[1] Performing as Murphy's Law for most of 2006, The Wakes officially formed in early 2007, releasing their debut album These Hands that summer and pioneering the first of three Glasgow-based Big Hooley concerts in September.

Despite notable personnel changes (which saw Chris Cruickshank swap flute and mandolin duties for the bass guitar and Eamonn Maguire being drafted in on drums) in early February 2008, work began on the next album; released 18 months later as No Irish Need Apply on the band's own Big Hooley label.

[4] European tours continued throughout the coming months, and in May 2010 The Wakes found themselves back in Hamburg once again, this time as part of the centenary celebrations for St Pauli, culminating in a performance at a sold-out, day long music festival in the Millerntor Stadion, sharing the bill with reuniting punk-rock luminaries Slime and indie rockers Thees Uhlmann and Kettcar.

[1][5][6] While the continued presence of electric instrumentation in The Wakes' material has provided the necessary edge to the group's rockier "folk 'n' roll" identity, they have long strived to maintain a tangible link to their traditional roots.

In August 2013, the group released The Red and the Green, which like its No Irish… predecessor received favourable criticism in various music press, as the folk 'n' roll sound further deepened.