Rock band Wolf Alice have won the 2018 Hyundai Mercury Prize for their album Visions Of A Life.
The four-piece group, from north London, were visibly stunned to beat fellow contenders including Lily Allen, Arctic Monkeys and Noel Gallagher’s High Flying Birds.
It was the second time the band had been in the running for the prestigious prize after their debut My Love Is Cool was shortlisted in 2015.
Singer-songwriter and guitarist Ellie Rowsell collected the prize, saying: “This means so much to pick this up with my three best friends.”
Bass player Theo Ellis added: “When we first started as a band I remember the first label meeting we ever had, we walked into a room and the geezer said ‘You don’t look like a band at all, what are you? What are you supposed to be? All your songs sound different, you don’t look like each other’.
“We never really figured it out, but here we are so f*** you.
“This means so much to pick this up with my three best friends…” ❤️@WolfAliceMusic win the #HyundaiMercuryPrize 2018 with ‘Visions Of A Life’ pic.twitter.com/0i9FsGfS3T
— BBC Music (@bbcmusic) September 20, 2018
“He also said he didn’t want to work with women who wore make-up because it was a bunch of fuss, and here we are and I actually can’t believe it.
“Noel Gallagher is f****** sat there looking at me, what are you supposed to say?
“Big up everyone who is nominated, thank-you so much to everyone who has ever supported us or come to a show, this means the world.”
Ellie’s vocals. EVERY. TIME. @wolfalicemusic 👌🏽#HyundaiMercuryPrize pic.twitter.com/mOodRFySy4
— Mercury Prize (@MercuryPrize) September 20, 2018
Before returning to the stage to perform with the band again, he asked the crowd: “Has anyone got a Jagerbomb?”
The event saw live performances from some of the 12 shortlisted acts, including Florence and The Machine, Jorja Smith and Nadine Shah.
Also in the running for the award were Everything Everything, Everything Is Recorded, King Krule, Novelist and Sons of Kemet.
The shortlist, which aims to celebrate and promote the best of UK music and recognise artistic achievement across an eclectic range of contemporary music genres, was chosen by an independent panel of judges.
The Mercury Prize was first given out in 1992 to Primal Scream for Screamadelica, and last year’s winner was Process by singer and record producer Sampha.