Courteeners’ Liam Fray has spoken to NME about the band’s longevity and 20th 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 released to celebrate two decades of Courteeners. The career-spanning collection contains hits like ‘Bide Your Time’, ‘Modern Love’ and ‘Not Nineteen Forever’ – which features the lyric “God bless the band” – and another new song titled ‘Plus One Forever’.
Paying homage to their sweaty roots, the Manchester guitar heroes’ return to Night & Day marked their first show at the iconic 250-capacity independent venue since May 2007. The band have also revealed a UK arena tour for November, donating £1 + VAT from each ticket to the LIVE Trust that supports grassroots venues and artists.
In the heart of the city’s vibrant Northern Quarter, as plenty of hopeful punters hovered around the door, the atmosphere at Night & Day was feverish as Courteeners walked on stage to Iggy Pop’s ‘Lust For Life’ and repeated chants of “Liam!” Taking things back to the beginning with the indie bounce of ‘Aftershow’, ‘Kimberley’ and ‘Cavorting’, much of the setlist hinged on material from their revered 2008 debut ‘St. Jude’.
“This one’s for the boring dickheads who moan about their wives,” said Fray before 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 faithful for “changing our lives”, urging them to “come and support” independent venues like Night & Day, which faced threats of closure in both 2014 and 2021.
Talking to NME ahead of the show, Fray elaborated on the band’s bond with the venue, where they rehearsed in the early 2010s. “It was our home,” he said. “It’s a really important stitch in the fabric of the city. We were there the other 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 below, where Fray reflected on the band’s survival, the Gen Z fans they continue to draw in, and why he’s biding his time with Courteeners’ next 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 feel like the right time to define and celebrate the very best of Courteeners?
Liam Fray: “I had these two new songs, but the truth is there wasn’t an album there. Sometimes you have these outliers that don’t fit your record. They felt really fresh to me. [Sometimes] you hold on to a song, it’s lost its spark and you’ve lost your respect for it. You know what? No, let’s put these out. I’ll be honest with you, the ‘best of’ is not that much work from our point of view. I say that – I spent about six weeks doing fucking artwork!
“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 thinking about the next album, but does it speak volumes about Courteeners’ survival and longevity to be able to indulge in this year 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 start, “the industry washed its hands” of you at points, and you had to defend yourself against accusations of misogyny in the early days. How difficult has it been to overcome those 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 previously about the fine balance between being grateful for the life you have, while also rightly highlighting the struggles along the way. Did the former feeling play into the new single ‘The Luckiest Man Alive’?
“There’s definitely a bit of me in there, but also being in the pub, at work and hearing that really archaic thing of men moaning about their wives. I’m like, ‘You haven’t got a fucking clue, mate. You’ve got a nice life’. Maybe it’s feeling a bit happier with getting older, settling into yourself a bit more. I know there’s big problems out there, but when 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 think Courteeners have not only stood the test of time, but also now percolated into Gen Z audiences?
“Maybe because we bubbled under the surface. There’s that little jealousy thing when you’re really young, ‘Oh, we should be up there.’ No, you’ll be alright, keep doing what you’re doing and you’ll be okay. Maybe the fact that we weren’t in people’s faces as much at the beginning? I write fairly simple rhymes that are a bit relatable to people? 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 younger acts do you specifically see a 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 finally stepping up to headline London’s 10,000-capacity Alexandra Palace. Has it ever bothered you that you’ve never reached the heights of the capital’s arenas and parks that you regularly sell out closer to home?
“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 can you tell 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 other unfinished business do you have regarding the legacy of Courteeners and how you want to be remembered?
“We’d like to affect a bit more in Manchester. We did some stuff with [Greater Manchester Mayor] Andy Burnham for his homeless charities, and I want us to do more. I was asked to speak on the Middleton Development Committee with Steve Coogan before Christmas, which was a real honour. Being asked for your help and opinions is a real privilege. If anybody wants anything, come and get me, because I’m happy to help.
“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 released August 28 via Ignition Music (pre-order it here). Check out Courteeners’ full list of tour dates below. Visit here for tickets and information.
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