Wild Beasts are a 4 piece band from Kendal, United Kingdom now based in London, UK. Wild Beasts were formed in 2002 in the north western England town of Kendal, by Queen Katherine School students Hayden Thorpe (vocals) and Ben Little (guitar). They originally performed under the name of Fauve, the French term for "wild beast". In January 2004, schoolmate Chris Talbot (drummer) joined, and they changed the band's name to Wild Beasts. The following year another student, Tom Fleming (bass), became a full time member of the band. After A-levels, they all decamped to Leeds, where three of them enrolled at the city's university whilst Little worked at odd jobs.
Their debut single, Brave Bulging Buoyant Clairvoyants backed with The Old Dog was released on Bad Sneakers Records on 20th November 2006. Their second single Through Dark Night backed with Please, Sir was released 23rd April as their last single on Bad Sneakers. In February 2007 the band signed to Domino Records. A debut album Limbo, Panto was released in the UK on June 16 2008 with strong critical endorsement. Their second album, Two Dancers, was released on 3 August 2009 to widespread critical acclaim, recieving 9/10 reviews from NME and Drowned in Sound. It was also ranked at #41 on NME's top 100 albums of the decade. Their third album, Smother was released on May 9, 2011.
The four boys of Wild Beasts aren’t concerned with being of the modern, or being of the renaissance, being baggy pantsed or being tight pantsed, being in a scene or being in a place. Wild Beasts’ music just is.
On 25 September 2017, the band announced that they were disbanding.