Swaby and Taylor became friends in 1998 when they bonded over vintage R&B music and Jim Jarmusch films and soon formed the band.

The band's third album The Glorious Dead was released on 21 August 2012 via a partnership between Counter Records and Ninja Tune.

[6] The band undertook an extensive tour of the United States from August to September 2012, with sponsorship from the American beer company Miller Lite.

could be heard being played over the speakers at the McCormick Place Convention Center in Chicago, Illinois, the 2012 election night location for U.S. President Barack Obama, just after the projected results for Ohio were announced.

was featured in the opening montage of Hockey Night in Canada's broadcast of Game 6 of the Stanley Cup Finals.

with B-side "The Big Bad Wolf", and "The Sleeping Ignoramus" from third album were featured in the 2011 video game Driver: San Francisco.

"Short Change Hero", from the Heavy's second album, has been used in the film Faster; The TV shows "The Outlaws (2021 TV series)", The Vampire Diaries, The Listener, Suits, The Umbrella Academy, and Killjoys; the ITV documentary Best of Enemies; the trailer for Batman: Arkham City, and in the promos for the first season of Haven and second season of Longmire.

An instrumental jazz version of "Short Change Hero" later appeared in Poker Night 2, which featured characters from Borderlands.

"Short Change Hero" also features in the virtual reality rhythm shooter game Pistol Whip during the opening level of the campaign "Smoke and Thunder".

", from their third album, was used for the launch trailer of Sleeping Dogs, the official theme song for the 2013 Royal Rumble pay-per-view event, was featured in the 2013 film Grudge Match, the video game NHL 13, the trailer for Dallas Buyers Club and Guinness' "Sapeurs" commercial, a production in collaboration with the advertisement agency, AMV BBDO, which was hailed as one of the most successful example of brand-agency partnership as top-classed quality adverts have been consistently produced.

The band also made their second appearance on Late Show with David Letterman on 28 August 2012 performing "What Makes A Good Man?"

[15] The band was asked to record a cover of the song "And When I Die" for the fourth season finale of True Blood.

On 23 February 2016, The Heavy were the musical guest on Le Petit Journal (Canal+) where they performed their single, "Turn Up" from their album Hurt & The Merciless.