Following a few tapes and seven inches on various labels, in June 2012 Cheatahs released their first EP, “Coared”, recorded and produced by Dean, on Marshall Teller Records, of which the NME wrote: “by pushing the hooks and melodies to the fore and not just relying on the “sound”, this new quartet are elevating themselves to be one of the best.”

With songs written by Nathan and James beginning to pile up, the band decided to make a follow up EP immediately; again produced by Dean, the quartet recorded the bulk of the music in their Hackney studio over a weekend in June.

Originally conceived as a solo bedroom project in 2009, Cheatahs is the brainchild of Nathan Hewitt (guitar, vocals). Having left his birthplace of Morinville, a small town on the outskirts of Edmonton, Canada, Hewitt ended up in London, where he spent some time as guitarist in Little Death. The lo-fi ethic of Little Death carried over into his solo project, which began with the nostalgic sound of "Warrior," released on 7" by Young and Lost Club, before Hewitt put Cheatahs on hold to concentrate on being the touring guitarist for Male Bonding.

Cheatahs frontman Nathan Hewitt and guitarist James Wignall met eight years ago while working in a Camden pub, and instantly bonded over their shared passion for music and Seinfeld. Nathan had just moved to London from his hometown of Edmonton in Alberta, Canada, while James, originally from Leicester, had moved to the capital after studying in Leeds. Fast-forward six years––each having played in various bands in between––and the friends finally began to work seriously together when Nathan asked James to collaborate on a batch of songs he’d been working on. The musical understanding between the two was instantaneous and they went about recruiting two friends to complete the lineup––bassist and producer Dean Reid, who had moved to London from San Diego, California, a few years before, and drummer Marc Raue, originally from Dresden, Germany.

Having apparently named the project due to him "cheating" on his previous band, Hewitt managed to bring others along for the trip. John Arthur Webb (Male Bonding) and Nell Eu (Screaming Tea Party) both "cheated" on their respective bands to bring Cheatahs to the live setting, before James Wignall of Weird Dreams (guitar, vocals), Dean Reid (bass, vocals), and Marc Raue (drums) cemented a four-piece lineup in 2012. The slacker sound of Coared EP, released in June of the same year on Marshall Teller Records -- whom Hewitt had helped by designing their first logo in 2010 -- blended the sonics of Dinosaur Jr. with the melancholic nature of Elliott Smith. In 2013, eight years after Cheatahs was formed, the group released Extended Plays, a collection of their two prior limited-edition EPs, Coared and Sans.