[2] The band is known for their song "Who Needs You", which was performed on the Late Show with David Letterman and was featured in an Apple commercial for the iPad Air 2.

The band was discovered in late 2011 by Aquarium Drunkard blogger Justin Gage, who signed them to his Autumn Tone label imprint.

[7] On November 22, 2013, Arctic Monkeys announced that The Orwells would be their support at nine American concerts in January and February 2014.

[11] The Orwells' third album Terrible Human Beings was released on February 17, 2017, containing the singles "Buddy" and "They Put a Body in the Bayou".

The album's title was chosen because according to band members, "back in Chicago, we do not have the best reputation around town" and "we're not the most liked boys on the block, for whatever reason that might be.

[19] On September 10, 2018, Consequence of Sound published a series of allegations made by nine women who accused members of the band of serious instances of sexual abuse.

"[20] On June 15, 2019, Mario Cuomo released the self-titled fourth studio album by The Orwells onto his YouTube channel, with a statement reading "Hey everybody.

The band released a statement saying "Almost five years ago, we were falsely accused of inappropriate conduct by a group of people we had never met.

[23] The lead singer, Mario Cuomo, is heavily influenced by six distinctly different performers; Iggy Pop, Jay Reatard, Julian Casablancas, Cole Alexander and Jared Swilley of the Black Lips, Pelle Almqvist of the Hives, and Tyler, The Creator—particularly Tyler's talk about skipping class, disobeying parents, and going to record.