Their original name was The Misery Jets, which was taken from an Evening Standard headline (Eel Pie Island is under the Heathrow flight path, where planes can be frequently spotted).

They would practise in the boat shed built by Henry on land he bought after a hippie commune on Eel Pie Island burnt down.

William Rees has named Robert Fripp, Adrian Belew, Jimi Hendrix, and David Bowie[10] as his guitar inspirations.

Much attention has been drawn to their hosting of a series of parties, dubbed "The White Cross Revival", on Eel Pie Island.

[11][12] The Eel Pie Island EP was recorded soon after by a young producer called Bishop Dante at Rooster studios.

Mystery Jets ran a series of illegal parties on Eel Pie Island, attracting large crowds, before being shut down by the police.

The start of 2006 saw the band gain their highest-charting single with "The Boy Who Ran Away", play the ShockWaves NME Awards Tour and make their first appearance on Top of the Pops.

Performers were Kid Harpoon, Lupen Crook, Kate Nash, Dan Treacy and the Television Personalities, Drew from Babyshambles, Ben from SixToes, Lucas from the Cazals and Mystery Jets.

The two tracks were produced by Erol Alkan and were meant to be part of a ten-inch vinyl acoustic EP, but that idea was scrapped.

Throughout 2007 the band wrote new songs (including "Hand Me Down", "Pink Elephant" and "Undercover Lover", the latter two being renamed "Veiled In Grey" and "Hideaway" and all three being included on their album Twenty One) and played more gigs around the world, especially in America, where they released their debut album Zootime (a collection of tracks from Making Dens, as well as EPs and singles[17]) on 8 May, through Dim Mak Records.

Writing and recording sessions lasted two months, at the end of which the band returned to the UK to play the summer festivals.

[31] On 30 September 2014, the Mystery Jets played a one-off show at the Barbican in London, along with Johnny Flynn & The Sussex Wit, Marika Hackman, Dry The River, and with Laura Marling as a special guest, to celebrate Transgressive Records' tenth anniversary.

[33][3] The album's release was marked with a special one-off live show at London's ICA for competition winners and music journalists.

[37] On 30 September 2017, the band announced the support acts for the sold-out run of shows, including Sundara Karma, Jade Bird, Marika Hackman and Blaenavon.

According to Clash magazine, the album was inspired by recent large protest marches in London, and "the continuing politicisation of British youth".

Guests announced for the series include Joe Talbot (Idles), Billy Bragg, Ed O'Brien (Radiohead), Renni Eddo-Lodge, Nikesh Shukla and co-founder of the NGO Help Refugees (now called Choose Love) Josie Naughton.

The song was released as part of a bandcamp compilation (alongside Coldplay, R.E.M's Michael Stipe, Nile Rodgers and many more), available for 2 weeks only and raised money for the climate justice organisation Earth Percent, co-founded by one of the bands' heroes, Brian Eno.