Man on Earth’를 2021년 2월 24일에 발표할 것이라고 하였으며, BBC 라디오 1 중 애니 맥의 쇼에서 처음 공개될 것이라고 발표하였다. 이후 세 번째 정규 음반 “Blue Weekend”가 2021년 6월 11일에 발매될 것이라고 발표하였다. 두번째 싱글인 ‘Smile’이 2021년 4월 20일에 발매되었다.

음악 스타일 및 영향 
밴드의 초기 음악 스타일은 포크의 색채를 더한 팝이었지만, 현재에는 록 장르의 음악을 한다. 클래시는 밴드를 "포크와 그런지의 사생아"라고 표현하였다. 싱글 ‘Fluffy’에서 밴드는 엘라스티카나 홀과 같은 밴드와 많이 비유가 되었으며, B사이드였던 ‘White Leather’는 디 엑스엑스와 많은 비교가 이루어졌다. 록스러운 팝(rocky pop)이라고 밴드의 음악을 표현하기도 한다. 데일리 텔레그래프는 울프 앨리스의 데뷔 음반을 수준높다고 언급하였다.

인터뷰에서, 밴드는 비틀즈, 수지 앤 더 밴시스, 블러, 코트니 러브를 좋아한다고 밝혔다.

밴드 멤버 
현재

 엘리 로셀 - 리드 보컬, 기타, 키보드, 신시사이저
 조프 오디 - 기타, 바이올린, 신시사이저, 보컬
 테오 엘리스 - 베이스, 신시사이저, 보컬
 조엘 에이미 - 드럼, 신시사이저, 보컬

과거

 새디 클리어리 - 베이스
 제임스 DC - 드럼

음반 목록 
 My Love Is Cool (2015)
 Visions of a Life (2017)
Blue Weekend (2021)

각주

외부 링크 
 
  
  울프 앨리스 - VEVO 채널
  
  
  
  

2010년 결성된 음악 그룹
잉글랜드의 인디 록 밴드
런던 출신 음악 그룹
혼성 음악 그룹
4인조 음악 그룹
RCA 레코드 음악가
브릿 어워드 수상자