The Courteeners are a rock band formed in Middleton, Greater Manchester, England in 2006 by Liam Fray (guitar/vocals), Michael Campbell (drums/backing vocals), Daniel Conan Moores (Guitar), Mark Cuppello (bass).
The band members have known each other since they were ten years old. Liam and Conan attended Cardinal Langley RC High School in Middleton, Mark Cuppello attended St Monica's RC High School in nearby Prestwich, and Michael Campbell attended St Cuthberts RC High school (Rochdale).
While at the University of Salford (studying Creative Writing), Liam Fray started to perform acoustic sets as a singer-songwriter around bars and at open-mic nights in Manchester. After getting positive reactions from the crowd, Fray decided to leave University and form a band. Liam first recruited long time friend and neighbour Michael Campbell, who at the time had never played the drums before in his life. They continued to play under the name 'Liam Fray' until Conan Moores (Guitar) and Mark Cuppello (Bass) joined to form the entire band.
They had their first gig at the Manchester Roadhouse in October 2006, and quickly went from strength to strength within Manchester, largely through a word of mouth following brought on by extensive gigging and television publicity. The Courteeners released their debut single "Cavorting" on 6 August 2007 by Loog Records. A second single, "Acrylic" was released on 22 October 2007 reaching number 44 in the UK Chart.
The Courteeners were approached by producer Stephen Street of Smiths, Blur and Morrissey fame through their label Polydor about the possibility of them working with each other and together they set about working on the Courteeners' debut album, They first released the single "What Took You So Long?" on the 14 January 2008, the song reaching #20 in the United Kingdom.
Debut album, St. Jude, was released on 7 April 2008 on Polydor Records. It was launched at Manchester's Market Street HMV store where they performed and sold the first of their albums. The first album was bought by Andrew Harris at 12.01am which was signed and noted by Liam as their first album to be sold.
The album itself reached the No.4 position in the UK Charts, and has since gone on to achieve gold status. The album was preceded by the release of single "Not Nineteen Forever" on 31 March 2008, entering at #19 and becoming their highest charting single to date. A fifth single, "No You Didn't, No You Don't" was released on 23 June 2008.
In March 2009 the band made their US debut with a headline show at New York's Mercury Lounge, followed by a month touring the States as special guests of Morrissey on his 'Tour Of Refusal'. Over 18 dates included appearances at New York's famous Carnegie Hall, the Dallas Palladium and Albuquerque's Sunshine Theater. They completed their tour of America at the 2009 Coachella Festival in Indio, California performing on the Festival's Main Stage along with Paul McCartney, Morrissey, and Franz Ferdinand.
In the UK the band played the 2009 Reading/Leeds Festival on the Main Stage along with Arctic Monkeys, The Prodigy, and Ian Brown. They also appeared at the 2009 T In The Park Festival as second headliners in the King Tut's Wah Wah Tent.
The band's second album Falcon was confirmed for release on 22 February 2010. This was preceded by a single "You Overdid It Doll" on February 15, 2010. The album was recorded at ICP Studios in Belgium and produced by Ed Buller (White Lies, Pulp, Suede). The album was well received by the British music press with NME awarding the album 8/10 and both Mojo & Q Magazines giving the album 4-star reviews.
Many songs from the band's second album including "The Opener", "You Overdid It Doll", and "Take Over The World" made their live debuts at two UK shows in December 2009. The first at Warrington Parr Hall was followed by a sold-out headline homecoming show at the 10,000-capacity Manchester Central - formerly known as Manchester GMEX. Tickets for the show sold out within a week.
On December 17 the band announced a headline show at Delamere Forest, scheduled for July 2, 2011. The show sold out in 38 minutes, a record for shows performed in the Forest. David Barrow, booker for the Forestry Commission said, 'Following their triumphant MEN Arena show last weekend I knew we would comfortably sell out, but 38 minutes is a forest record, so it's official The Courteeners are the fastest selling forest act we have had since the gigs kicked off 11 years ago. The previous record was held by JLS last year’.
In February 2011 it was confirmed that the band will perform on the main stage at the 2011 Isle of Wight Festival. They appeared on Friday 10 June, two slots below Kings of Leon who headlined the first night of the festival.
The band appeared at V Festival on the 4 Play Stage on August 20 & 21 2011. It was the band's third appearance in four years at the festival.
In March 2011 the band announced another headline show, this time at Haigh Hall, Wigan, scene of The Verve's legendary homecoming in 1997. Support for the sold out 12000 capacity June date came from The Coral and Cherry Ghost.
The band will play three sold outs shows at Manchester Apollo on 8th, 9th, 10th December. Over 10,000 tickets for the shows sold out in 12 minutes.
