'Giving it all you’ve got!' - Feral rockers Wolf Alice head to Oxford

In her short story Wolf Alice, the writer Angela Carter talks of a wild girl raised by wolves in the woods.

The lupine lass, we are told, has sharp ears, thick red lips, long lean legs, and gallops but never walks.

It’s not hard to see why singer Ellie Rowsell chose it as a perfect name for her own band of free spirits.

Like the wild thing in Carter’s story, Wolf Alice bristle with youthful energy and living only in the present — with all its sensual immediacy.

A raucous fur ball of indie-rock, snarling grunge, vintage metal, and riot grrrl punk-pop, they, like their feral muse, are constantly shifting, impossible to pin down.

“I’m in a guitar band and play rock music,” Ellie tells me, as she prepares to fly out to America with bandmates Joff Oddie (guitar), Joel Amey (drums), and Theo Ellis (bass), the next day.

“I don’t know what it is, myself. I’m not very good at defining anything and don’t want to pigeonhole myself.”

Ellie and Joff initially started out as an acoustic two-piece before cranking up the rock.

Their debut was 1012’s Leaving You betrayed a love of country folk, but by the time 2013’s hard-hitting (and suitably mis-named), Fluffy came out, they were running with the rock pack, and no one was being taken in by their superficial aura of sweetness. It was followed by the spangly, swaggering Stone Roses-like Bros and last year’s Creature Songs EP.

Does it mean the band are moving in a more poppy direction? “I think so,” she says. “For some reason I have a new found appreciation for that kind of music.

“Also, we are a bit older than when we started with that tense, angular thing. Maybe we are more chilled out.”

While Ellie is the undisputed head of this wolf pack, she insists it is not all about her. “I was a really under-confident guitar player and didn’t want to just be me,” she says.

“I wanted other musicians around me and didn’t see much fun going round doing shows on my own. That’s too daunting.”

And, she insists, it is not her band. “We are four leaders, which can be crazy at times,” she says.

Despite that, she says, people insist on calling her Alice. “It happens all the time,” she sighs. “I suppose I brought it on myself. It’s my fault — but it is annoying.”

With the band now on the road in a tour, which reaches Oxford for a sold-out show on April 4, how does she find being the only girl on a presumably sweaty bus full of boys?

“I don’t notice until I have another girl with me, and my girliness comes out,” she says. “It doesn’t appear when I’m the only one.

“And they don’t look after me; I don’t need looking after — but they do.”

Things have moved fast for Wolf Alice, with packed houses at gigs and marquees at Glastonbury, Reading & Leeds and Bestival. So big was the buzz at the shows last summer, they were awarded the coveted Best Breakthrough Artist at the UK Festival Awards.

“The first time I went to America was completely crazy, but playing Glastonbury was a moment when I really had to pinch myself,” says Ellie. “I had never played a big festival before, but I was so nervous it was hard to enjoy it.

Lupine delight: Wolf Alice, who were awarded Best Breakthrough Artist at the UK Festival Awards        

“My friends were big fans of Glastonbury, and I went there when I was 17 and had the most fun times ever. For your first festival it’s like ‘woah!’. I was thinking ‘Oh my gosh, I need to play here. I didn’t have high expectations though. Playing the Bandstand would have been good for me.”

And what has been her favourite moment? “Every time we play!” she says cheerily.

“All our headline shows in London are great, though. We spent so long having terrible shows with no one there.

“Now people are singing along. It’s what I wanted for so long and I thought it would never happen.

“Things like Glastonbury are great, but a good London show is amazing.”

She adds: “We’ve also played Oxford loads and every show is better. We are always grateful to come back to Oxford and want to have a debauched night!”

And were there any bad gigs? “How long have we got?” she deadpans. “Not really bad, but just times when you don’t feel it’s your show. No one told us how to do this, though. We just played loads of shows. It’s all about getting out there and doing it live. That’s a great way of doing it — along with things like having a good manager and being sure you put out the right tracks.”

“The most important thing is to be appreciative of being on stage and giving it all you’ve got.”

And what does she want next?

“So much!” she says. “ Everything we’ve got now, but bigger... and better!”

Wolf Alice
O2 Academy Oxford
Saturday, April 4
Tickets have sold out