Courteeners’ Liam Fray has spoken to NME in regards to the band’s longevity and twentieth anniversary celebrations and future plans as they launched their ‘best of’ compilation ‘God Bless The Band’ with an intimate Manchester gig at Night & Day Café on Saturday (April 11).
Announced last Thursday (April 9) with new single ‘The Luckiest Man Alive’, ‘God Bless The Band’ (due August 28), is being launched to have a good time twenty years of Courteeners. The career-spanning assortment comprises hits like ‘Bide Your Time’, ‘Modern Love’ and ‘Not Nineteen Forever’ – which options the lyric “God bless the band” – and one other new track titled ‘Plus One Forever’.
Paying homage to their sweaty roots, the Manchester guitar heroes’ return to Night & Day marked their first present on the iconic 250-capacity unbiased venue since May 2007. The band have additionally revealed a UK enviornment tour for November, donating £1 + VAT from every ticket to the LIVE Trust that supports grassroots venues and artists.
In the center of town’s vibrant Northern Quarter, as loads of hopeful punters hovered across the door, the ambiance at Night & Day was feverish as Courteeners walked on stage to Iggy Pop’s ‘Lust For Life’ and repeated chants of “Liam!” Taking issues again to the start with the indie bounce of ‘Aftershow’, ‘Kimberley’ and ‘Cavorting’, a lot of the setlist hinged on materials from their revered 2008 debut ‘St. Jude’.
“This one’s for the boring dickheads who moan about their wives,” stated Fray earlier than debuting the euphoric ‘The Luckiest Man Alive’. Other highlights included a winding ‘The 17th’, crowd sing-alongs to ‘Smiths Disco’ and a stadium-sized ‘Lose Control’. Saving ‘Are You In Love With A Notion?’, ‘Not Nineteen Forever’ and ‘What Took You So Long?’ for the encore, Fray thanked the devoted for “changing our lives”, urging them to “come and support” unbiased venues like Night & Day, which confronted threats of closure in each 2014 and 2021.
Talking to NME forward of the present, Fray elaborated on the band’s bond with the venue, the place they rehearsed within the early 2010s. “It was our home,” he stated. “It’s a actually vital sew within the cloth of town. We had been there the opposite day doing a photoshoot, like, ‘This place is bigger than us.’
“People are starting to realise that you can have a million fucking views on TikTok, but it don’t necessarily translate to tickets,” he continued. “You’ve got to get in those venues, get people to come and watch you, give them a good time. We’ve got to keep those places open, and if we can do anything to help along the way, we’ll always give it. We owe it to them forever.”
Check out our full interview under, the place Fray mirrored on the band’s survival, the Gen Z followers they proceed to attract, and why he’s biding his time with Courteeners’ subsequent album.
NME: Hello Liam. We mentioned a ‘greatest hits’ to you in 2020, and you responded with “stranger things have been suggested.” Why did now really feel like the appropriate time to outline and have a good time the easiest of Courteeners?
Liam Fray: “I had these two new songs, however the reality is there wasn’t an album there. Sometimes you’ve got these outliers that don’t suit your file. They felt actually recent to me. [Sometimes] you maintain on to a track, it’s misplaced its spark and you’ve misplaced your respect for it. You know what? No, let’s put these out. I’ll be sincere with you, the ‘best of’ is not that a lot work from our viewpoint. I say that – I spent about six weeks doing fucking paintings!
“The next move has to be really different. I don’t know what that means, but I felt like [2024’s] ‘Pink Cactus [Café]’ was 10 pretty direct pop songs, and I don’t think that’ll be the next move. These singles are pretty poppy as well. I have a real fondness for that, but maybe the next record will be a big shift away from that… that’s why there’s a ‘best of’, because I don’t want to rush an album.”
You’re clearly fascinated with the subsequent album, however does it converse volumes about Courteeners’ survival and longevity to be ready to indulge on this 12 months of celebration?
“This little gig at Night & Day, it’s made my year. I fucking love that place. Even that being part of the launch of the ‘best of’ and the story… 20 years is not to be sniffed at. This industry will kick the shit out of you, so to be still breathing and wanting to do it is a fucking miracle, if I’m honest.”
Indeed, some critics wrote Courteeners off from the beginning, “the industry washed its hands” of you at factors, and you had to defend yourself in opposition to accusations of misogyny within the early days. How troublesome has it been to overcome these connotations?
“I really struggled with it at the beginning, and then that comes out in you defending yourself all the time, which isn’t what being a songwriter is about. Obviously, you’re not articulate enough, and I’m still not… defence becomes attack, and you give this account of yourself which probably isn’t the best version of yourself that your friends and family know. That is a fucking vicious cycle. It takes a long time to get over that, but we’re well over it now, and we’re in a good place.”
You’ve told us beforehand in regards to the high quality steadiness between being grateful for the life you’ve got, whereas additionally rightly highlighting the struggles alongside the way in which. Did the previous feeling play into the brand new single ‘The Luckiest Man Alive’?
