walking upstream…
Wet Leg
photo: raph_ph · cc by 2.0 ↗Wet Leg
sourcesGuitar World
Wet Leg began on the Isle of Wight, where Rhian Teasdale and Hester Chambers had played in other bands before deciding, at a festival, to start something of their own. Their 2021 debut single 'Chaise Longue' — deadpan, absurd, built on a clipped two-chord riff — became an unlikely viral hit, and their 2022 self-titled album turned that arch, spoken-sung delivery and jagged guitar interplay into a full record, sweeping the alternative categories at the 2023 Grammys. The writing pairs bored, funny, quotable one-liners with sudden bursts of noise and shouted release. They expanded to a five-piece live band and returned in 2025 with 'Moisturizer,' trading some of the irony for plainer songs about desire and devotion.
the sound in question
2021
Chaise LongueWet Leg
walk the tributaries ↓
Kings of Leon2000s · Southern rock / Garage rock revival / Alternative rock
Kings of Leon hold a specific place in Wet Leg's origin story: Teasdale has said 'Molly's Chambers' was among the first songs she tried to learn on guitar. Their scrappy, riff-first early garage rock gave her a working template — simple, repeatable guitar parts that shove a song forward — which surfaces in Wet Leg's chunkier, riff-led tracks where a single insistent figure does most of the work.
listen: upstream & heresource: Wikipedia ↗
2003
Molly's ChambersKings of Leon
2021
Wet DreamWet Leg
listen forSet 'Molly's Chambers' beside 'Wet Dream' — both are built on a short, distorted guitar riff that just keeps hammering, drums pushing hard behind it, the whole thing over almost before it settles.
The Strokes2000s · Garage rock revival / Indie rock
The Strokes are among the guitar bands Teasdale has said she grew up on, and their fingerprints are all over Wet Leg's rhythmic attack: interlocking, tightly clipped rhythm-guitar parts and a flat, unbothered vocal delivered just behind the beat, more talked than sung. Where a lot of UK guitar music chases the big anthem, Wet Leg share the Strokes' taste for a taut, economical groove and a studied cool that treats detachment as its own kind of hook.
listen: upstream & heresource: Wikipedia ↗
2001
Last NiteThe Strokes
2021
Chaise LongueWet Leg
listen forPlay 'Last Nite' next to 'Chaise Longue' — both lock a spiky, treble-heavy guitar figure to a steady, unshowy beat while the singer half-recites the lyric, letting the rhythm section carry the energy the voice deliberately withholds.
The White Stripes2000s · Garage rock / Garage rock revival / Blues rock / Punk blues / Alternative rock
The White Stripes are on Wet Leg's list of cited influences, and the link is partly structural — a stripped-back guitar-and-voice core that prizes rawness over polish. You hear it in Wet Leg's willingness to let a song stay primitive and loud: a fuzzed, repeating riff, an arrangement with nothing to hide behind, and a sudden tip from deadpan into shouting.
listen: upstream & heresource: Wikipedia ↗
2002
Fell in Love with a GirlThe White Stripes
2022
Ur MumWet Leg
listen forLine up 'Fell in Love with a Girl' with 'Ur Mum' — both take a blunt, buzzing riff and a plainspoken vocal and then break into raw, distorted release, trading finesse for a frantic, unguarded charge.