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Originally formed by Juanita Stein and her brother Joel in their native Sydney under the name Waikiki, they sent demos to a list of their favourite producers and, after receiving a positive response from Coldplay's right hand man Ken Nelson, decided to move to London and reinvent themselves as Howling Bells. Cold, gloomy winters, dead end jobs and squalid one room flats helped shape their sound into gothic, cinematic, indie blues and debut album Howling Bells (2006) earned a 9/10 review from NME and a nomination for the Australian Shortlist Music Prize. They went on to support The Killers, Mercury Rev and Snow Patrol with Juanita developing into an elegantly cool front woman and an indie pin-up swooned over by teenage lads and increasingly smitten rock journalists. The band introduced synths and drum machines for the brooding, experimental second album Radio Wars (2009) to a mixed response, before recording its follow-up The Loudest Engine (2011) in Las Vegas, produced by The Killers bassist Mark Stoermer.
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