“There’s undoubtedly a little bit of me in there, but in addition being within the pub, at work and listening to that basically archaic factor of males moaning about their wives. I’m like, ‘You haven’t received a fucking clue, mate. You’ve received a good life’. Maybe it’s feeling a bit happier with getting older, settling into your self a bit extra. I do know there’s huge issues on the market, however once you look internally, you go, ‘Some people have got it alright.’
“I feel really lucky to do this, but there’s a small part of me that thinks, ‘We’ve been through the mill.’ It’s not like we haven’t earned our place. That’s why I buzz off seeing Wolf Alice do so well: they’ve earned it. Each record has been better and better and it’s [proof that] it doesn’t have to blow up on album one. ‘St. Jude’ did fairly well, but you’re still going, ‘What happens next?’ We got dropped after two records by Universal. You’re doing your work experience in front of the whole world.”
Why do you suppose Courteeners haven’t solely stood the take a look at of time, but in addition now percolated into Gen Z audiences?
“Maybe as a result of we bubbled beneath the floor. There’s that little jealousy factor once you’re actually younger, ‘Oh, we should be up there.’ No, you’ll be alright, hold doing what you’re doing and you’ll be okay. Maybe the truth that we weren’t in folks’s faces as a lot initially? I write pretty easy rhymes which can be a bit relatable to folks? I don’t know.
“We rehearse on the outskirts of the city centre, and last week we could hear these 14-year-old kids covering the Arctics, Kasabian, and then they were doing ‘Not Nineteen Forever’. Genuinely, we all stopped, and it was a real tear-in-my-eye moment. That is real. We went downstairs and said hello… it really stayed with me. That you might be inspiring a couple of kids to pick up a guitar, fucking hell, wow. It sounds big-headed, saying it out loud, but I have to share it, because it was really special.”
Which youthful acts do you particularly see a little bit of Courteeners in?
“I see a bit of myself in Seb Lowe. I love Arkayla. There’s a picture of them in the pub, and I thought, ‘Yeah, that was us 20 years ago.’ They look like a gang. The singer’s fucking great. He’s not just a singer, you can tell. I love Ellur, her album blew me away. It’s got real heart, you can feel her in the songs.”
You’re lastly stepping up to headline London’s 10,000-capacity Alexandra Palace. Has it ever bothered you that you just’ve by no means reached the heights of the capital’s arenas and parks that you just recurrently promote out nearer to residence?
“I haven’t thought about it. We’ve got such a lovely relationship with Brixton [Academy]. I don’t think I’ve registered yet that we’re doing Ally Pally. Hopefully we sell it, but I’m not as obsessed with that anymore. Even if it’s nearly full, get me in that fucking room. It’s quite nice to be at this stage, knowing that people still want to come. It puts a bit of pressure [on the] next album.”
What else are you able to inform us about album eight?
“There will be a next album, but there might be a break after this [year]. We’ve never had a summer off in 20 years, but then I say it out loud, and I don’t want one either. I’m not tired, I just want to be a bit more considered – without sounding wanky – rather than me going in and saying what’s on my mind. It has to be a bit of a left turn. That last Elbow record [2024’s ‘Audio Vertigo’], I don’t know they do it. I’ve been trying to work it out for fucking seven albums! Maybe I’ll have to give Guy [Garvey, frontman] and Craig [Potter, guitarist] a ring, get them at the helm. That might be an idea.”
In amongst all this reflection, what different unfinished enterprise do you’ve got concerning the legacy of Courteeners and the way you need to be remembered?
“We’d like to have an effect on a bit extra in Manchester. We did some stuff with [Greater Manchester Mayor] Andy Burnham for his homeless charities, and I need us to do extra. I used to be requested to converse on the Middleton Development Committee with Steve Coogan earlier than Christmas, which was a actual honour. Being requested in your assist and opinions is a actual privilege. If anyone needs something, come and get me, as a result of I’m joyful to assist.
“I got the proper honour of a Fellowship from the Royal Northern College of Music before Christmas. There will definitely be something on the horizon with the orchestra. You can relax a bit because there’s no expectation with something like that, it’s a blank canvas. I’d like to do some original music and take the orchestra on tour. So, there’ll be a few bits. I have got a big batch of songs. They’re just not Courteeners songs yet.”
‘God Bless The Band’ is launched August 28 by way of Ignition Music (pre-order it here). Check out Courteeners’ full record of tour dates under. Visit here for tickets and info.
Courteeners’ 2026 tour dates are:
JULY
Thursday 23 – Stoke-On-Trent, Victoria Hall
Saturday 25 – Sheffield, Tramlines Festival
AUGUST
Thursday 27 – Leicester, O2 Academy
Saturday 29 – Manchester, Wythenshawe Park
NOVEMBER
Friday 6 – Leeds, First Direct Arena
Saturday 7 – Cardiff, Utilita Arena
Friday 13 – Liverpool, M&S Bank Arena
Saturday 14 – London, Alexandra Palace
Friday 20 – Glasgow, OVO Hydro
Saturday 21 – Birmingham, Utilita Arena
