Jack Bevan, Lina Simon and Yannis Philippakis were originally in cult math rock band the Edmund Fitzgerald.

[5] Walter Gervers and Jimmy Smith were part of a small Oxford band called Face Meets Grill.

[7] In early 2007, the band released the limited edition 7" singles "Hummer" and "Mathletics", both produced by Gareth Parton.

Philippakis described this period as 'the music was almost a premeditated mix of blending techno and minimalism [and] we'd set ourselves these rules, like 'only staccato rhythms', and 'guitars must be played really high'.

The album, Total Life Forever, has been described by the band members as sounding like "tropical prog" and "like the dream of an eagle dying".

The band's frontman, Yannis Philippakis, has professed a longtime interest in futurology, with it informing numerous songs on Total Life Forever.

Foals' website was updated that night with the video for the track, directed by longtime collaborator Dave Ma, and on 6 March, the Total Life Forever site was launched.

The site was opened on 13 March and presented the art concept and media including samples of songs, photos and videos.

It was released as a full physical single in September 2010, featuring an edited remix starring the strings of London Contemporary Orchestra.

[12] In an interview with online magazine Coup de Main, Jimmy Smith said how the band members live together on and off the road – heading to Australia to record demos for their next album together.

Holy Fire was produced by Flood and Alan Moulder, who have worked with many artists, including Nine Inch Nails, The Smashing Pumpkins, and My Bloody Valentine.

Yannis Philippakis stated that the recording process had some unconventional moments: "At one point we even made these poor studio interns collect bones.

According to The Guardian: "Their producers, Flood and Alan Moulder, even tricked them by recording their rehearsal in order to capture a more uninhibited sound.

The band have recently played a World and UK tour, which ended with two sell out shows at Alexandra Palace in February.

Foals shared album track "Mountain at My Gates" on 20 June, premiering the song via BBC Radio 1 as Annie Mac's 'Hottest Record'.

[16] On 6 August, Zane Lowe premiered new song 'A Knife in the Ocean' on his Beats 1 radio show on Apple Music.

[19] On 5 January 2018, they announced that bassist Walter Gervers was departing the band amicably, whilst recording of the fifth album continued.

On 7 October 2019, "Rip Up The Road", a documentary detailing the recording sessions of "Everything Not Saved Will Be Lost" and subsequent 2019 world tour, was announced, with a premiere scheduled for 11 and 15 November 2019 at London's Doc’n Roll Film Festival and thereafter exclusively through Amazon Prime respectively.

[23] On 11 November 2019 "Rip Up The Road" directed by Toby L premiered at the Rio Cinema in Dalston to an audience consisting of the band, friends and family, fans, documentary contributors/crew.

The film hones in on two career highlight shows at London's Alexandra Palace and provides a candid, entertaining and gripping perspective of life on the road and being in a band.

Due to the COVID-19 crisis and subsequent global lockdowns, the band was forced to cancel and reschedule their entire 2020 UK and world tour, in support of Everything Not Saved Will Be Lost – Part 2 till Spring 2021.

[24] However, due to the continuing pandemic and ongoing safety restrictions throughout into 2021, the band once again had to reschedule touring until 2022, save for a string of UK summer festival shows during August 2021, which would be the group's first live performances since early 2020.

[26] On 11 October 2021, the band announced scoring the opening theme of the Brian Cox-hosted BBC Two science documentary television series, Universe with an updated version of "Neptune", re-worked in collaboration with Hans Zimmer's Bleeding Fingers composing collective led by the famed film composer.

[28] The following day, the single was confirmed by the group with a teaser clip of the audio and music streaming platforms pre-save links respectively.

The single "Spanish Sahara" was nominated by the same group for Best Track on top of being named all-around Best Band and Best Live Act.

[55] In July, the MOJO honour awards also nominated Foals alongside Canadian band Arcade Fire for the calibre of their live performances.