The band was composed of vocalist/guitarist John Bramwell, bassist Peter Jobson and drummer Andy Hargreaves.

[5] I Am Kloot were formed by members of The Mouth,[6] a band co-fronted by John Bramwell and Bryan Glancy.

[11] Peter Jobson moved from Morpeth, Northumberland to Manchester to study at Salford College (where he graduated with a BA Hons in Popular Music and Recording)[12] and befriended Bramwell at The Night and Day Café, where they both ended up working for several years booking bands.

Jobson first saw Bramwell play at Castlefield Arena in central Manchester on 15 June 1996, the day of the IRA Bomb and ended up joining The Mouth who had released one single "Bang" the previous year,[13] replacing the band's original bassist Simon Burns.

[15] The band released their debut double A-Side single "Titanic/To You" in November 1999 on local label Ugly Man Records,[16] which was advertised around Manchester city centre with posters bearing just the lyric "there's blood on your legs, I love you" daubed in red ink, leading to complaints in the local press.

[19] The band borrowed £1,000[20] to release the single and packaged the records in brown paper bags instead of proper sleeves to save money.

Instead, the promo video was made available through the band's website and only received a physical release in the Benelux countries on the PIAS record label.

The album was recorded at Moolah Rouge Studios in Stockport with Joe Robinson, who had previously worked with Badly Drawn Boy and Alfie.

[30] Bramwell proclaimed that "something clicked in the last 12 months, I felt as if the band had just begun, as if we'd sprung from the head of Zeus in Full body armour",[18] yet later claimed that he "got the shakes around Gods and Monsters.

On 21 November 2005, the band released the Guy Garvey/Craig Potter produced stand-alone single "Maybe I Should" via their own label, Skinny Dog Records.

[40] To reflect the live nature of the recordings, the album was released as I Am Kloot Play Moolah Rouge, initially as a limited edition hand numbered 2000 copy CD in November 2007 at three shows at Manchester Academy (the same venue where they previewed some of the songs a year previous),[41] before receiving a full commercial release through Skinny Dog Records on 14 April 2008 with an additional DVD featuring a documentary on the band from the now defunct Channel M station.

[45] In October 2009, the band released a double album compilation of B-sides, rarities and previously unreleased songs under the title B.

We got played on the radio, which had never happened before, and then to be nominated for the Mercury was massive for a band like us – we’ve always been about word of mouth" and admitting that prior to the album being released, that "after 10 years of gigging and working hard, we basically had nothing at all - no manager, label, money, we were pretty fucked up to be honest".

[14][55] Bramwell described the album as "a bit of a sidestep; a one-off, single-themed, late-night, romantic LP".

"[24] The band released the live album Hold Back the Night on 13 April 2015 via Walk Tall Recordings / PIAS.

[66][67] The band performed in June 2016 as part of the 'Guy Garvey's Cultural Meltdown' at the Royal Festival Hall in London.

[68] He later added that "the real reason I’ve gone solo is because I started as a finger-style classical and folk guitarist.

In response to the nomination, Bramwell stated: "I thought we'd be out of, off people's radar enough, that they wouldn't have, kind of, noticed.